(AF) Ills Sneak Up On You! - part 1

I do believe that I said in one of my past posts that I would be writing quite a few posts to 'catch up' with you all. But instead, I became even more slack and I have soooo much to write about to catch up with all of our readers, that I don't even know where to  begin!

I guess the best place to start is to tell you where I have been. I have been ill for the past few months. Each day I would think, "Tomorrow, I will feel better and write a post and get something done around here.", but, instead, each day, I very slowly, but progressively got worse.

I really hesitated writing this post. I prefer to write happy, fun, upbeat, and informative posts. But, since this blog is about every aspect of mine and Dave's lives, combining them together, and all of our ups and downs, I am going to put this out there and hope that at least one of you can pull some useful info from it. After all, moving into a self-sufficient, self-sustaining, natural lifestyle isn't always easy or without hardships. . . . . . .

For quite awhile now I have been feeling like I was drained of energy. Even the smallest of chores made me feel exhausted. And I constantly felt like I just couldn't get my body to moving. Then, over the winter, I had a hard stomach virus, the flu, followed by yet another stomach virus that made the flu look like a piece of cake! (and we mustn't forget the resulting bronchitis a couple of times)   I got through them all, but after they passed, I just couldn't get my energy back. Each day I would think I would feel better the next. But instead, each day, I felt a little more drained than the day before.

My eyes hurt, and my head felt funny. Light from the computer screen especially hurt my eyes, so, consequently, I haven't been on my computer much, lately. I tried getting out a different pair of glasses, I went into my computer panel and dimmed my screen, but nothing helped. Staring at my computer made pains shoot through my head.  Without realizing what I was doing, I was also avoiding going outside in the bright sunshine (the part of the day I really needed to be outside this time of year) because the sunlight hurt my eyes so badly, too. Day by day, in teeny tiny little bits, I was closing down.

You know, I find it interestingly odd how an ill can sneak up on us ever so slowly that we adjust to it as it sloooowly grows and, well, we just .... flow with it ..... living with the minute, but constant adjustments we make by the day to flow with an ill because, 1) it comes on so slowly, and 2) -and more importantly- we are far too busy with our every day lives to take a moment to notice that we are sick, until the original little sick, festers into a big bad sick.  And that is exactly what I was doing. I was occasionally treating the annoying little symptoms and going on with my daily life, not paying close enough attention to what was causing the annoying little symptoms. Most of us are guilty of it. But then, in my defense, over the past few years, when I had gone to the doctor, doctors hadn't caught it, either!

So what am I talking about? And abscessed tooth! No, it hadn't hurt. I apologize, in advance, if this post starts jumping around a bit. Please, comment and let me know if you have problems following this post. I need to back up a little to  before I went to the dentist......

So, over a long period of time, I was feeling slow, run down, drained, and, in general, yucky.  Then I suddenly started to feel really bad, and I knew I had to get some medical help. Also, one of my top, back teeth started hurting, and, since I had lost the one behind it a year ago due to an abscess (and they said it might be, too, but then it was probably coming from the one tooth they removed and would clear up) and my sinuses on that side were beginning to hurt, I was certain it was abscessed and I needed to see a dentist, too. Abscesses are a serious thing and not to be taken lightly. But I was in a 'round robin' spot. Sales through the winter had been down, I had missed opening a lot due to feeling so badly, I couldn't go to the doctor without money, but was too sick most days to work my own business or look for work at someone else's business. So I had to swallow my pride and apply for some assistance to get some medical help because my condition was getting downright scary, literally, life or death.

While I was at the assistance office, just as they called me to come in, I started feeling HORRIBLE. I stood up, walked a few feet, looked at the woman and said, "I don't feel so good." She said, "You don't look so good, either, you look really pale. Do you think you can make it in here to my office to a chair?" Somehow, I slowly managed to make it down the short hall and into her office to a chair, but I am not sure how. I was having a mini stroke and the entire left side of my body went numb. By the time I sat down, I couldn't move any of it and I was barely able to talk. I asked for water and she quickly got that for me. She asked me what I thought it might be. The only thing I could think of at that moment (I obviously wasn't thinking very clearly at that moment) was that I had eaten some store bought cookies (which I rarely ever do) and it might be my sugars from my hypoglycemia. So she gave me a packet of tuna! It actually did seem to help a little.

I slowly filled out the paperwork (I was having trouble focusing on it), and she made me stay until the 'spell' seemed to have passed and I could kind of walk again, she said she would try to rush the paperwork through because I really needed to see a doctor, then I left to go home, head really foggy. NO ONE attempted to get me any medical attention, not even after I said my whole left side of my body was completely numb! In front of her, I had to pick my left arm up with my right arm, and place it on the paper I was filling out to hold the paper down so it didn't slide around. I could not physically move my left arm. Over the next week I had about 4 more 'spells' of varying degrees. Each one completely drained every drop of energy I had left, not to mention scared the crap out of me! 

   Also Read:  Part 2     Part 3    Part 4   Part 5   Part 6