What's old is new...

It's been some time since I've made an entry here... I really hadn't much to say. All of that has changed!

At the urging of a very good friend, I made a book purchase. The Infertility Cure by Randine Lewis. I finished the entire book in a matter of 2 days. Upon closing it, I decided finally, that I was going to make an appointment with the Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor just down the road. It was time I made this a priority.

Last Tuesday I met Dr. Xiaoyan Gong. She was Chief Dr. in Shanghai with almost 30 years of experience. I explained all of my digestive problems going all the way back to my gallbladder surgery in 1998. I handed her all 28 charts of temps that I had and we went over the fertility stuff.

She took my pulse and told me it was very weak. She explained that my problem was stomach/spleen. The stomach takes food in, the spleen distributes the energy from that food throughout the body. She stated that my stomach was taking food in, but with my spleen not moving it around, it just leaked through my body. This, she said, explains the diarrhea, malnutrition, poor appetite, lack of energy, etc. She also noted that my tongue had a thick white coating with scallops on the sides from my teeth.

I was then set up in a room for my very first acupuncture session. I'm a needle freak, but was totally calm and for good reason. I didn't feel a single thing! She set an electromagnetic therapy device over my mid-section and hooked various needles up to an electric pulse machine before leaving me to rest for a few minutes. After checking in less than 5 mins later to make sure everything was okay, I was left for the rest of my session.

I was given a week's worth of raw herbs to brew into a tea and take every day. She warned me that they would smell and taste bad, which I already knew from my reading. We went over the herb instruction sheet, I paid her and made an appointment for that Friday morning.

Friday morning I had a wonderfully relaxing hour long acupuncture session where I actually fell asleep. By the time I got home, I was buzzing with energy! I was in a wonderfully upbeat mood, I had a great appetite and both the smell and taste of my herbs had become less unpleasant. The herb instructions say that if you have the right herb formula, the taste and smell will become more appealing and the body can crave them.

We met up again this morning and I had tons to tell her! My appetite over the weekend was fantastic. My food stayed in my system until the following day, the diarrhea has stopped, all of my movements have become solid, no stomach pains, no bloating, no gurgling and my gums have stopped bleeding when I brush my teeth. These, she said, are all good first steps as my body has begun "retaining".

All I know is that I feel better than I've felt in years. What's old is new again!

Smacked with a shamrock...

That about sums up what my head feels like right about now. I think it's safe to say I had a little too much of a good time at the party last night. That pint of Guinness is what put me over the edge, I'm sure of it. I was fine with the shots and Baileys... but once I started on that pint, things started gettin' awful wonky.

Just as everyone was about to sit down for dessert, I walked steadily and determinedly to the bathroom and awaited the onslaught. My head went dizzy and the room started to sway. I gathered myself enough to make it to my friend's bed and curled up with her cat. Her purring and warm belly were soothing, but not enough to make the room stop moving.

I could hear Danny downstairs saying at least one of us needed to go home that night to tend to the fur-children. By the time he came to check on me, I had slept a little and felt well enough to be shuffled into the car for the 15 minute drive home.

After dumping my clothes on the glider, I crawled into bed and don't remember much after that. I woke up at 4:30-ish and noticed Danny wasn't in bed... I figured he'd fallen asleep on the sofa while watching TV or surfing on his iPad. I grabbed the bottle of water from my nightstand and all but drained it before passing back out.

The next thing I knew, an icy cold body was sliding into the bed next to me. We snuggled up, got warm and fell back to sleep. By the time we woke, it was well after 10 in the morning. I missed my temp time, but considering the fact that I did a fair bit of drinking the night before and AF hasn't fully vacated the premises, I really didn't think it was that big of a deal.

The rest of the day has been spent getting caught up on episodes of Survivor, cooking shows I recorded yesterday and a few other "junk" shows. My kitchen looks like World War III took place in there, so I know what my Monday is looking like.

Yay me!

What a beautiful day...

It's 71 degrees, the sky is blue with a fair bit of white clouds and the bits of sun felt fantastically warm on my skin. There's a light breeze that has a slight chilled edge to it. If not for that, it would truly feel perfect.

I popped into Target and found a great pair of sandals for Pennsic! They were only $17.99 and I think they'll be just perfect! I went there for 2 things... a second loaf pan so that I can make more than one at a time and Zumba Fitness for the Wii. Obviously, I left with more than 2 things! But I was actually really good... I only left with 4 things: Zumba, my loaf pan, the sandals and a chocolate bar for making chocolate curls on the Baileys Chocolate Cream pie I was supposed to be making.

I couldn't wait to try Zumba, so I quickly changed my clothes, popped it in and tried the Zocalypso beginner's warm up. O...M...G! I was literally panting like a dog by the time it was over! The music was so upbeat and there were no breaks, just constant movement! I wound up going outside and standing in the hallway, letting the breeze blow all around me to help me cool off! It was a lot of fun though!

Tomorrow morning we're heading over to BJ's for some shopping. I need to pick up makings for Shepherd's Pie for J&R's St. Patrick's Day party. Every year they have a dinner party for St. Patrick's Day. They bake brown bread to have with blackberry jam & Irish tea, then Robin makes Corned Beef & Cabbage. Our old friend F used to make Guinness Stew, but since she doesn't hang with us anymore, my Shepherd's Pie has taken the place of her stew.

After dinner, we all sit around and have shots of Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey and pints of Guinness while listening to all sorts of Irish music, talking, laughing and just having a great time! Then it's dessert & Baileys over ice! It's a nice tradition and I look forward to it every year.

Well, according to the clock... it's time for me to go and collect my darling husband from the train station. The weekend with my better half... my favorite part of the week!

Another Month...

Another bust.

This time stings more... for a variety of reasons. My temps were one reason. They looked really good and parts of the pattern were different than usual, so hope crept into my heart. Then the decline started and I knew inside that it was over. I hoped my temps would rebound once I adjusted to the time change, but truly, after 2 days of declining temps, I knew it was only a matter of time.

Time. Something I feel that I have so little of. I worry how much it's working against me, how much time is actually left on the game clock and whether or not I can eek out a "win" before the whistle blows.

It's ironic... I made my mind up very early that I was NOT going to be an unwed teen mother. I was going to get married and then start a family. That was the right way, the responsible way to do things... and how I'm being rewarded for my responsible choices!

Sometimes I think if I were to make all the wrong choices... maybe then everything would fall into place... Because it sure seems like everyone else gets what they want easily enough. Babies are given to young girls who put them into dumpsters or to unbalanced women who drown them in bathtubs.

Life just feels a bit more unfair right now than usual.

An Apple a Day...

or a slight variation thereof.

Sadly... the pills I crowned as "miracles" worked for a short period of time before things seemed to revert to their old ways.

Since then, I've committed fully and completely to the G-free life. I've also begun taking 1 tbsp of Bragg's unfiltered organic Apple Cider Vinegar every morning. We put it in a shot glass and top it off with V8.

Initially, I was not keen on the regimen. I turned my nose up at it and the whole bit. Imagine my surprise when I began developing an actual taste for my morning shot! It has a ketchup-y kind of quality to it... which makes sense when you consider the 2 main ingredients in ketchup are tomatoes and vinegar.

I've learned my lesson so I'm reticent to claim victory... but I will say that my tummy has been quiet, not bloated and pain free. My bowel movements have become much firmer and MUCH less frequent. All things that I've been hoping and praying for.

I'm really hopeful that I'm finally on the right track to getting my body "normal". I can't help but feel the clock bearing down on me...

Oops

It's a new dawn...

Yesterday evening on the way to get Danny from the train station, I stopped and checked the mailbox. I all but jumped out of my skin when I saw a small priority mail box jammed inside. MY OTHER PILLS!!! I couldn't wait to eat!!

I took one of each pill right before we sat down to a dinner of smoked turkey sausage and applesauce. Danny and I sat watching Bobby Flay have a throwdown with Tony Luke. All was quiet. No gurgling, no bloating, no cramping.

A while later, we're watching the Glee special that aired after the Super Bowl (on the DVR) and I felt kinda hungry. So I went out to the kitchen to rustle myself up an old favorite. I actually have my big sister to thank for introducing me to this one! The Veggie Sandwich!! :^)

We found this awesome G-free bread at our grocery store! It's actually light and airy and not like a fuckin' brick! My only complaint is that the loaves are really small and they cost $5.99... It's like smurf sized bread. But I digress...

I toasted up some bread, sliced a tomato, an avocado and ripped up some green leaf lettuce. I decided to do a little test and let myself enjoy a healthy dose of mayo. OMG!!! It was soooo good! The bread and the veggies and the mayo... it all blended together in a perfect combination of flavors.

But the best part? Here I had eaten a fair bit within a few hours and for the first time in a really long time, I felt fantastic!! No cramping, no bloating, no gurgling and no blazing a trail to the bathroom!! I slept peacefully, not once waking with a stomach pain or the sensation that a bomb was about to explode in my colon.

It's a new day and the only thing I feel right now is my tummy growling because it's hungry for breakfast... and that's a sensation I can live with!!