This is a good rule to live by in tough times. And one I’ve held onto the past week with every ounce of strength in me.
The blog has been a little quiet this past week for good reason. Yes, my book was released last week so it should have been a gigantic high point in my life and the week was meant to be full of celebration and good times. However, last week truly will go down as one of the toughest weeks of my life – even with the bright spot of my book being published.
So when times were hard I remembered the wonderful moments from the previous week. And thought how everyday we often take our health for granted and was reminded why it is so important to be happy and live in the moment.
Popsicles by the pool. How much better can life get?
Last week I finally had to accept help from friends and family. Accepting help can be hard to do – as Moms we do it all and rarely get a day off. Well I had 3 days off with help from family, friends, and even Mike had to take off work one day when I hit my breaking point after 3 days of not being able to eat or drink anything but Jello. I’ve never been such a mess in my 5 1/2 year of being a Mom. Normally, you just can suck it up until you get better. Moms don’t have a day off right?
I can’t thank everyone enough for their generous offers to step up and help me. Texts, emails, phone calls, and facebook messages. My true friends shined like a bright light last week. Thank you everyone! The good news is I’m getting better. And yes I’m sad about canceling that awesome book launch party that was supposed to be complete with a surprise visit from the Ice Cream Man, a facepainter, balloon artist and magician. Canceling that party hurt – but everyone’s understanding, kindness and thoughts made me so happy.
When you are down and out….you really find out who your true friends are.
Here’s my fluke medical scoop with my warning about antibiotic labeling :
I woke up terribly sick last Sunday morning a week ago with an inability to swallow and excruciating pain in my chest. I realized after a quick google search just want had happened to me. My antibiotic that I took before bed without food had dissolved in my esophagus instead of my stomach causing something called – Pill Induced Esophagitis. Which basically meant I probably had an ulcer in my esophagus and tons of inflammation in my esophagus. I was so upset with my pain and this terrible fluke thing that had likely happened to me.
The GI speciliast I saw and him giving me an endoscopy to peek at my insides agreed with my “Google Doctoring” – I had a huge ulcer in my esophagus with inflammation caused by the Doxycylcine antibiotic dissolving in my esophagus instead of my stomach. The doc said he sees a few people a year who this happens to. You can imagine how upsetting it is to think I was perfectly healthy and had I taken this antibiotic with food and not laid down and gone to bed this would not have happened to me.
I’ll have a full recovery but the Doc said Thursday I’ll be pretty uncomfortable for another 1-2 weeks but will gradually get better. Good news- I am improving. Day by day I’m getting stronger as I am now able to eat soft foods and begin to take fluids plus drink Ensure for calories. Plus, he has me on medicine to help coat the ulcer so it has time to heal and this is a godsend.
The problem with medicine labels:
The label only said take with a FULL GLASS OF WATER – which I did do. But however, immediately after taking the pill I laid down in bed to watch TV before falling asleep. Fine print instead the Target bag for my drug that included all regular warnings say to stay upright for 30 mins after taking the pill…. but most people don’t read fine print 2 pages into a medical insert. They look at the label on their bottle and follow the instructions from their pharmacist.
Sometime soon I’ll dedicate a post to my rant on why antibiotics need better labeling – but until then please be cautious with any antibiotics, always take them with food and do not lay down for at least 30 mins after taking a pill.