Monday, July 11, 2011

Always Wear Sunscreen

Overall, It was a good weekend for me (I consider anytime in which I can be active w/o a nap a good day).  Friday night was spent with my family for my mom’s birthday.  We had steaks on the grill and played games and I got to hang out my favorite munchkins.  They always brighten my spirits, which is what I have needed.  Saturday was spent in Madison on a spur of the moment trip.  The days that aren’t planned always seem to turn out the best.  I was able to see one of my dear friends from college, Megan, and catch up with her.  That AND I ate the best BLT sandwich in my life - it had avacado... it was delish and I'm still having dreams about it (shout out to Tipsy Cow in Madison)! I was also hoping to see my cousin Shannon & her family but that didn’t work out since we spent the better part of an hour trying to get unlost (I don’t even know if that’s a word) – guess I will just have to make another trip ;).  I was pooped out by the time we got home but I was able to make it until 10:30 pm.  Sunday started out alright but as the day wore on, I began feeling worse & worse.  The rash on my forehead & cheeks seems to be getting better & better by the day.  Thanks to makeup, it is barely visible.  We bought new sunscreen and made sure it contained zinc oxide.  I was very surprised to learn that many of the sunscreens out there DO NOT contain it, even though it is the only mineral that provides complete UVB/UVA protection & has anti-inflammatory properties.  [Speaking of sunscreen, I’ve included a fun song below that sends a good message and always makes me feel better after hearing it].  After we got our weekly shopping done, I was pretty much a couch potato the rest of the night and was in bed by 8:45pm.

Also, over the weekend, I came across these articles and wanted to share them with you.  After I read this one I was so inspired and wanted to contact him to see if I could meet up with him!  J Wishful thinking I know but what a great goal to accomplish and for a terrific cause no less. There is a link to his blog within the article if you’d like to follow his journey.  

When I came across this article I wanted to pass it along because there are a lot of good resources listed as well as coping strategies.  I thought it might be a helpful tool that people could bookmark and reference in the future.
  
It’s a big week of appointments for me.  Today I’m off to see my PCP (primary care physician) to get some tests run for some symptoms I’ve been having.  I called them last week regarding frequent urination, bubbles in my urine, back pain, low grade fever and general malaise and they wanted to see me.  I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to see him but alas...  They will be running some tests which I’m hopeful will all turn out normal.  This is the one thing about this illness – a majority of the things (at least in my case) are all precautionary measures.  This morning, my temperature was 99.2, which is down from the weekend so I’m hoping that is a good sign of things to come.  Tomorrow I meet with my neurologist for my numbness, tingling and loss of feeling.  Hoping it’s successful and that I’m able to start getting some answers.  When I know, you’ll know.

Till next time…

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