Doctors, detoxes, the liver & surgery (part 2)

(continued from part 1...)
With nothing else to do, I took the appointment that was 3 weeks away. After a week, I was in so much pain I could barely stay at work. I called the doctor's office to see if there was a cancellation list I could be put on. Turns out God was looking out for me because they called a few hours later with an open slot.
Meeting my new surgeon was great! She was bright, cheerful but to the point. It was when she laid everything out about how differently she wanted to treat things that I was really surprised. She made a comment that I wouldn't be put back on the same medication as before. She said it inherently didn't function the way I needed it to for endometriosis. Essentially I've been on the wrong thing for almost two years. It's no

Doctors, detoxes, the liver & surgery (part 1)

I feel like I'm on a Dr. merry-go-round. The traditional part of me says "don't question your doctors, they know what they're doing". But my body & mind are telling me something's missing. I've changed my diet, took the "compromise" medication, started practicing yoga & qigong & took steps to try and control my stress. I love all of my doctors each in their own way. I appreciate the years of study & practice in their careers. But it wasn't until this week that I began to feel cheated by all of them. A lot of this is personal and more than you might want to know but the blogging community has meant so much to me through all of my struggles I'm sharing this journey in hopes it might help someone like me who's searching too.
After years of following my doctor's suggestions & still having to go into surgery for the fourth time, I got sad. Really sad. How in the world can no one figure this out? What did I do wrong?
In my last year of desperation, I called Vanderbilt's Center for Integrative Health. I knew they had an integrative doctor who took insurance. That is so incredibly rare that I thought- this has to be the answer. I'd prefer to go to a friend's Integrative Dr at the Mind Body Medical Center but it's expensive and why do that when this doctor at Vanderbilt takes Humana? Upon calling for an appointment, they tell me there's a 4 month wait.... 4 months? This guy must be good. But unfortunately it will be too late then, I'll have to have surgery again before that but just in case, I made the appointment. Lucky for me, two months later, I got a cancellation appointment!

Meet Bama - the gluten free dog

My sweet, sweet Bama is 7 years old this week!! And of course we spoiled her with the annual birthday treat & scooby-doo hat party. Every year she tolerates wearing her party hat as long as she gets a great treat out of it! But before you judge and say "wow, they obviously don't have kids..." just know that this dog has been around for more of my life than my husband has and we've been through a lot together. I can attribute a lot of the happiness in my life to her. She's an amazing spirit and I'm lucky to have her!

This year we got her a gluten free birthday cake from See Spot Eat. Why gluten free? Well, the basic truth is... she was smelly. Really smelly. A few years ago, we were fed up with what was coming from our beloved

Quick update

Yay!! The hubby is home!!

I know it's been forever since my last post! I've been dealing with a fair amount of life stuff that's taken me away from the blog. There have been lots of good things (the husband coming home from 5 months in Hong Kong ;) and some challenging things (finding out I'm having a fourth surgery soon).  But I'll be back on the bandwagon soon!
My diet has changed too so the recipes you'll see coming up will be a little different. Through some skin testing, I've found out that chicken and corn are being added to the list of caffeine, sugar, dairy & gluten intolerance. It was overwhelming at first but it's been really great to feel a bit better!! My husband is incredibly supportive as are my friends. Speaking of friends... I'm going to have a few posts about my friends coming up because I'm lucky to have amazing friends who cook gf meals for me! They have mastered adapting recipes when they don't have to and for that they deserve a post ;) They're not only amazing at being friends, they're amazing in the kitchen! I'm a lucky lady with great people in my life.
Until then!
;) April

I love playing in the dirt!

It's almost Spring! I've filled the house with sunflowers, daffodils & zinnias. Fresh flowers are a weakness for me. They remind me that there are so many happy, beautiful things to notice in our everyday, rushed lives. Also, last weekend I got started on the garden! I recently posted about cleaning out the garden itself, but this weekend I got started with planting seeds in my jiffy greenhouse. All of my seeds are organic but I couldn't seem to find any starter pods that were organic. Oh well, you do what you can right?
This year I've decided to scale back what I'm growing. I'm not making the garden smaller, just giving it more room to breathe! My biggest mistake last year was crowding the rows with too many things. I learned that I don't have enough room for vine vegetables and that squash & zuchinni will rot VERY quickly if they dont have the correct amount of room.

This year's garden will include:
Veggies:
Brussel Sprouts
Peas