On The Lupie Side Of The Street

Ah! What a busy day! I've cleaned, cooked, baked, cleaned some more, went to Target, had a final dress fitting, now I'm back at home. Honestly, I'm exhausted and my version of exhausted is probably much different than yours. Take the tired feeling you have at the end of your worst day and multiply it by 100, that's what I feel on a day to day basis. And no, I'm not exaggerating, I'm also still expected to function. I get to do it all without coffee and soda too!

Today I baked an experimental batch of cookies which was a mesh of a bunch of different recipes. The main idea is a low sugar homemade nutella double chocolate chip cookie. Sounds unbelievable and inconceivable right? Wrong! Each cookie has about .03 grams of sugar, which is very, very low. It's virtually impossible to make a homemade cookie that is sugar free especially if you use real vanilla extract. Plus the hazelnuts in my homemade nutella have their own natural sugars. Anyway, baking with Splenda is a huge experiment which the home bakers, such as I, are constantly working on. It's difficult to get the results that one would get if they used sugar. Often times the cookies won't spread on their own so if you want a flat cookie, you have to mash it flat. But I actually prefer the cute half dome cookies that I have perfected.

Laid off from work? Stocks in the toilet? Wondering if you're 401K is worth anything? Eat a "Too Good For Government Work" cookie and for a moment, none of that will matter. Here's the delightful goodness that even Martha Stewart couldn't create!

Oh and my internist called me today, how exciting! Anyway, I'm finishing up my round of antibiotics to "be on the safe side." In the second full week of May I have a follow up appointment. I'm going to have the same tests run and if they come back abnormal, we will go from there. If they come back normal, then we have solved the problem. Why so late to have an appointment you may ask? To give me time to finish up my super pills and then have time for all remnants of the medication to get out of my system. That way my test results will be a bit more accurate.

Tomorrow I'm going to a wedding, I've got one more fitting for my dress my Mom is making me. We are having to take it in because it was a bit on the big side. Hopefully it will turn out OK? I'm looking a bit different since I've gained weight, which I needed to in the first place. But it's leaving me feeling fat and dumpy, I guess I'll get used to my new figure? I haven't walked this past week, just because of the whole kidney party I was having and then the doctors stuff, and then I've been exhausted beyond belief. Hopefully I can get back to walking next week? Perhaps I'll take a short walk tomorrow morning, maybe it will invigorate me?

I'm still Twittering by the way, I'm getting used to it! Thank you everyone on Twitter who's reading my blog, I really appreciate it. Y'all are awesome for welcoming me into the Twitterverse.

I have no idea why I am taking antibiotics when I don't have an infection. Oh yes, I know why! Just to be on the safe side. I love that about me, I can't ever take the dangerous route, I have to be safe all the time. I had the ultrasound of my renal system today to figure out what was wrong. Guess what? I still don't know what's wrong. Unfortunately I don't have the ability to read ultrasounds. Too bad Barnes and Noble seems to be out of the book I was looking for!
Experts say one shouldn't Google medical problems. But I've gotten so good at Google and deciphering my symptoms, 99% of the time my diagnosis is correct. That means 99% of the time I can figure out what's wrong and then when I go into the doctor, it gets confirmed. If I sound cocky, it's unintentional. I think it's a combination of me being a somewhat intelligent human being, I'm very in tune with my body and I listen to what it says, and I Google responsibly. Being an irresponsible Googler would be googling "headache" and believing you have a brain tumor when in reality you have a tension headache. I have my ideas on what I think my kidneys are doing. I'll be good and wait for the radiologist and internist to give me their diagnosis.

At least my ultrasound tech was friendly. She was a middle age woman who was actually a student, not to worry, her instructor was there the whole time. I don't think she missed a spot because every time I turned around I had to switch positions. Ultrasounds are not normally painful unless they press on an area which is already tender. For example, my kidneys. It hurt worse when I had to take a deep breath and hold it. But I'm a big girl and when it comes to pain, I'm a tough cookie. I think doctors have a difficult time with me because I don't feel pain like everyone else. If I do, it's a big, big deal. Except for the fact the pain for me is like a 1 or a 2. For someone else, it would probably be a 7 or 8. I've always had a high tolerance for pain and over the years I've learned to live with pain. It's gotten to the point where I can pretty much ignore all sorts of pain. I suppose it saves me money on pain killers?

Hopefully I will know something tomorrow, preferably in the morning! I am also planning to make homemade sugar free nutella chocolate chip cookies tomorrow! Mmm makes you wish you could come over and eat cookies with me? Just because they will have no sugar doesn't mean they won't be high in calories. I had to throw that warning out there. I was going to paint some today but I never got around to it. Now I'm too cold, brr!

Sorry I haven't updated for the past few days. Life has been incredibly busy for me. Let me give you a bit of a recap. I cooked all day long on Friday! For those of you who don't know, I have a special diet that I keep up with. I don't eat processed foods, sugar, dairy, anything acidic, I also try to stay away from red meat. I cook all my meals for the week ahead of time and I portion them into plastic containers. I freeze them so even on days when I don't feel so well, I can still have meal that is safe for my dietary restrictions. I got some lab work back on Friday which has raised some concerns for me and I am hoping to get more details within the coming week.

On Saturday I went to Shockoe Cemetery with the ladies of the UDC chapter I belong to. It was supposed to be a walking tour with historical information about different people who were buried there. Well, one of the ladies from the chapter brought her three children along. The two older children were wired but extremely well behaved. There was also a baby but I steer clear of babies. I kind of went into babysitter mode and hung out with the kids. I thought the mom could use a bit of a break in the first place. The two munchkins kept asking me about the "dead people" and if they could come out of the ground. By the end of the morning the little boy had a huge crush on me, according to the older sister. I got more flowers from that little boy than I think I have gotten in my whole life. Of course they were dandelions, buttercups, and weeds, but it's the thought that counts.

Afterwards my Mom and I met up with some of the ladies for lunch at Capital Ale House. I hadn't been there in a few years. They didn't have any tables that weren't booths in the front of the restaurant, so they let us have the back room to ourselves. I think it was a good thing, our conversations were interesting to say the least! The food was also really good, considering I'm not a fan of red meat, they had other items on the menu that weren't red meat. I just wanted to see if I could digest it with my new medication. I could and it was a bit on the awesome side. Will I now start eating red meat every day? No. But once every couple of years I might divulge. I'm a take it or leave it type of gal and I can definitely go without the red meat.

Today I woke up early and went to church, 3rd Sunday in a row. It was crowded because it was Palm Sunday. I know this coming Sunday will be crowded because it will be Easter. I like Palm Sunday because I make tons of palm crosses and then I hand them out to people. I was making crosses the whole entire service, I know it's not very mature of me. Oh well, old habits die hard. Everyone at church was thrilled to see me, again. I think everyone is going to be thrilled to see me for another couple of months. Eventually the newness of me will wear off.

I also cooked more food and stored it in the freezer today. I found a really awesome sugar free whole wheat pasta that has omega 3 fatty acids in it! I cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts on my Lean, Mean, Fat Burning machine! I also lightly steamed green beans to go along with my chicken and pasta. After I cooked 6 meals, I ate my lunch and decided I wanted to go for a walk. I'm not supposed to exercise without supervision so I asked my Mom to come with me. We walked all around my neighborhood and then walked up to the drugstore to get some items that were on sale. We walked a total of 2.648 miles! I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but it is for me. I only burned 194.312 calories but of course I wasn't really doing strenuous activity. For me it's not about weight loss, it's about improving my body's well being.

Now I'm at home with a Monk marathon. I am taking time to rehydrate myself but not too quickly. I don't want my kidneys to get unhappy with me! So far I've had 16 ounces of water and I have another 16 ounces to go for now. I am going to hopefully finish a painting this afternoon. I talked to my Mom this afternoon about the whole car thing, since I don't currently have one. I know my Dad will be furious at the thought of having to help me, but he's just going to have to get over it. I don't think he realizes that with a car comes a job, with a job comes money, with money comes me moving out. When I move out, he won't ever have to see me ever again if he doesn't want to. I'm sure that will make him very happy. I still need a job so if anyone needs someone to answer a phone and do secretarial work, I'm your gal!

On Tuesday I have an appointment with the periodontist my insurance is covering me to see. I hope he will be able to do something for my mouth considering I don't have much to work with. I'm feeling a bit nervous that he will say "Sorry, the Lupus has torn up your mouth, there's no point in fixing it because it will get torn up again." So y'all start hoping and praying he can fix my mouth, that insurance will cover it, that it won't take forever, and then I can start getting my life together without many more hassles. I know I'm asking for a lot and I'm really sorry. I just wish that it could be simpler, like I go to a hospital to get the surgery done, they fix my whole entire mouth in an OR, they stick a feeding tube down my nose and into my stomach, I recoup in the hospital for a few days, and then I go home. But of course there is no guarantee the grafts will take, so that's why they probably don't do them all at once!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend! I just can't believe I walked as far as I did. I missed having my i-pod streaming music into my ears. I'm sure I'll be paying for today tomorrow but hopefully it will be worth it. I'm excited about getting back to the Erika I used to be!