Chronic Ama

I'm currently still on a search for as much information as I can find about the pending investigation into the drug Lupron. Lupron is a drug commonly used to treat prostate cancer in men, and more recently, to treat endometriosis symptoms in women (and men in some cases as well). It works by overstimulating the production of hormones, namely testosterone and estrogen, causing them to stop being produced temporarily. I fought with insurance companies in 2015 to take Lupron after having a surgery that provided no relief from my pelvic pain. It was the second to last resort treatment that my OBGYN at the time suggested. We didn't want to skip to the last resort, which was having my last remaining ovary removed, because being only 34, it was not the best idea to undergo surgical menopause. I was excited to try my 6 months of Lupron to see if it provided at least a few years of relief. It was highly recommended, with the only side effects being worsening symptoms shortly after t...

I had the most amazing weekend! That makes two in a row. I hope we keep this as the current trend.  Friday was our first PTO event at the school. Sonoran Science East PTO First Annual Trunk-Or-Treat! I was so surprised at the amazing turn out as well as all the helping hands we had! The event even came together without any huge snags! It was a little stressful, I'll admit, but it was worth all the work we put into it. I'm excited to start planning more! Saturday we celebrated the life of the woman that showed me what friendship is all about. And we celebrated together as an amazing tribe of people. Linnea, you gave me the one thing that I had needed and searched for and that is an amazing group of people that are so full of love and caring. You showed me it was OK to be me, with all my flaws and everything. You welcomed me and my family into the tribe and we will forever be grateful for that. My kids are surrounded by other amazing kids and they are care for by so ma...

OH MY GAWD! I have so much to say right now. Like, my brain finally processed all that noise and now I can package it up and sell it like American cheese. Calm down. Not sure where I was going with that cheese part, except I haven't had much to eat today unless you count the popcorn samples and can of Chef Boy-are-you-kidding-me-this-isn't-pasta I ate. Oh, and a pretzel at work because I love stress eating and intended to, but life happened and I still have a pastry from my all time favorite spot chilling in a bag on the table... It's all because this morning I dropped the thing I love just a little more than my kids as a result of my back spasm. My beloved make-up and brushes cascaded down around me like Sephora was literally making it rain. Sit down, I actually do love my kids more, even when my favorite black sparkly Kat VonD lippie is painted on the side of the bathroom cabinet. I held my breath inhumanely long when I saw that disasterpiece. So yeah, my back spams s...

I've decided to leave yesterday's blog as an abandoned draft. Sometimes I need to do that to grow from what I've written. It wasn't very nice. It was a whole lotta me being unhappy with work and feeling stuck. I have come to terms with the fact that I can't change it. I can't magically take the stress away and return my happy work family to a time before so much discontent. I believe that while each one of us does contain the power to change things if we so wish, there are some things we cannot change. Those that fail to bend usually break. Work is broken. It's toxic and I cannot be part of the redeeming forces that may or may not eventually bring back the bend that is so necessary to excel in anything.  Moving on now... I had another amazing day today for two reasons. One reason being that I had a follow up appointment with my new OBGYN. My bloodwork is all great (normal). No thyroid problems! Normal blood sugar. No more low potassium. I think my...

Today we had an early birthday celebration and we celebrated in style... Dia De Muertos style! We had tacos for dinner, followed by my first viewing of the movie "Coco" and finishing off with my homemade Pan de Muerto and other delicious pan dulce. Happy birth month, Jon! The highlight was actually finally watching "Coco," which I had been putting off for months and months for fear of becoming a ugly crying mess. I do that on occasion and I had heard time and time before that this movie was a tear jerker. And guess what? I cried just a little bit. It was such a fun movie! So colorful and also the source of my new favorite thing to sing to my kids when they make me "un poquititito loco," which is pretty much every day. It left me wondering, why do abuelitas always look so so angry in pictures? And I have pictures of abuelitas from multiple generations to back this up! (Thanks to my ancestry project a few years back.) It is just because a woman's j...

To be honest, I'm writing this blog a few days late. I had such an amazing weekend, I kinda made blog notes, but that's as far as I got. I spent most of my Saturday with my tribe, including 13 kiddos and some pretty amazing adults. Man, I needed that connection so badly. I am so incredibly grateful for having other parents that I can relate to. Not that I didn't have that at all, but it just feels great to click as part of a group.  I think all adults, parents or not, need friends. And not just people we see on occasion. I believe we need the kind of friends that we can laugh and share with or even swing to the other extreme and share our grief with and, of course, everything in between that. Plus, it's a bonus for me when there are other parents, no matter the age of the kids. Kids need friends too and when they can learn to relate to kids of different ages, it builds on their social skills. Really, we just all need friends. That's it, plain and simple. ...

We made it through another week, my friends. And this week ended quite fabulously. I spent a whole day at the kids' school helping out. First, I helped with picture retakes. Then, I made boxes for a candy competition to help with our Trunk-or-Treat event. Next was lunch with both my kids. I treated them to a special lunch and I also helped clean the cafeteria. I ended my day with distributing event fliers and candy collection boxes to each classroom. Let me tell ya, I was so impressed with how hard the staff and teachers work. I was excited to meet more of the teachers and staff. The amazing office ladies were busy from the start to the end of the day helping parents, sick kids and teachers alike. The principal started the day with a staff meeting and then spend the rest of the day going from classroom to classroom listening to and mediating between students that needed problem solving help. It is so refreshing to be part of a school that cares so much about the students and...