Tag Archives: Netflix

Whew!

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Whew!! Wow I just looked at my date book!! My calendar says the semester will be over in a few weeks HOLY CRAP!!! I have a major paper due in one class…and that will include a powerpoint presentation on May 1st. And then in my second class I have a small project due next week and then a final presentation on April 24th.  So I am almost done! Thank goodness I did a lot of work during Spring Break so I am able to go through the week a little less stressed YAY!!

Which this week  I was extremely thankful for that because I spent the whole week sick! I did make it to work on Wednesday and Thursday but then I stayed home on Friday. I thought on Wednesday I was on the mend but I woke up so much worse on Thursday. Booo!!! But by this afternoon I’m feeling a bit better and I was able to work on homework this afternoon. YAY!

I spent yesterday and today catching up on my shows on Hulu! YAY! And then maybe tonight I will have some Netflix fun! :-P Thank goodness for those two ways of watching T.V. I have not paid for cable in two years :) …thank you Hulu and Netflix!

My goal is to start taking Arava again on Monday. It has been rough this week not having it but I had hoped being off Arava would speed up my healing from my cold. Not sure I can say it did but at least I tried! I was able to stay on my Lyrica so thank goodness my Fibro did not flare! YAY! Praise God!

Now to just make it through the next few weeks! I cannot wait until the 26th I am heading to San Francisco. My first time to the west coast! :) I will spend three days there…landing in San Diego on my way :) Cannot wait!!

 

First Day of SPRING BREAK!!

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First day of Spring Break!! YAY! Of course my first day had to be one when I was sick to my stomach all day and curled up on the couch from pain! Really?? Well not that day I would have wanted but at least I got to stay at home and catch up on some shows…including Dallas (just hit Netflix!!). SCORE! So I have a whole schedule of homework planed! Although today was my ONE day to do ZERO homework! It feels great!

Tomorrow I have some reading to do, a powerpoint to work on, and then a paper to edit. My IRB‘s were approved so that means after Spring Break I can start working on my project! YAY! I’m excited…nervous..scared..but thrilled to be getting to this point in my research. I also will be presenting a chapter to the class on the 27th! WOW! Another ahhh moment but again working on my confidence and of course making sure I’m ready.

I have realized how Rheumatoid Arthritis impacts my eyes….my eyes are soo dry (officially Chronic Dry Eye —-I think Sjogrens). I wake up every morning and my eyes feel like sandpaper. I’m walking around with drops all the time and I have noticed that my vision is changing :( . Isn’t that sad! It is just another note to people who go “oh that is just arthritis.” Rheumatoid Arthritis is NOT just ARTHRITIS! It is so so so so much more!

My Fibromylagia decided to not be my friend today either! Don’t you love waking up in the morning and your hands/feet/legs have such pain!! Ahhh oh pain please leave! I think somedays that is my thought from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed!

But you know it is encouraging that despite pain ….people are accomplishing so much. I have met such inspirational people….people whose stories are so incredible. Maybe one day I can start sharing their stories….I will say those of us with RA/Fibro/and ever other invisible disease….we have strength! We fight hard!

 

 

One of those days

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Have you ever had one of those days??? You didn’t get much sleep the night before, you lay down to take a nap and you cannot sleep, your head feels stuffed up from your cold, your throat hurts and your body just feels body slammed. One of THOSE days! Yes today is one of those days. I’m not sure if it because of the two weeks of sickness…that continues and seems to never end….or the renewed class/studying/researching. Or maybe a combination of all of the above.

So today I have spent most of my time in my office…I figured if I cannot sleep, cannot go out, and cannot seem to get well…I might as well use my energy productively. I am making strides on my homework! YAY! And my trusty dissertation/RA dog (Molly) has been at my side all day. She slept all night while I watched aimless movies on Netflix. Sometime about 2:30a.m. when she realized I was not in my usual curled up sleeping position, she decided that I needed extra love. And decided to curl up next to my legs for more comfort. Then when I got up she jumped right in my lap to give me some love while I attempted to nap. As I moved into the office Molly decided she would curl up on her dog bed, now moved next to the desk. And here she sleeps, curled up in a little white ball of fur. I love having this 9 pound dog just loving on me all day.

Granted I love my cats (my two spoiled brats). But cats do not tend to love on you even when you need it. Precious and Pepper love on me about 9:00pm when they want their food. After that or before then…the couch gets their love. So having Molly who just follows me around and loves on me…even when I feel so bad…is nice!!

I wrote on full discussion board post today, I read one journal article, one reading assignment  and am about 80% through one other chapter. I have a writing exercise to do and an IRB proposal to work on. Thank goodness Monday is a holiday! I hope to make some strides though this afternoon/tomorrow so that I can rest some more on Monday.

Being a student, doctoral, graduate or other, is tough! If you are studying you have made a choice, an admirable choice. You have a passion to gain academic knowledge despite the cost to your life. You have to study, write papers, and learn information that might or might not be fun to learn. You realize that you have to take time away from your friends, family and other social activities to make your deadlines. And if you are doing all the above with Fibromyalgia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Lupus (or any other invisible illness)….wow it is an amazing feat. You have to be proud of what you are doing.

And that is not to say that if you did not go through higher education, that you are less of a person! TRUST ME that is so not so! I am proud of people who have full life with out the higher education. I was planning on doing that but I fell in love with being a student. But this life is not for everyone, if you are not passionate about it or feel like it is you…that is fine! Go and do something that you love, that is the key. Do something with your life that you love! If you do not love what you do….life is just harder. If I did not love school…trust me I be miserable.

In all…just living for us spoonies and squeakers is a handful. And you know there are days just getting out of bed…should earn me a medal (and you to). But the days I can do other things…I am thankful! I am thankful that today I can still study! If you are studying…I tip my hat to you and say…”lets do this!” Let’s finish this road strong! If you are thinking of doing it..do it! We are hear for you! If you decided this road wasn’t for you, then lets party when those of us studying are done! Ya’ll who are not in school get dibs on planning the big party! : )

 

A Day of Rest

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Well obviously God knew that (a) I wasn’t ready to quit being on vacation and (b) that I just needed more rest. And since I wouldn’t listen I had to get majorly sick! LOL! Well probably not but that is one of the reasonings that is going on in my head tonight. My throat is worse, and I woke up feeling like I have the flu (wow that ER doc was smart!!! DARN!). Fever has been up…and it has been down….and currently it is going up! YAY ME NOTT!!!!

But Molly and I have cuddled on the couch…we have watched a TON of Netflix (getting my money’s worth LOL!). And tomorrow I am hoping to work on my paper. For some reason this paper is hard to start…I’m not sure if it because I work best under pressure these days or I just REALLY don’t want to give up my vacation. The paper right now is 29 pages but because I added some stuff in my brief introduction I need to add a bit more..and we are talking small small things and maybe it is because I know they are so small…that I am procrastinating. Nevertheless I hope it gets done tomorrow.

I’m hoping my fever is permanently gone tomorrow!! That would be nice. I never know how bad a fever could wrack my poor RA/Fibro body. The joint pain I have had the past two days has been unreal. Even with my Lyrica…seems like I have taken nothing. And then it seems like my body has knives stuck in it and then for kicks my joints all swollen and twisted (we are talking every joint). Hmmm I’ll be SOOO ready for this day to pass.

What have I learned from this experience??? I have no immune system, zip zero nada…at least not one to talk about! When I can get sick and within 12hrs be majorly majorly ill….there is no immune system working there! BUT that also tells me that within a month I have managed to knock down my immune system so “hopefully” if I can balance the side effects…my RA should start to improve! YAY!

I have also been able to spend some time researching RA, RA meds and stuff like that. I never knew how little I knew about my diseases until I started to research. I was not aware of all the TNF stuff ,the DMARD stuff etc. Why should I care about it all?? Mostly because I keep getting so many questions about Rheumatoid Arthritis. Such as what does it do, why does it hurt so bad because it is just arthritis right???? And why on earth would I or do I take autoimmune suppressants??? That’s wrong right?? What causes it???

Thank goodness I love to research because it takes time. I didn’t take much time before but hey what else can I do….I have no voice, no immune system and am contagious so I’m staying homebound. LOL! It is a sign.. I needed to do this research LOL! (probably a sign to do my paper too….God knew it wasn’t ready!!!)

Another positive of staying home…I found the West Wing on Netflix!! SCORE!! So I’m going to go watch more tv, I’m going to rest and hopefully tomorrow…some improvements will be seen!!! :P

 

Pain Today…Gone Tomorrow

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Pain was horrible today…yet again I realized how hard it is to do things when your body feels run over. For a good portion of the morning I had brain fog…I struggled to keep awake. Not only that but I was working at home today so I was battling curling back up in my bed! Well good news the bed did not win but I am exhausted!! What is still keeping me up??? Yes you know it….PAIN! Then I was so tired and body hurt so much that I really did not get too much of my homework done. I updated my FB page’s cover (and that did take awhile) and then I just relaxed watching a good show on Netflix. I gave today all I could give, and that to me makes a good day.

I thought today…what would a day of no pain feel like…it has been so long since I have had one of those. My typical day consists of pain from the moment my eyes open until my eyes close. Granted the intensity of pain varies from an annoying ache that does not go away (this is in my hands, knees, hips, back, ankles, toes and fingers. And a little in my shoulder and elbows) to a stabbing pain that prevents me from moving. I picture a day when I can wake up in “remission” so that when I get up I am like I was before….normal. Where I can go and go and go and not get exhausted after putting on my makeup or getting dressed.

I realize now (don’t they say hindsight is 20/20) how selfishly I took for granted simply moving. I took for granted a pain free day and I wish I had not.  I have so much more on my to do list that needs to get done!!! I need to go to the Asian continent and see my list of things, I have to go back to Africa to see more things and I have to travel Europe more!! I cannot have pain every day right….and then….I wake up and realize I was just picturing a day….that my life IS PAIN every day!

The pain varies from my RA and my Fibromyalgia. Although on a typical day both are hard at work making sure their unwanted invitation to my life is not forgotten!!! Who ever sent the invitation to these diseases….we must have words! I know now I would NEVER invite them to my life….these diseases don’t get the hint to LEAVE! :)

One positive..although it might seem like a small positive…is that I am adjusting ok to the Arava and Lyrica. Are the side effects gone…no by NO means! I am up for liver labs in March…I’m interested to see those tests. I am also hoping to have lowered my CRP and ANA. The meds are NOT great for my body, in fact they are horrible for my body…but they help…in their cruel way the meds help. So I am thankful tonight I have them….not too long ago I did not have them.  And I know right now there are many who NEED them but still do not have them. Keep those people in your thought tonight. Say a prayer or send a positive thought that those people’s Fibromyalgia and/or RA is eased tonight!

See ya’ll later!