Happy New Year

Trying something a little different... a video blog entry!!

Yeah, I couldn't figure out how to imbed my video...

Wow. My hair is getting really long. Now you get to see my face and hear my voice for once. :)

Fusion It Is

June 27th I go back under the knife, hopefully for the last time for this body part. I can't believe my surgery is only 10 days away. I'm a little excited, but mostly terrified right now. I made the mistake of researching the surgery further and watched a video of an actual procedure.

This is going to hurt so bad initially... So bad...

I'm sitting here trying not to cry at the moment. I'm just feeling so overwhelmed, yet I feel like I can't say anything to anyone. I've hinted that I'm nervous to family and friends... but this is more than just nervous. This is it. This is the absolute end of my massage career. There is no turning back after this surgery. Granted I can't do massage NOW, but with my wrist fused, I have to look at alternatives to everything going forward.

Driving (won't be so bad, I drive that way now)
Eating (will be tricky. Try cutting your food with one hand immobile at the wrist...)
Typing (until my hand is fused AND I can pronate my hand again, I'll be typing one handed.)
Showering (I HATE bathing with a garbage bag on my arm... but it is what it is.)
Grooming (since my elbow will also be immobilized during the cast process, my hair will be an absolute mess. Which reminds me... I should think about dying it next week so I don't have horrible roots right away)

I'm nervous.

A New Focus

I registered for the Komen 3-day walk in August. It might end up being physically impossible for me to do, but damnit I'm going to try. I have to do something... I've just felt so lifeless and empty lately. I need to do something for myself that reminds me I'm alive. Not only for myself, but also for the millions of women who have fought against breast cancer.

It may not have been the "smartest" thing for me to sign up to do, given my physical limitations and emotional vulnerability at the moment... but I did it. I need a goal. Something to work towards...

One step at a time...

Getting Something Together... Kitchen

Through a bit of teamwork between Hubby and I, and the use of my new canisters and labeler, the kitchen is in a much better place now. I'll be honest, it was bad. Really bad... I'm not going to hold anything back here... the before pictures are preeeeeety scary looking. But, here goes.

Before:

 After:

 

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Clearly a vast improvement. Hubby and I agreed that if he and I tackled a room per weekend like this and maintained the past rooms we've attacked, the house will be amazing in just a couple weeks. I'm feeling better. Accomplishment will do that. :)



Getting Something Together... Linen Closet

My body isn't the only thing falling apart. So is my household. Since I am a control freak (I try not to be, really I do...) I need to take control of something. And as my own body seems to be on the fritz (confirmed new tear in lower abs. Joy.) I've decided to try to focus on the things I actually can change.

Like my house.

Currently it's trashed. Mind you, I do kinda live with a hoarder, and I am not the cleanest person in the world either. But it's bad. Like HELL NO company can't come in should they show up. So last friday I attacked the top half of the linen closet. I wanted to start small. Pace myself.

Here was before:

Our linen closet is the catch-all for paper products, cleaning supplies, first aid randomness, and a whole slew of other things. I had been cruising around on pinterest, looking for inspiration, and saw a pin on converting old diaper boxes into storage. That pin was pretty hardcore - covering the boxes with black fabric, then lining the interior with another fabric bag.

Yeah, um, waaaay too involved. I don't want to buy yards and yards of fabric. I do, however, have a HUGE roll of heavy duty brown paper. I covered 3 boxes with the brown paper and used those. I took everythng out of the linen closet and put them into piles based on what they were for. I had the big wicker basket in there already, so I was able to reuse it. Cleaning supplies went in there. I also have containers for bathroom supplies, hair supplies and paper products. It looks soooo much better.

 

After an overhaul and organization:

 

 

I threw out a LOT of stuff. Random empty containers, expired products, etc. I'm feeling pretty good about it.

 

Next hurdle... Attacking the kitchen. I went through and took all my "before" pictures. And I didn't even do a prelimenary clean out to make it cleaner... Nope, it's true, its raw, its filthy!! 

Discharged From OT

It's hard to believe, but as of today I've been discharged from OT. My most sincere thanks and gratitude go out to Marilyn and Kelly, my compassionate, brilliant, amazingly wonderful OT's. I've already friended one of them on fb, and I'm sure I'll be keeping in touch with the other. I feel overwhelming gratitude to these women, who have been so instramental to helping me achieve the tools I need in order to be successful. They have been nothing but 100% supportive along this leg of my journey, and I can honestly say they have been a blessing.

Marilyn and I were discussing today ways to make splints and braces more "beautiful" and I think I may be on to something... I came across a really cool bracelet on Etsy that I may be able to incorporate into my bracing. And it appears it may be easy enough to make on my own. Marilyn even gave me some extra foam and told me to give it a try - and to come in and show her if it is a success!! :D

Here's the bracelet I was looking at:

 I was thinking I might be able to wrap it on top of my already existing brace, or incorporate it into becoming an actual brace itself. I may have to check out Michaels to see what clasps they have, and possible medallions. Maybe a new calling?

Silver Ring Splints

Someone got a Christmas present early... My silver ring splints arrived!! We somehow managed to miss ordering my left thump DIP joint, so that one has been re-ordered... but the rest are in my possession and on my fingers. I'm typing with them on RIGHT NOW. And I have to be honest... My fingers feel AMAZING. I cried at OT today as I zipped up my jacket to leave - I could actually zip up my jacket without any knuckles buckling. They didn't hurt. It was AMAZING. I feel so blessed to have these tools!!

Now to that I feared would be the tricky part... I needed to figure out a way to store them when I have to take them off! There are currently 17 of them (soon to be 18) and they are all different sizes. Well, technically 3 of them are the same size, but I just have to learn/memorize who goes on what joint! So I mentioned this to hubby and he suggested something really quite helpful! He went out and purchased a foam core block that has sections that punch out - it's originally used for storing miniatures - but it worked out just great for the rings! I punched out individual homes for each ring, and there was enough room left over to also create spots for my wrist brace and both thumb braces. Yay!!

And now, for some pictures!

What they look like from underneath:

 

Fingers all braced up and ready to go:



 My fingers look really really swollen in this picture:

Storage container, with all rings and braces inside:

 

Silver rings looking all sparkley and pretty:





Physical Therapy

Met with my new physical therapist... and I couldn't be happier. She confirmed my hypermobility in my fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees, and ankles. She asked me questions that no one ever had that made complete sense. I nearly burst into tears at the end of our evaluation and thanked her for getting it - for not treating me like a hypochondriac and understanding my body. She smiled and nodded and said "I get it. I know how frustrating hypermobility diseases are. Thats why I'm here to help."

She was wearing these beautiful finger splints. As I'm typing, my hand is actually hurting and I'm watching my fingers buckle over backwards. I will ask her for her opinion on finger splints and see if they help her - and if she thinks they may benefit me...

Productive introduction. I'm thinking I'm on the right track here.

She recommended getting a referral to a geneticist. She doesnt want me to accept "joint instability syndrome" as my diagnosis. "So there is a hypermobility syndrome... but which one?" I hadnt even thought of that. So I want to ask the rheumatologist about testing for EDS. I will give them a call in the morning.

Feeling pretty positive. :)

Food 101 - You Are What You Eat

Having allowed myself a little wallow time, I feel remarkably inspired to get down and dirty with how I can do something about what is happening to me. I've decided to focus on diet. I've always had a bit of a food obsession to begin with (bulemia in my teens/early twenties) and I've tried more than once to do a diet overhaul. I've had 2 factors that always lead to their failure. 1) I didn't completely buy into what they were saying - Yes, a plant-based diet does have many many health benefits... but lets be honest here, I like how tush (animal products) taste. I just don't like how animal products are jam packed with hormones, pesticides, antibiotics... and don't get me started on the treatment of those poor souls. 2) Crappy support. So does this mean I can never eat meat or drink milk ever again??

Thankfully, the answer is no. I don't have to give these things up!

I went to a nutritional class on Tuesday with my mom called "One plate at a time: Eating to beat diabetes, inflammatory disease, and cancer" lead by Lisa (The Cultured Cook). She was AMAZING. I seriously can't wait for next weeks class!! Not only that, but she has a course on gluten-free living coming up next month... I can't wait!! But I digress...

In the class we talked about how diabetes and disease reek havok in the body. We only lightly touched on inflammatory diseases, but the following information was more than amazing. We talked about how the body processes what we eat and how we can directly effect our health with our diet. Omega 3's are anti-inflammatory. They are found in high concentrations in green grass. Humans do not produce Omega 3's, nor can we digest grass. So how the heck are we supposed to get these amazing little powerhouses into our systems? By consuming something that consumes the grass! Lisa then introduced the idea that "organic" milk only means no hormones and no pesticides were used in the cows feed or injected into their bodies... but those cows are typically grain fed, not pasture grass fed...

The old atteche "you are what you eat" is true. But you are also what the thing you're eating has been eating.

For a warm fuzzy example of this in nature: Brine shrimp eat red algae. Brine shrimp are pink. Flamingo's eat brine shrimp. Flamino's are... Pink! Flamingo's kept in captivity that are fed a shrimp alternative are... White! See? You are what you eat. ;)

Now for the less fuzzy example... Store bought chicken. Those chicken are fed corn (sprayed with pesticides), corn meal, bone meal (from other chickens, mind you), and chicken litter (ground up chicken parts, feathers, feces, and corn meal that has fallen on the ground). It's enough to make you sick, isnt it? The chickens too, so they are given an antibiotic to keep infection and disease to a minimum. And since those poor souls can't sustain life in those conditions for long, they are given growth hormone to speed up their growth rate so they can be slaughtered before dying from disease.

Yum yum. Dish me up a plate of THAT.

So I have decided no more regular old store bought meats, eggs and milk. I'm done with that. No thank you!

Last week I purchased an 1/8 of a pasture grass fed cow. I currently have just over 50 lbs of assorted cuts of meat in my upright freezer. That should last me a little while. I'm also joining a co-op for my milk, eggs, and poultry. These are all pastured, grass fed animals. Oh, and no antibiotics or growth hormones for these bad boys. The milk is raw whole milk. I know, I know, poo poo me on that one... but is your milk full of Omega 3's? Nope! They've been cooked right out with pastuerization, along with a slew of other vitamins and minerals. Is it a little pricey? Sure... but so are all these freakin medical bills!! If you're in the Metro Detroit Area, check out Family Farms Cooperative We are talking SUPER reasonable not to mention supporting local Michigan farmers. I'm also doing away with canned veggies and plastic bottles for my milk storage... More on that later. ;-)

I'm excited!! :-D

Fun fact for the day: Did you know that if you buy 1 gallon of whole milk and split it between 2 seperate gallon jugs and fill to the brim with water, you now have 2 gallons of 2% milk?? How's that for stretching a dollar??

Sleep...

Everything I have read lately regarding living a healthier lifestyle is pushing "get plenty of sleep." I understand that during sleep is when your body resets and repairs. When your own system uses all those healthy nutrients you've been supplying it with throughout the day to repair the damage you caused it while you were awake.

Sweet. Let me get right on that. I LOVE to sleep!

Oh wait... I can't sleep through the night. I can't get comfy, can't tune out annoying hubby's snoring, can't turn off my brain...

So I tried cutting out caffeine last week. I ended up being crabby AND exhaused all the time... and still not sleeping through the night.

Rheum prescribed flexiril as a sleep aid. I wake up groggy and am still not sleeping well through the night. I just want some coffee... And pop... And SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR!!!!!

I admit, I totally have a sugar addiction. Yeah, I've been toasting marshmallows almost everynight on my stovetop this week. Healthy? Not even close... But tastes so good!!

I know my nutrition and lifestyle needs an overhaul. Starting is the hardest part, right?

So where do I start? No more proccessed sugar? No more gluten? No more caffeine? No more dairy? And how do I convince my family to hop on board with this? Annoying hubby has already stated that he will not give up pasta and bread. Flat out. Not giving it up. Period. I know I can swap out with GF options, but will the stubbornness and lack of support drive me to give up before I've even started? All I can do is try... Decide my life is more important than giving in to whining and kick my own butt into gear!

What's In A Name?

Picking a name for a blog is like naming a kid... You want it to be profound, to be unique, to be "just right" in capturing your hopes and dreams and putting forth the message you want to be heard, loved, accepted.

Keeping It Together.

Yep. It's completely on point. Keeping It Together is exactly what I'm trying to do right now. You see, dear reader, I have recently been diagnosed with Joint Instability Syndrome - thus the swanky "jointinstability.blogspot" web address. I'm literally trying to keep my body parts from falling off.

So what exactly IS Joint Instability Syndrome?

Hell if I know! But this blog will be my online playground where I plan to collect all the little tidbits I can about this oddity, and YOU get to come along for the ride! Or, if you've stumbled across this blog as you too have been diagnosed with JIS, welcome to the party! Hopefully what I learn and share may someday help someone else who is feeling lost, confused, afraid, and utterly alone too.