My Chronic Life

photo by gr8phul1

January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month. There are many birth defects that can be prevented now. Education is the key. Women who are planning a pregnancy can take advantage of a preconception visit to their Gynecologist, Obstetrician or Primary Doctor.

Here’s a list of some of the things that women can do preconception to help keep themselves and their baby healthy:

• Have regular checkups while attempting to get pregnant
• If a woman has a chronic medical condition such as Diabetes, Lupus, etc. attempt to control the condition, learn what medications are safe to continue taking while attempting to conceive and while pregnant, and see your doctor right away if there are any complications
• Stop smoking, drinking alcohol and using illicit drugs
• Check if vitamins or herbal supplements are safe to continue to take
• Begin taking mulitivitamins including Folic Acid (please check with your doctor to get the correct dosage)
• Avoid dangerous environmental and occupational exposure
• Maintain a healthy diet

As soon as a woman learns that she is pregnant, seek prenatal care. Don’t wait! If this pregnancy wasn’t planned it is very important to get started on the mulitvitamins with folic acid and get a checkup.

Knowing that woman can help prevent some birth defects is a powerful tool in giving power to women during their pregnancy. Being educated on all aspects of the pregnancy may help women who have not maintained a healthy lifestyle do so now.

Please visit the March of Dimes website for more information on preconception and prenatal care.

Having numerous problems with my eyes and my vision including Myasthenia Gravis and Sjogren’s Syndrome, my Opthamologist has his work cut out for him. He not only has to concern himself with my eyes being dry, putting plugs into my tear ducts, checking my eye pressure (due to medication I’m on that can cause glaucoma), checking for serious eye issues due to the chronic illnesses I have, he also has to make decisions about my need for glasses.

It’s difficult to determine my correct vision because my eyes are so dry. He tries to save me money by having me purchase over the counter reading glasses because he doesn’t want me to have to change lenses if he’s wrong about my vision or if my vision changes when my eyes have more moisture.

I’m going to see my Opthamologist tomorrow. It’s a regular checkup but I’ve been having some serious problems seeing. I’m going to tell him about this great discovery: $ 8 Zenni Optical Rx Eyeglassess. This way if I need to keep changing lenses it won’t be a problem.

January marks National Cervical Cancer Screening month. Cervical cancer is the second-most common type of cancer among women worldwide, and in 2007, an estimated 11,150 cases of cervical cancer were diagnosed in the United States. Half of the women diagnosed with cervical cancer are between the ages of 35 and 55. Two types of the human papilloma virus (HPV), which affects one in four women, are the most common causes of cervical cancer.

From Planned Parenthood National Cervical Cancer Screening Month

Pap tests should start at age 21 or 3 years after a woman becomes sexually active. Regular pap tests can determine if a woman is at risk for cervical cancer because of the pre-cancerous stages that a screening can find.

We now have not only the ability to screen for cervical cancer through a pap smear, we now have the HPV vaccine. The HPV vaccine can be given to girls who are 11 - 13. The vaccine is most effective when given before a woman becomes sexually active.

It can be given after the fact too since a woman most likely does not have all 4 of the HPV types that can cause cervical cancer. Currently there is no test that can tell the specific types of HPV just that it is active in a woman’s body.

Being abstinent, using condoms and getting yearly check ups can lessen the risk of cervical cancer. Let’s be active in her health decisions! Take control of your body! We have so much that can help us to prevent illness. Take advantage of it.

I’ve joined the Woman’s Bible Study that meets every Wednesday morning at 10 AM. We’re studying the book What’s So Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey. This book and the study today has me thinking about a lot of things in my life. I need to focus and re-think some painful issues concerning broken ties in my family.

It’s so easy to say that I’ve tried everything instead of really trying forgiveness and prayer. The Pastor’s wife who is running this study made a comment about how difficult it is to be angry with someone when you’re praying for them.

So instead of me giving myself credit for asking for forgiveness, for saying I’m sorry I’m going to pray and work on true forgiveness that only comes with the grace of Jesus.

We plan on watching the movie, Babette’s Feast which is mentioned in the book. I’m looking forward to that. I’m also looking forward to getting to know the women in this group on a more personal level. I’ve opened up a lot in one meeting. This type of study will definitely bring us closer together.

Take a listen to me on Blog Talk Radio. I was a guest of Cheryl from Magies Place . She helped me to promote my favorite non-profit group DOUA - Disabled Online Users Association, my blogs including Brain Foggles, my website, my Squidoo lenses and my eBay store ShawnsBidness Collectibles.

I even got to talk about the chronic illnesses that I have including Myasthenia Gravis and Sjogren’s Syndrome. Having the opportunity to promote myself and to pass along information about these rare diseases was a dream come true.

If you’re interested in learning more about anything we discussed on the show, or that I’ve posted here feel free to contact me. I did forget to mention that I do reviews on both blogs for eBay stores, websites or individual products. Just click here to get more information.

Continuing from my last post having the children remain throughout the church service went extremely well. So well in fact that the children are looking forward to next week’s service.

We called the area where they sat, the “Kid’s Zone” and hearing them sing loudly gave me goosebumps. Peanut felt proud in being able to sit through the service and even learned some of the routine of our service like the Lord’s Prayer comes after the Pastor’s Prayer but before the Offering.

I brought her “church notebook” with some questions in it because we know in advance what the sermons will be. I went a bit overboard with my questions but it was better to have too many than not enough. Peanut even asked me about some of the things she didn’t get to answer. Now that’s amazing!

Parenting in the Pews by Robbie Castleman gives some great advice on how and why to keep your children in church instead of hide them away in a darkened room or in a program like we had, Children’s Church. Of course babies can attend a church nursery if the baby is fussy or crying. Sometimes parents want to put their full attention into the church service.

Our Pastor recommends starting your children in church at the age of four. Again this depends on your child. A younger child may be able to be in church if their personality suits being quiet and still for a while. I kept both Peanut and Lady Ali in church as infants, put them in the nursery around the age of one but then brought them back into church around three. They were able to not only be still but to entertain themselves so there were no issues with them being too noisy.

I’m enjoying this change in our church. I pray that our members understand that children are part of our congregation and that Jesus wanted children around him even when his disciples thought they were annoying Jesus.

Tomorrow we’ll be starting Sunday School. Our church is going through some changes, all for the better. We haven’t had Sunday School in years because we didn’t have enough children to attend. We’re growing now that we have our new Pastor. So we’re going back to Sunday School and the children staying in church throughout the service.

We used to have Children’s Church run by our Children’s Ministry Leader but now she’ll be teaching Sunday School. Peanut isn’t very happy about this turn of events but I’m sure she’ll get used to it soon.

I have to make an effort to get to sleep at a decent hour so we’ll be on time tomorrow. I’ve already helped Peanut choose her clothes for church so she’s got her things organized including her Bible.

I don’t do well in the early morning. I hurt all over but I’ll be sure to sleep well tonight and start off the morning with prayer and a very positive attitude. I’ll be going to Sunday School too. I’ve missed it. So a new journey begins for me too.

Hubby works hard, really hard at his job. He works overtime and has a long drive to and from work. With me being sick a lot of the time and having two daughters our bills can get overwhelming even with our best intentions.

We’ve never needed to look for  payday loans but we’ve been close. I know if we’d need to do something like this to get by I’d want a place where it’s easy to apply and where the company sends your application out to several lenders so I don’t have to do all that work. Because if we’ll need money we’ll need it fast.

Christian Faith Financial has a site that I would consider. I like that they even have Scripture at the top of their website. “Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21″  We would be able to overcome some difficult times with an emergency loan.

How do dentists, their assistants and dental hygienists do it? How can they understand a person when their mouth is either wide open, full of dental tools and hands or numbed?

I guess it’s part of the job description. Or maybe it just becomes a skill you learn as you work in the dental field. I got to see this skill in action the other day. And I was really impressed.

Peanut had oral surgery. She had to have a baby tooth removed that was under the gum and preventing her molar from coming in. The tooth was lodged in there pretty good because the dentist had to cut it into four pieces before he could remove it.

Of course it was traumatic for Peanut (she actually did well in a Valium haze) and for Hubby and me. The worst was seeing them put her IV in. I have a new found respect for parents of children who are really sick. My faith tells me I could handle it, but wow it would be the most difficult thing I’d have to do.

Any way, Peanut was done and they were trying to wake her from the anesthesia. It was taking a while. When we got in there to see her. She was crying and talking. She was talking a lot. She had gauze in her cheek as well as a numbed side of her face. But the nurse or assistant was talking back to her. Peanut would say something to me or Hubby and we’d look at the woman to translate.

I look back on it now and it was hilarious. Here we are her parents and not understanding a word she said. Thank goodness she feel asleep on the way home and then most of the day. I’d hate to ask her, “What did you say?”

I joined Rankrz which is a beta-site right now, but it looks like it will be out of beta soon if it continues to do what it plans. Joining Rankrz is easy and fun because you get to choose what ranking tags you want to associate yourself with.

Here’s what I’ve done so far with my page and ranks: Connie’s Rankrz page. I’ve used words that describe what I do as a blogger and as part owner of an eBay Store and website. I got to add some ranking tags like “eBay” and “free eBay advertising” which was nice to be the first one to do so. Not only fun but this can help me get some traffic and sales too.

Since my rankings are new when you click on them they link only to me! Yes that’s good. As this site grows I’m sure it won’t remain like this but for the time being I’m a happy camper.
I also got to add my blog address so people can link right here. Again that’s another way to get traffic but it also helps us bloggers who freelance and do paid posts as my traffic and Alexa ratings help me get higher paid jobs.

Another thing you can do at Rankrz is add your Google and Amazon Associate information. What this does is produce ads according to your tags and rankings. It’s suggested that you broaden your information in your tags to small paragraphs which I’ve done already. This helps the site pick up ads that are relevant to you. Anything that helps me make money while I’m sleeping is good in my opinion.

Don’t forget to rank other members’ tags. This is some of the fun part of this site and it’s growing community. It’s not just about the money. There’s information on music, movies and even sports. You can add more. Have a good time and see what other rankings you can come up with.