:: Vertigo ::

Last week, my world started spinning.  No literally…it started spinning because of an inner ear infection.  It started out as a light-headedness once in a while if I moved my head too quickly but rapidly devolved into a Lucille 2 from Arrested Development type of vertigo.  RJ described me as looking like 2 year old Silas trying to walk: low to the ground, knees bent, holding my arms out for balance, and kind of wobbly.
I know it sounds kind of funny, but in reality, I was in tears everytime I had to move my head.  Even closing my eyes, the room felt like it was spinning.  Call me a drama queen, but I would have rather died than deal with the vertigo and accompanying nausea.  I quickly raced to the worst case scenario: I’d have vertigo forever, I’d never get well, I’d have to drop out of graduate school, I’d never have a job, I’d never have kids, I’d be miserable forever.  I know, I know…drama queen.

It amazes me how such a small part of my body could completely debilitate me and have me on my back for 5 days.  For some reason, it reminded me of the passage in James about taming the tongue, how the tongue is the smallest part of the body but unleashed can do a world of evil.  My frickin inner ear, unleashed, did me a whole woooorld of evil.  And it made me think, I gotta watch my tongue, because if it has the capacity to do more evil than this inner ear thing, I gotta rein it in!

Today is the first day that I am starting to feel WELL, praise Jesus!  But it’s always situations like these that remind me of the ugliness of my heart and of my faith in God.  I was so quick to despair, to lose hope.  It also reminds me of the fragility of my life and my body, that all could change in a moment’s notice.  Since I’m a skinny girl (and gripe as I may, I know it) I tend to think that I can put off working out and eating right until my metabolism slows down.  But, maaaaybe if my immune system and body were stronger in the first place, I wouldn’t have gotten sick at all.  I need to care for my body NOW, not just when something goes wrong!

All I can say is this: I am so thankful for health.  So so thankful for health.  Don’t take it for granted.

:: Here’s to Good Health! ::

I haven’t had the best run of luck with my health as of late.  About a month ago, I was plagued with a monstrosity of a canker sore for about a month, which spawned many baby canker sores right above it for a grand total of 10 canker sores at one time.  I did everything I could, I used mouthwash, I used Orajel, I made a baking soda paste to spread on the canker sores (if you love pain, try this one), I gargled with salt water.  And they only multiplied and got bigger.  For a picture of this bad boy, check out my facebook photos.

Then, three weeks ago, I had a severe migraine for about 2-3 days.  It seems as though the migraines are a constant companion about…every 28 days…if you know what I’m saying.  Regular pain killers do NOTHING for those, though my sweet husband went out a bought me Excedrin for migraines, which helped a lot!

Then, two weeks ago, I felt the onset of a bladder infection.  It wasn’t severe, so i thought if I drank a lot of water, I could flush it out.  The next day, within a span of two hours, it went from tolerable to agonizing pain.  (Iknow, I know, wipe from front to back, and pee after sex.  I KNOW.  My male doctor told me with my husband in the room)  I was given antibiotics, which didn’t work, and so the pain lasted for another week before severe back pain accompanied it.

Kidney infection!  I honestly thought I was going to die from the pain in my back and abdomen, I couldn’t sleep at all, and so I went back to the doctor, who gave me stronger medication, and a week later, I am all cured!  Hopefully it lasts, everyone is getting a cold.
All this to say, I am thankful for good health, and the ability to eat food normally and to kiss my husband without worrying about pain.