Short Term Sacrifices for Long Term Gains!

I think each and every one of you who emailed me, called me, texted me, and left me encouraging messages. I am very blessed that near and far I have so many people praying and thinking of me in what has been a very.... challenging time (best way to describe it).

Yesterday was a pretty good visit with my doctor.... people say I am crazy to drive 3 hours for a doctor.... but it definitely was worth it.

The end result is this.... I do have to go to some specialists.... and in that it is more to eliminate the obvious and the not to obvious to narrow down the causes. The problem with those who suffer from Chronic Uticaria (Chronic Hives) is that the real cause may never be known and can go away on it's own as little as a few weeks to a couple years.... so it could be a long road ahead. However, in the meantime, and trying to figure things out.... here are the next steps:

1. Going on a medication that could very well stop the hives and reactions (Prednisone).
2. Also, going on Prilosec to help with GERD (which I have)... which could be the cause for recent chest pains.
3. Elimination Diet (I am about to be more boring folks.... back to basics and slowly integrating things back in to find any triggers and anything that seem to heighten the issues). No dairy, no grains, no sugar, no caffeine, and no alcohol.
4. Will be following up with specialists here in LA to see an allergist and cardiologist.
    -EKG done and everything came back as "normal" as I will have being that I have Tetralogy
     of Fallot.
5. Ordered blood work and lab work for me to get done here in LA to:
    -Test my liver
    -Test my thyroid
    -Test for lupus
    -Test for other allergens
     
6. On a side note: I have always been prone to freckles and moles and after a couple years of watching a few I have.... will be having them removed as one is cancerous... so that happens in September and at that time we will check in to see how all the above are doing in my getting better.

In addition to this, switching allergy medicines.

So this is progress. It is game plan I can get in-line with. I was so disappointed after going to UCLA and the answer was to just pawn me off to a specialist without trying anything in the meantime... so I am glad I have this plan in the midst of it.

So nothing too exciting, if anything I will be a little more boring. I may be indecisive when it comes to eating.... now it is just going to be easy "Anywhere with salad, protein, and no processed foods"... should be easy right? :)

Thank you all again! It means a lot. I see all of this as a short term sacrifice for long term gain!

Health Update and Prayer Request

The following is an email I also sent out to close friends and some family (I realized I don't have a lot of their email addresses). 



I believe in prayer warriors friends... and in this.... you have all blessed me in encouraging me and praying for me up until this point as I have been battling "something" for the past few months and no answers or improvement have seemed to make themselves known.

I ask for prayer this morning as I see my long-time Primary doctor. I left LA after work last night to make the drive for my early appointment this morning because the doctor I have down in LA... is great.... but didn't give me answers I was wanting or looking for.... I would ask for prayer this morning for God to give my doctor wisdom and discernment in finding out or at least taking some steps into finding out why I have been "sick" the last few months. I have been suffering from what my doctor in LA called "Chronic Hives".... but no solution how to minimize or treat them, beyond referring me to specialists. I felt that the best thing to do was to see my long time doctor who has a better medical history with me that has seen me healthy and also seen me sick and actually has a specialty in skin. A few other things seem to accompany me with hives.... it all seems to be "heat" related-- either I am overheating too prematurely or just overheating and my body is not cooling itself off as it should OR I am having an allergic reaction to sweat.... so in addition to hives I am left feeling very lathargic and my energy levels are almost non-existant, some mild chest pains, and my asthma seems to be peaked. This all started (and I thought nothing of it then) when I was back in New York in March and I was layering a lot because of how cold it was. I thought it was a weird occurrence but then being back home.... it has increasingly gotten worse and besides the anxiety and frustration I feel surrounding it..... leaves me very tired. My normal routine of going hiking, running, working out... has pretty much been on hold as this "overheating" seems to be a trigger, as well as just being in a warm place my body can't adjust to (even for 5 minutes). So please be praying this morning.... You have all been amazing prayer warriors in my life and it is something I can feel all the time. For those of you who are not big on prayer-- your words of encouragement and concern over the past few months I think have been what have kept me going (and even the past few years). I will keep you all updated and pray that this is something that I may even have an easier answer than we though ;-) Also prayers for my finances in this as it has definitely shifted things a bit with the treatment I have already had and will continue to have in this.

In all of this I have done my best to "change my environment" to lessen triggers. I moved 11 miles from the San Fernando Valley part of Los Angeles in to the Westside... cooler temperatures, and even got a work transfer.... It has been "better", but I'm still getting them. My best friend in LA asked me a question a few weeks ago and it stuck with me as I was practically overdosing on antihistamines and they obviously are not working..... "What does all this medicating you're doing-- that's not helping-- affect long term and your heart?". I was so focused on the right here and right now, I didn't think about long term of treating myself in a way that is not even working. So, I am back to normal doses, but the flare ups are the same-- from even when I shower and the steam/water is too hot to getting ready for work and the apartment is "humid or warm".... I have never been this sensitive to heat.... and if you live in LA.... you really can' t be. My goal is to get healthy. I have had some friends speak up to me about some solutions they took with similar issues and I will be taking that to my doctor this morning.... it is my prayer that it is nothing too serious that can't be managed. It is something I would like to recover from. This may be the time to "reset" my body... for a lack of a better descriptor. I am nervous, anxious, and just overall done. So prayers for that.

Thanks friends and family..... it means the world to me. 

One Year

I write this as I sit an an alcove seat here on West LA with 75 degree weather and a light breeze. It's been a year with a lot of changes since this time last year. Ever since I can back from New York I think I was on a mission to find "my place". New York was and is always a special place to me and the people there-- there are many things I miss. Being back in California I first struggled with being back. I thought I left the central coast for good and coming back I never felt really "back". My relationships with people then and even now have changed. I have learned you find out who you're friends are when you're "out of sight". You also find out a lot about people when you take a step back and see them from an outside perspective. It's been a year of cleaning house in who I really let into my life and close to me.

Overall the past 12 months have been such a great new chapter in my life. It started off with two of my best friends getting married-- respectively. Then it really took off as I packed up and moved to LA. This is the first move I have made within the 12 years since being on my own that was a "foreseeable future" kind of life move. When I moved up to San Luis Obispo in July 2002 it was for college.... And it was an amazing time in my life. However, I have learned more about myself between graduating college and now than I did then. This past year, as great as it has been, has not been without some obstacles. I weened people out of life who were not beneficial to my life or those who just... Weren't really my friends. God has known what and who I needed in my life and has filled it with an amazing small group, great church fellowship, and reconnecting with friends from all over who have ended up here in LA. I truly feel like LA is "home". As I write this..... I am moving again. Only 7 miles from where I live now. I currently love in the West San Fernando Valley and am moving over to the Westside here in West LA. With this move also comes being transferred for work in order to cut down my commute (the glorious and never ending construction of the 405).

The biggest challenge I have faced this year has been with my health and overall contentment. I think contentment and lack thereof has been an overall theme amongst  many friends of mine. It's hard. We want more because we think we will be happy and in actuality it is the opposite. We have to be content and find sustainment in what we already have or God has not reason to give us more because then it  becomes a vicious cycle.. Even in my health issues I knowni need to find blessings and contentment. The past several months I have struggled with autoimmune issues and it has left me essentially "allergic" to heat. Living in San Fernando Valley is not the best medicine for that-- hence the move 7 miles because that's all it takes for a 15 degree temperature difference. I have been so frustrated about health and having one more thing I have to manage it leaves me having frustrated prayers. I  have never experienced such frustration and I think part of it being how this came out of nowhere and there is no concrete answers. I think that is myth biggest prayer as well as finding contentment I am looking forward to getting away with our Young adults Group from church and on a retreat up to Big Bear and have a break from the chaos. I also look forward to this next year and for what God has planned.

I end with this---- knowing God is faithful and I have had a pretty great year and these challenges I face is a reminder that nothing in life is perfect and I need Jesus in the good and the bad!!