Tuesday, September 19, 2017

August Recap

Happy September. It's hard to believe that summer will be over in a few days but it still feels like summer here right now. That is all suppose to change this weekend though. Rich planted these sunflowers from seeds in June and boy did they grow. I wanted him to plant them along the back fence but he put them in the planters instead.  I was able to watch them grow from my kitchen window and they kept reminding me of Jack and the Beanstalk the taller they grew. It took awhile for the sunflowers to pop but they finally did and were beautiful. Unfortunately they did't last long though. The squirrels got to them so they are a mess now. Thankfully I got this photo before that happened though.
On the other side I planted Zinnias and Gerber Daisies. When I first bought the plants they did not look so good but I kept giving them TLC and as you can see they have really flourished now!

We also planted tomatoes and peppers. They didn't do so great but we did get some tomatoes though.


I found out that my insurance company denied the visit I had with the vulvar/derm specialist in June because the right referral was not done. That is not my fault though. I asked numerous times if we had the right referral and was told we did. I was also told they would not give me the appointment until I had the right one so I don't understand how they even allowed me to see her then. I have filed an appeal with my insurance company to get it resolved but who knows how long that is going to take. I am not paying one penny of it though, They are charging almost $1000.00 for 1 visit which is ridiculous. She did nothing but look at my lady parts and was not of any help to me at all. All she did was cause me more stress and worry. This is the last thing I need now on top of that.

I also went back to see the functional medicine doctor to go over all the test results and come up with a plan. I am still trying to make sense of it. There were a lot of things to go over and was very overwhelming. At least not all the tests were normal which means there is something wrong which was somewhat validating. One of the things that did come up was my parathyroid is low and so is my calcium. Has anyone had problems with these things or know anything about it? All of my regular thyroid tests are normal. She wants me to have further work up of the PTH 24 hr urine calcium, and have my ionized calcium and phosphorus levels checked. I asked her how much that costs and she had no idea. I told her that I wanted a price before I did it though so I am going to have to try and find that out on my own which I find kind of odd since she did all the other labs.  She also wants me to take quite a few supplements and do an elimination diet which I was not very happy about since I have already eliminated many things. I told her my thoughts about that and specifically about not wanting to take so many different supplements at once because if I have a bad reaction to one of them I won't know which one it is and they are expensive. I have also done things like this before without any results. She did not like my thoughts and took it as I was arguing with her which I was not. I was just telling her how I felt. It is my body, I don't think there is anything wrong with telling her how I feel about her plan. She is not the first Dr this has happened with. It seems anytime you question them they are saying it is taken as arguing which is just so wrong! I was already very overwhelmed by everything we discussed and tried really hard to hold back the tears. She finally agreed to let me try a few things first and then add the other things later. Of course the things she wanted me to try the most were almost $150.00 and she just happened to have them there. I felt like I had to buy them at that point. I tried to explain to her that I am a small business person and don't make a lot of money but she didn't seem very understanding about that. I have 2 more appointments scheduled. One with her in October and another one with the health coach/dietitian this week. I am doing both of those virtually though. I have been trying the first 2 supplements. They are both powders you have to mix with liquid. The L-glutimine was making my mouth burn so we cut the amount down to half and am doing better with it now. The other one I am only taking 1/2 as well because it is too much for my stomach to handle at the full dose. At least I can put that one in a smoothie though. I tried calling a Quest Lab to see how much the extra blood work would cost. It took me hours to find one that would answer the phone. Turns out these tests are very expensive almost $500.00 I can't afford that right now on top of everything else so they are just going to have to wait for now unless I can find another lab to do it cheaper. I am meeting with the health coach this week so hopefully she will be more helpful. I don't want to give up on this yet because  she did agree to talk to the neurologist at University Hospital that specializes in BMS and I don't have anyone else to go to but I also don't know how much more of this can afford either especially if this doctor is not willing to work with me. I don't understand why everything I do when it comes to my health has to be so hard. As much as I feel like giving up I know I can't though. 

I have been wanting to participate in Allie Edwards Day in the Life for awhile now and finally had a chance to do it in August.  The theme this time was to use certain ing words to tell your story for the day. This what I came up with.
The first word is Working. On Saturday mornings this is the first step in my hat making process.

Learning. I was trying to learn how to make the digital peonies from ipadletterings video tutorial for the show me your florals online class I was taking. I had to watch it numerous times and take notes to figure it out because there were a lot of steps.
Listening. I love listening to podcasts. I am a big bachelor/bachlorette fan and love Michelle Collins recaps on it. I also love listing to her call her mom to talk about it too.
Wearing this is one of my favorite outfits. It is so comfortable. The shirt, pants and shoes are all from Lands End.
Loving. My Ipad Pro and Pencil. This was my finished digital peony I learned how to make in the previous photo. It was a lot of work but hopefully will get easier with practice.
Feeling. This was the first sunflower that opened and it left me feeling very happy.
Going. We went for a walk with the dogs but didn't get very far because it started to rain so had to turn back.

Eating. My gluten free veggie mac and cheese. I don't eat it very often because it has dairy in it but is is so good. Definitely a comfort food.
Watching. Everything Everything. Emilia and I have been wanting to watch this movie for awhile and it just happened to come out video while Rich was out of town so we watched it. It was pretty good.
I really enjoyed using these words to help document my day so I may trying doing that with my monthly blog posts from now on too.
Things in my Etsy shop continued to be busy in August. I had a custom order for a fall themed party and and matching high chair banner. This is what I came up with.

Emilia also came up with the a new Giraffe themed Tutu set.

Emilia found a new Vegan Bakery here in Denver. It is called Make Believe Bakery. She bought me a coconut gluten free vegan tart and it was delicious.
That's it for now. I hope the rest of your month is a good one and I will be back next month with more to share then.