First, I want to thank you for the quick responses and good information. I have been to Lizajanes before but it confused me, I will revisit now that I am off neurontin and able to absorb and think more clearly. My PT is awesome, she tweaks me into shape and lectures me accordingly and I have known her personally for 20+ years, I will go see her.
I know the sweet thing is bad for me, I am bloated and sick right after I consume the "crap" but all of the sudden I crave it. I chew trident white for dry mouth as directed by my dentist, will just chew it for a new reason now, thank you!
And, Dahlek you hit the nail on the head about being inactive, three years ago I worked full time, went fishing and hunting every weekend with my hubby and still kept house and cooked. These days, I work part time, let the house fall apart all week and spend my weekends pacing myself to clean and do laundry, shopping, etc. When quitting time ends at work I go straight home and don't leave. My husband was just diagnosed with seronegative rheumatoid and his doc has told him his abnormal cells will become cancer and when he returns on Labor Day he must begin "treatment", I am bugging him for a second opinion cause that sounds just "whacked" to me. He is now as inactive as I am.
I will share my story that began six years ago in the month of February, my nephew was in a serious car accident where he was DOA at the ER, a fabulus Dougie Houser look alike brought him back to us after two weeks in a coma and alot of scares. That incident brought us a roller coaster of lows that thankfully have seemed to end.
Next, my then five year old grandson was diagnosed with AML leukemia, the little family was on a plane to Seattle that day and we began that journey that was months away from home, a relapse a year later when he was six. His brother was his perfect match and donated marrow twice. We suffered many close calls with fungal infections, menigitis, etc. I am happy to say Joey is turning eleven this month.
In May of 2004 we received a call that my 25 year old daughter Angela had been admitted to the hospital with severe kidney infection, three days later we got the call that she with in the ICU with a pulmonary embolism. We got in the car and made our 13th "medical journey" to Seattle (at that time it was actually Tacoma General) to see our daughter in severe distress and dying before our eyes. NO one knew what was going on, she went into organ failure and began to suffer ascities and there must have been 10 liters of fluid in her abdomen. Finally a nurse, the same age as Angela stepped forward and said get her out of here if you want her to have a chance. She told a coworker she didn't care if she lost her job, not speaking up was the wrong thing to do. We moved her that day to University of Washington hospital. It had the most amazing liver ICU, within four days she was of the ventilator and her first words were, I want food. I was overjoyed, dermatoloy had biopsied the blisteres and rash we had questioned at Tacoma General and been told it was just the fluid retention. NOT, it was the herpes virus in her blood stream, it took two weeks to arrive there. My nerves of steel were gone, I was dealing with newly being diagnosed with PN and we were in the Ronald Mcdonald House for Joey's yearly accessment and Angie was gravely ill. Within a week Angie was moved to the general floor and began what was supposed to be a long recovery, I stayed with her another week and returned home confident that we would be bringing her home at the end of June and I would care for her daughter while she rehabed in a local hospital. I lined up a plane, a pilot and Boeing donated the fuel to bring her home on June 29th, I received a call that morning that she was back in ICU in septic shock. For three weeks I spent every day by her side, her twin and I massaged her, bathed her, played music and finally we held held her to say goodbye. I returned home to begin a custody battle with the father that had only known Angie's five year old daughter Zhoe for a year. It was long and ugly but we adopted Zhoe after a two year battle in the courts.
One month after we buried our Angie we got that middle of the night phone call that no parent wants to get, our youngest daughter had been in a car accident. She was drunk, as was the driver and treated very poorly by the ER staff.
We were sent home with her and told she only had severe bruising from the crash. At home she kept collasping and saying something is wrong with me mom, after a week of calls to an ortho they finally decided they could fit her in, he did new xrays and an MRI, I got a call an hour later that she was to get in bed and only get up to use the bathroom while they conferred with an ortho in Seattle, the next day we took a life flight to Haborview where she undewent surgery for a severe pelvic fracture, why she didn't become paralized at any time is an act of God, I brought her home with two seven inch screws holding her pelvis to her spine and months in a hosptial bed with a cath bag. But, she survivied, I didn't have to bury two daughters in one month.
I believe I survived all this in a zombie bubble, I recently read the guest book from my daughter Angie's funeral and I broke down in tears at all the people that had come that I didn't SEE, we had held her service on the hill in front of our home where she had rolled, sled, and grown up, so it wasn't like I was encapsulated in a building. I think my hubby and I are coming out of our zombie bubbles now and are falling apart health wise, it is time to tend to us and I have just received a huge box of supplements from Iherb.com and shopping wiser. We will begin to walk, my biggest wish in the world is for an indoor pool, it means the mortgage will go into our retirement a couple of years, but I have learned you can't live for tomorrow and with certainy we won't be here for retirement if we don't join the living now. I have an eight year old granddaughter to raise so I need to kick it in and get healthier now.
Didn't mean to ramble just wanted to give a snapshot of how we arrived where we are now, and I truly appreciate all your help and advise!!!