Growing babies

SDiva is officially a 1st grader. She got her kindergarten "diploma" certificate today. She also made all S's and her reading has gone up 150+ points since her first assessment. The scale is 0-900. Her first assessment was mid-high 500's, now it's 700's. It's "transitional" but she couldn't even spell her name at the beginning. She just wasn't interested in how I tried to teach her, and believe me, I tried everything I could think of. I'm a big reader so I'm just tickled.

I can't believe my baby will be in 1st grade. And DCourtly will probably be in pre-k. I'm so... Emotional. JSmiley is turning 1 on top of the rest. My babies are growing up so fast. More later, I'd rather bask in the mom glow than dwell on my health right now.

Neurology

I'm irked. Not at anyone but the situation in general. My phone, even when the volume is on 1, startles me and makes my heart race (unless I'm expecting it or already active) so it's usually on vibrate. Today JSmiley and I took a nap and Dr. S's (neurology) receptionist called to say they'd been told to call me if they had a cancellation (news to me) and to call their main number and an extension to call back. Only I didn't wake up until like 20 minutes later. However, she called at 5:22, the office closes at 5. I called both the number she called from and the number she gave. No answer. The opening is for tomorrow afternoon. Looks like I'll be calling in the morning and hoping it's still available.

Like I said, I don't mind she called after hours. Most of my doctors offices call at lunch or after official business hours. It is partially my fault, my phone could've been up or I could've been awake. I'm just irked that I missed the call and MAYBE the appointment. I'm going to start calling at 9 (when they officially open).

I also wonder why they were told to call if they had a cancellation. I know doctors offices get cancellations but I'm not usually placed on that list. I'm not used to this treatment. First the "ASAP" appointment for the electrophysiologist, getting referrals and tests without having to fight, and now being placed on the cancellations call list automatically. And by automatically I mean *I* didn't request it so one of the doctors had to have. I got called with a cancellation on my sleep study too a few weeks early. Surely there were tons of others ahead of me. Lord knows I'm not complaining, I'm just not used to it. I like it but they usually call that day or the day before so it's kind of rushed but as impatient as I am, I'm not going to complain about getting seen 2-3 weeks earlier than my scheduled appointments.

I just really hope it's still available in the morning. More later.

What Happened To The Time

I can't believe I haven't written in 4 days. I haven't done much of anything. I didn't even update my dysautonomia tracker. I was reading the 50 Shades trilogy but seriously? I felt like that's all I did. Even though it's not. I liked the books, the ending was a bit abrupt and I could clearly make out the connection between Twilight and 50 Shades (since it started out as a Twilight Fanfiction) but I liked it. I also took Big D to his game and another (that got rescheduled due to rain) so I got out and did stuff. I just don't know why I feel like those 3 days were spent in a black hole.

Today may be a bad day by the end health wise. SDiva's award ceremony is at 9 (it's her last year of Kindergarten!!), then I have something else at 10 that I may reschedule. Plus Big D has practice 30 minutes away. At a field I'm not totally comfortable with it's location so I'm following my friend there and out (I've only ever driven with someone or followed someone and I'd get lost, I'm not originally from here and due to dysautonomia, unless there isn't another choice, I prefer to let others drive). I really dislike that field too. I just want to stay in bed. Except SDiva's school thing. If Big D's practice was closer I wouldn't mind but I'm wanting to ask someone else to take him and I feel like crap doing that. I just feel so run down. And I'm not trying to complain, I just really feel blah.

My birthday is tomorrow too. Another year older (23). It's sad, 23 and I feel this wore out and run down. I think Big Daddy was thinking about taking me out to eat if I feel up to it. JSmiley turns 1 in 13 days too. (We're both Gemin.)

The girls love Callie, JSmiley only half of the time though. I swear that kitten is worse than a newborn. Plus side, she uses a litter box so I don't have to train her. Anyway, I went to sleep before 11 last night (see even my insomnia couldn't keep me up), woke up at 12 to nurse, and 4 for seemingly no reason so it's 6:37 now, I'm going to try to snooze until 8. Later!

Meet Callie!

Look what Big Daddy surprised me with!! I asked for a kitten and got one! Picture sucks quality wise but she's sitting on top of me so it's a "self portrait" minus me, in dim-ish light.

JSmiley keeps trying to touch her with her foot. (We're still in bed.)

Meet Callie

Edited for multiple auto correct fails :/ and to add a picture.

Good Day

Took longer to recover than I thought. I'm guessing that was partly hormonal though. I've come to a decision. I AM going to start pumping and hopefully over the next 2+ months build up at least a little supply/stash that way I can at least ease my guilt a little. I may not be able to nurse past August and I may not be able to nurse her until 26 months like I'd like but I will give her as much milk as I possibly can. :)

I also downloaded a white noise app on my android called relax and sleep. I've come up with a combination I like. Drum melody, then relaxation melody, summer rain and thunder claps. None of them are even close to half of the volume bar. I'd say the loudest (drum melody) isn't even 1/4 and the others decrease a little from it each step. But its really soothing and enjoyable. I have fallen asleep to it twice. I haven't tried while fully alert, just already tired but it's a little easy to redirect my over active brain to the sounds. I feel like I could use it in yoga or maybe meditation. I love my little mixture of sounds.

I've gotten back into charting/tracking my stuff. I tracked it for 2 weeks and quit for a month. Cell reception sucks here and it takes forever, plus some of the drop down boxes don't work on my cell phone for some reason (for symptoms etc). But I plan on printing what I have and taking it to the neuro, Dr. S (did I mention Dr. S is a woman? I hope I like her, for some reason I'm usually more comfortable with male doctors). I've had 3 migraines this week alone, and that's not including the minor headaches that didn't develop into a full blown migraine. I have a headache now, waiting to see if it develops further. Only 17 days left until my appointment.

Today has been a pretty good day for me over all. I feel ok despite my slightly achy head. I'm being proactive on a lot of stuff and no negatives yet. Here's hoping for more good days in the future!

Disturbing!

I just read a really disturbing news article about azithromycin on Yahoo. Apparently Vanderbilt has discovered some antibiotics have an increased risk of sudden death if heart patients take them and azithromycin (zithromax) may be one of them. I've taken azithromycin SEVERAL times for twice yearly bronchitis/walking pneumonia/sinus infections. I've given JSmiley azithromycin (liquid). I'm going to have to figure out a way to follow this and ask Dr. M. I'm seriously disturbed right now.

Not Enough Spoons

Yesterday was just bad. I wrote previously about fluctuations. Below is a picture of what I mean. That wasn't 24 hours difference, that isn't several days. That was THREE hours. Yes there are variables but still.

The main differences are noted. One I was sitting, one I was laying and the time. I've never actually seen my blood pressure that high. I see it that low often though. I know it was that high because I was active yesterday. Most people wouldn't think twice about 1 day of being active (out of 3). Saturday we went shopping. Sunday I went to my moms for an hour and layed on her bed with her watching Anaconda (with no children in tow). Monday was mainly sitting/laying in bed. Didn't go anywhere. Yesterday I was already kind of feeling off but got dressed and to the dentist in 15 minutes (small city). Sat there. I only had DCourtly with me, my friend kept JSmiley while I went. Drove home and got JSmiley (friend lives next door) walked up stairs and had to go back and get the pacy. That was 2. Laid down until 4:15, got ready and ate something quick. Took Big D to buy baseball socks because he had a game and lost one. Big Daddy had the girls. Then took Big D to his house so he could change into his baseball gear, then the gas station. Big D paid so that cut down on walking. Then drove to the ball field. All together that trip (one way) was 15 minutes of driving. 5 of standing/walking at a very slow pace. Mostly sat at the ball field except the previous mention of concessions and maybe 5 minutes of standing. Took Big D home, came home, walked up the steps, forgot my phone had to go get it and come back. Ate then, and went to bed at 12:30 AM. And promptly slept until 4:30 PM. I woke up a few times but only for short periods of time.

My hr has been high normal and tachycardic all day, even while laying, though my bp is normal. Most people wouldn't think twice about that amount of activity. There is a story from a website called But You Don't Look Sick called The Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino (linked for your viewing pleasure) that pretty much sums it up. Stopping for gas or going to a ball game may be small change for some but each task is a spoon for me. And apparently I used up my reserves, my allotment for yesterday and a lot of my allotment for today. Just by going those few places with MINIMAL standing/activity. As much as I don't want time to fly by, is it August yet? And as much as I don't want my baby to be 1 yet, is it June yet? Story of my life and total "Can't have your cake and eat it too".

*Hopefully I corrected all of my phones incorrect corrections. I really dislike this version of autocorrect. My EVO I liked it, this one takes correctly spelled words and replaces it with other words if you use it a lot. My becomes mg, you becomes yoga etc. It's such a pain. I swear I'm not illiterate.

And of course it'll take another 20 minutes to publish the correction. >.<