Month: March 2021

Tracking Labs Reveals Flare Frequency

Medical disclaimer:  I am not a doctor.  I am an autoimmune sufferer.

 

I recently had another barrage of labs.  This included my regular and my annual for the endocrinologist.  I keep track of them on a spreadsheet.  I also happen to use the graph results from the lab company that posts my results.  I have known that a couple of my labs seem to roller coaster.  Upon further examination, I noticed another trend.   They seem to be consistent with my flares.  Even though the flares are not as bad as when I was first diagnosed, it is evident.

I will have a high inflammation one lab, the next be in normal, then again a high number.  So, labs are about 6 weeks apart.  That means at least once a quarter I am in a flare.

 

Now, more news on that front.  How to tell the flares apart….

I am starting to notice the subtle differences between the flare symptoms.

If I am achy, feel tingling feet/hands and experience restless legs; that is my fibromyalgia.

Achy joints that are relieved by heat.  Hello Mr. Arthritis.

Excessive dry skin, fatigue and coughing is the Sjogren’s.

Funky rashes and fatigue are Mrs. Lupus.

I have been lucky not to have an war of multiple at once like 6 years ago.  I was just a hot mess then.

Most of my extreme symptoms are being managed by my medication, vitamin and complimentary therapies.

Thank you God for the medication, plants, masseuses, and music.

Every day I open my eyes, I am grateful to see another day.  I tell myself that I am to make a difference in the world today.  God is not done with me yet.

My morning Mantra:

I am breathing.  My medication is working.  Today is going to be a great day.

 

May you find your labs revealing as to how your body works.

 

Thank you to Pinterest for this beautiful inspirational picture.

Online Schooling – Friend or Foe

It has been a while since I have posted an opinion.  I am going to try to put both sides of the coin out there for you to decide.

School year is just a little over halfway done.  Some students returned to physical school in October and others did not.  At my place of employment, about 60% returned to physical while the rest stayed at home.

My only comment is that I feel this was a disaster.  The other part of me understands that with the pandemic, the school systems really had no choice.

So….What’s my beef?

Here we go……

I have to admit that dealing with Special Education students, my observations may be a little skewed.  Mostly, from my perspective, it appears that online education was an epic fail.  Understand that there are those 10% who have thrived being online.  One young lady expressed that she is able to focus better because she does not have to deal with the distractions of students around her.

Either the students who stayed at home did well or failed.  Not many fell in the middle.

What about those who returned physical?  That is another whole mess.  I know of some students that have been quarantined so many times, they might have done better staying online at home.   But, the students do seem to recover their grades faster when back in the physical classroom.

Several problems have been encountered….

Student abuse on parents.  The frustration of technology not working caused some special needs students to lose their cool and take it out on the parents.

Technology failures.  That was all over the news.  Additionally, many internet carriers are no longer providing free internet for low income households anymore as they were in the beginning of the pandemic.  There were not enough school owned laptops to provide for those that didn’t have.

Parents returning students physically, then online school, then physically, then back to online and etc., etc., etc.  Lack of consistency for the student has caused further frustration and poor grades.

Many students are missing that would have normally been enrolled.  When I say missing, I mean missing.  No answer of phone calls, emails or home visits.

Wrap it up…

The next few years will mean a lot of students not having electives should they pursue graduating on time.  Additionally, night school and credit recovery programs will be doing quite nicely.  Online school option should be left available to those students who thrive with it (select few).  Otherwise, I hope that with the vaccinations, physical school should be opened up for this fall.

God knows what is going on.  We just have to persevere through this.