In So Many Words

I’ve decided to sit down and write more often, but now that I am facing the screen, I’m not sure what to say. I have started over three times now – everything seems either too prosaic or too forced. I don’t really have any profound insights to share and I fear my random thoughts would be too boring for anyone to read.

So you’ve been duly warned.

I wrote before about the new developments with my esophagitis being related to allergies rather than reflux. I have been avoiding potatoes, green beans and peas for a month now and have not really noticed any improvement with my swallowing. I have noticed that the pains I was having seem to be gone, however, so that is a good sign.

The doctor at the allergy clinic had suggested that I try the steroids if my swallowing didn’t improve, so I decided to get out the inhaler that the GI clinic had prescribed but I could not figure out for the life of me how to use it. I am supposed to swallow the medicine rather than inhaling it, and even a friend who is very familiar with inhalers wasn’t sure what I should be doing.

Yesterday I called the allergy clinic and learned that the GI clinic had actually prescribed the wrong inhaler. The one I have requires that you breathe in to get the powdered medication out of the inhaler, and I need one that is liquid and can be sprayed into my mouth. I am still a bit nervous about using a steroid medication, but it would be nice to eat without being quite so worried about food getting stuck on the way down, so I guess I’ll give it a try.

Michael is asking for my help is combining his Ben 10 Alien Force Legos into a mega creation, so I’m off to work on that. Have a great Saturday!

I can hardly believe how long it’s been since I posted – April has been a whirlwind of a month.  It’s that time of year when I am trying to work on summer plans (childcare, summer programs, possibly vacation), right in the middle of getting ready for a new IEP. 

Plus there have been several autism-related events that I am involved with to some degree. In fact, I am writing this as I print out table tents for the mothers’ luncheon taking place this Saturday.  Wouldn’t you know it, right when I started to work on these the other night, we ran out of ink in the printer, so I had to make a trip to the office supply store for that, which I did this morning while picking up the supplies we were missing for our ASD HOPE workshop tonight!  Luckily, I had the foresight to ask for the day off, especially since we are taking our two speakers to an early dinner at 4:15.

I am so relieved about the meeting tonight because we are bringing in the speakers from out of state and didn’t have very many RSVPs at this time last week.  But now we are up to over 40, plus we are going to be able to record the presentation and have DVDs made of it.  So the investment will pay off as we have the DVD to share with new families interested in learning more about biomed stuff.

Work has been a bit stressful as well, with a new responsibility that is actually taking up 75% of my time.  It is a new area and I am learning by trial and error (mostly error), plus my other work hasn’t seem to have gotten the message that it is supposed to shrink down to an hour a day. To add to the fun, we recently received a 5% pay cut, which may turn into 10% after another month.

Next week I get to go in for another endoscopy.  I have a small esophagus, and the last time I had it dilated was in 2006.  So I am definitely due for one, and I just started noticing food getting stuck a few weeks ago.  Much better to schedule it right away than wait for something to get lodged in and have to go to the emergency room and have them push it down, especially since they won’t dilate it there and I would have to go to the endoscopy center anyway.

In the middle of all this, God is certainly providing for us, though.  Not an hour after learning about my pay cut, I received a call about a possible side job that I could do in the mornings or evenings.  It’s a temporary position, which works for me, so we’ll see how that pans out.  I was also worried about finding someone to watch Michael and take him to school when I go in for the endoscopy, but then I got a note home that it’s their class field trip, and all kindergartners have to go all day!

I’m over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs today sharing about a talk I attended last night related to the autism insurance bill passed last summer in Pennsylvania.

If this topic affects you, you may be interested to know that the PA Dept of Public Welfare has devoted a section of their website to the PA Autism Insurance Act (Act 62). The goal is “to provide a central place to find information about the new Autism Insurance Act for family members, private health insurance companies, autism service providers and other stakeholders.”

On this site, you can find fact sheets, frequently asked questions, a list of information sessions that have been scheduled, and a mailbox to submit questions and suggestions for consideration.

Although I’m sure the implementation of this act will be a bumpy road, I know that we are paving the way for better treatment being available to children who are diagnosed with autism. I look forward to the day when I can tell a parent with a newly diagnosed child to just call their insurance company and request an evaluation to start ABA or other necessary treatments and services. (Am I being overly optimistic? You’ve gotta have dreams, right?)

When I was contacted by Skin MD Natural a few weeks ago to try out their Shielding Lotion with SPF15 Sunscreen, I was intrigued to find out more about it and whether shielding lotion was the next greatest thing or just another way to sell a product.

Of course, the first thing I had to do was look up shielding lotion and find out what it is. I found this definition on Wikipedia:

Shielding lotions are lotions that bond with the dead skin cells of the epidermis, forming a protective layer with the outer-most layer. This protective layer is virtually the same as what was naturally formed with the outer-most layer of skin cells and the skin’s own natural oils and lipids, up until about 100 years ago – before modern life and frequent hand washing stripped it away. This protective layer helps prevents irritating substances from penetrating the skin and getting into its deeper layers. Additionally, it helps to retain the natural moisture and oils, which are responsible for the skin’s elasticity and integrity, thus helping the skin to rejuvenate itself.

Sounds interesting; now to see if it works. This is definitely the best time of year for a trial, since my skin gets very dry during the winter season, and I am constantly reapplying moisturizer throughout the day. I was also happy to hear that this product could work on the face, hands and body, since so many hand creams are too greasy to use on your face.

After using this skin care product, I have to say that I am really impressed. I noticed right away that it is not greasy and absorbs into the skin instantly, leaving your skin feeling smooth. I was able to touch things and go about my business right away instead of waiting for my hands to “dry,” so to speak.

Then I realized several hours later that my skin still felt smooth and moisturized, which is virtually unheard of with the other lotions I have. Between this and the fact that you do not have to use a large amount of it, I think the 4 oz bottle will last longer than some of my larger bottles of other lotions. The SPF15 sunscreen is an added bonus, in my opinion, although you can purchase the shielding lotion without it if desired.

Over the last couple of weeks, the shielding lotion has been put to an even bigger test. I had gotten what I thought was a really bad cold in mid-December when I suddenly developed a rash and was diagnosed with scarlet fever. One of the effects of this rash is extremely dry skin that often peels after the rash is gone. Although I did have to apply the shielding lotion more often during this period of time, I am happy to say that there has been no peeling, and that the Skin MD Natural helped take away the feelings of dryness and itchiness I was experiencing.

So if you are interested in natural skin care, I would highly recommend checking out Skin MD Natural’s Shielding Lotion, with or without sunscreen.

For Try This Tuesday at 5MFSN today, I wrote about my introduction to 1-2-3 Magic, which is a parenting/discipline method we are starting to use with Michael. A big part of its success depends on the parent keeping their own emotions and words under control, which can sometimes be difficult when you have a high stress level.

I recently saw an article on our local ASA listserve called Calm, Cool, Collected and Consistent, which goes into quite a bit of detail about how stress affects our bodies and how regular exercise such as walking can help. I tracked down the reference and was able to find it as part of a collection of articles by Susan Crum from Able2Learn. I would definitely recommend checking these out.

Another site that looks like a great resource is Jill Kuzma’s Social Thinking Weblog. Jill is an SLP from Minnesota who offers both information and teaching resources on a variety of social skill related topics. She also has a list of ideas for social language IEP goals and a detailed page about assessing pragmatics/social language skills.

Well, it is Christmas Eve, and what a busy day it has been.  But I am happy to be able to get so much done again, so I am not complaining.  We had ice last night but then it rained most of the day; this morning I didn’t get three feet down my sidewalk before I fell down.  Ugh!

I got a good start on the 2009 pricing that is supposed to be in the system by January 6th.  That sounds like a long ways away until you realize that there are only 4 more business days between now and then for us, and I only have two people helping me.  I am hoping to work on it quite a bit next week while I am home with Michael.  I’m hoping he will be happy to watch some of his new DVD’s while I log in.

Bob & Michael went shopping today for groceries and also for birthday and Christmas presents for me.  It sounds like they had a good time, and Michael hasn’t let anything slip out about my gifts (darn it!).  They also took me out to Ruby Tuesday for a birthday dinner (the night before since we are going to a friend’s house for dinner tomorrow on my actual birthday).  Michael was a bit nervous because he had never been there before, but later pronounced it a very good choice and said they had the best French fries he had ever had.

While they were out, I got all the presents wrapped and just have to put together Michael’s Santa gift once he is asleep and Bob finishes his secret wrapping project downstairs.  I am excited – I think this is going to be a good Christmas for us, even if Bob feels like his “vacation” has slipped away without any real down time.  I’m hoping he can get some time off around his birthday when there won’t be all these other things that need to be done and when he can truly rest and relax.

The rash from the scarlet fever is almost gone, although I feel like I have been sunburned and am afraid the skin will start peeling.  My face is rough and dry no matter how much lotion I put on, but I don’t think you can really tell unless you get close, so maybe I will be alright for Christmas photos this weekend.

On the bloggy side of things, I wanted to put a nice widget of some sort on each of my blogs with the feed from the other one.  I like Widgetbox but I can’t get it to work; the customization page just won’t load.  So I ended up using Spring Widgets, which are similar but just not what I like.  Oh well.  If you know of another one that is similar or better, please let me know.

Well, I think I am going to go play around online until it is time to get out the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to set up for the morning.  Merry Christmas Eve, all!

(Like Land, Ho! when you are at sea – I hope that wasn’t totally confusing – oh, never mind, just ignore my weak attempts at humor.)

I am starting to feel a bit more like my usual self today, and that is such a relief!  Having suffered from depression for so long and only recently feeling like I was beginning to be free of it, it can be a bit scary to feel the same symptoms again – even when they are from a known illness.

Bob had the day off today (he goes back to work on Friday), so we made our grocery list and reviewed the Christmas presents to see what was still needed.  We didn’t get quite as much done as we wanted since he ended up having to take his car to the garage after coming out of the library to find the muffler hanging down.  It was sort of odd, but he had been needing to get his turn signal replaced for a while anyway, so it was good that he had the time to take care of it.  That’s my opinion anyway; as the person who had to change his plans to sit in a waiting room at a repair shop, he wasn’t so happy about it!

Tomorrow my office closes at 3:00, so I am going in early to get my four hours in.  I am hoping to sneak in a trim over at Supercuts before work, and then we are planning to go out for dinner tomorrow night as part of my birthday celebration as I will be turning 39 on Thursday.  Yes, I was a Christmas baby.  Yes, I got gypped on presents and parties.  I truly don’t mind it too much, however, since I always thought it was better to be born on the actual holiday than just before or after.  At least I never have to work on my birthday!

I have been thinking how weird it is to write a blog that no one knows about.  I am not keeping it a secret, exactly – it is on my Blogger profile and I added to a bunch of my online services last night – but I haven’t announced it or anything yet.  I guess I should do that in case there are people out there who do want to listen to my ramblings.  I think some people who aren’t involved with special needs may have lost interest in my other blog as that began to take over so much of the content, so maybe I will be able to connect with them here.  Although I can’t say I won’t talk about autism or other issues like that, but this already feels like more of a retreat for me.

Well, it’s getting a bit late, so I’m signing off for now.  I got an email today with a great poem that is a cross between Twas the Night Before Christmas and Dr. Seuss with an autism twist, and I got permission to post it over at APP, so I’m hoping to get that in before I go to bed.

As much as I thank God for helping my son learn to talk and communicate with us, there are days his incessant chatter really gets on my nerves.  Question after endless question, and he doesn’t really seem to listen to the answers sometimes before asking the next one!

Today was a good day, despite my irritation.  My husband is back home from Virginia, so I am fortunate to be able to escape up to our room and do my own thing for a little bit while the two of them watch “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” on TV (the newer version, I think).  I stayed home from work today because I am still extremely tired and still somewhat uncomfortable due to my rash (don’t think I mentioned here earlier that I have contracted scarlet fever somehow).

Despite staying home today, I did log in and do about three hours of work.  This makes up for leaving early on Friday when Michael didn’t have Stepping Stones, plus one hour from today.  I am hoping to go in early the next two days since Bob is off work and get some extra hours in.  My work week goes from Wednesday – Tuesday, so working just my regular hours for tomorrow would put me at 17 for the 1st week.  I am only scheduled to be in the office for 4 hours the 2nd week, so anything beyond that will have to be done over the next two days in the office or from home after that.  It is just so hard to put in a significant amount of time at home with everything else going on around here.

There are some major changes in my job responsibilities coming up after the beginning of the year.  I am excited about passing on a couple of my duties and learning some new stuff (especially since it relates to SEO for our company website, a topic that has been on my “to learn” list since I started blogging), but there are also a few projects I would really like to finish up before my days become taken up by the new stuff.

Hopefully, once I recover my energy from this illness, I will be able to focus on those projects as well as some of the ideas I have for cleaning up our home and for improving my blogging.  I am trying to just focus on what has to be done for the quickly approaching holidays right now!

Several people I know have posted about weight issues recently, and one of my best friends is encouraging me to join Weight Watchers. I have to admit I am one of those people who has felt like losing weight is something out of my reach. This mindset is really part of a much larger problem of feeling for most of my life that I am outside of the world around me and am somehow separated from all of the normal people who know what is expected of them and have the ability to do those things.

I have been slowly learning over the last few years that I am my own person with ideas and opinions, and that it is okay to let people see me and know who I am. This realization, however, also requires me to accept that I can exert control over the various areas of my life and am not only a product of my past, but also of my own choices and actions.

Whoa, this is getting way too deep! What I am really wanting to know is what you all think about Weight Watchers. I have reached a point where there are health concerns that I need to address, and I know losing weight would improve those things as well as my general quality of life.