A Few Words...

What is written here is my opinion and personal experience only. I am not qualified to give advice - medical, legal, or otherwise. Please be responsible and do your own research regarding treatments, diets, doctors, and alternative therapies.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Versatile Blogger Award

I am humbled by my friend, a fellow blogger, Wendy who writes over at Picnic With Ants for nominating me for this award.  I am even a little embarrassed as I have not posted anything here for, let's see, exactly two months!  Bad blogger!  Bad!  No, really, this is good news as I have just been too busy to sit down and write.  As someone with a chronic, and sometimes debilitating, disease, being too busy to do something is a very good sign.

So to honor Wendy's kind mention of my desire to lift up others who suffer from Meniere's disease, or any other chronic condition for that matter, through my blog, I have set aside some time to post 7 things you may not know about me and 5 deserving (IMHO) bloggers.

Seven Things You Probably Don't Know About Me:

1. I was born in Los Angeles, but grew up in Northern Idaho.  As a young adult, I returned to Southern California and met my husband shortly thereafter.  We have since lived in every county in So Cal from Santa Barbara on down to the Mexican Border, with a year each in San Jose and Monterey thrown in.  I've lost track, but I think we have moved upwards of 20 times since meeting.  And, no, we are not in the military.

2. I know a Nobel Prize winner.  My husband worked with Kary Mullis, the man who developed the technique for DNA fingerprinting, at a small start-up bio tech company about 15 hears ago.  I believe one of the first big cases in which this technique was used was the OJ Simpson trial.  Very interesting guy!  Kary, not OJ.

3. Even though I have lived within an hour's drive of either the Canadian or Mexican borders my entire life, I have never left the country.

4. Of my three children, the two youngest are twins.  No, they don't run in my family, I didn't take fertility drugs, and they are not identical - one is a boy and the other is a girl.  Yes, I have my hands full.  No, I am not brave.  And, yes, I feel like I won the lottery.

5. As a dietitian, I specialize in home nutrition support.  In other words, I work with people who for one reason or another cannot swallow or digest food the normal way, so must be on home tube- or I.V. feedings.  I love my job and about the only food advice I give to my patients is, when possible, to eat MORE fat and MORE calories.  I am not someone you want to ask for weight loss advice!

6. I got my driver's license when I was 14-years old.  That was the law in Idaho back in the day.  A scary thought looking back on it.

7. I am half Norwegian, a quarter Italian, an eighth Irish, and an eighth Cherokee.  I have very distinct physical and temperamental traits from each of these ethnic and racial backgrounds.

Five Deserving Bloggers:

I'm afraid I don't follow too many blogs.  I've checked out a few other Meniere's-related blogs.  Some, in my opinion, share unreliable and confusing information, but most just depress me and some downright frighten me.  I love Wendy's blog, though, as she doesn't whine and complain, at least not nearly as much as she's entitled to.  Rather, she is quick to find something positive in everything.  Despite all that Wendy goes through, she remains sharp as a tack and the artwork she shares is inspiring.  Anyway, here are a few blogs I like to read and why:

1. I enjoy reading Nicki's perspective at Fleetly Dreaming.  Nicki and I have a lot in common, but she has muddled through Meniere's much longer than I and has managed to have children, work (until relatively recently), and take life one day at a time, living it with grace and fortitude.

2.  For similar reasons, I like to read Faith, Hope, and a Fighting Spirit.  Deb also has unilateral Meniere's and manages to teach, as well as coach gymnastics - of all things!  I can't imagine being in a gym full of noise, watching people do flips and twirls.  Sometimes when I think I should just throw in the towel and file for disability, I think of Deb and think I can handle my quiet office job a little longer.  I especially appreciate her spirituality and the strength she seems to draw from it.

Now for some non-illness blogs I really enjoy reading:

3. Tiny Buddha.  While I am a Christian, I find a lot of practical wisdom in Buddhism and relate very much to the notion of being mindful of the present.  After all, that's all there ever really is.  When I remember that, I find tremendous peace in my circumstances.  One of my favorite sayings which happens to be from Buddhism is, "Suffering is the result of wanting things to be different than they are."  In my mind, there are no truer words.

4. I have to be transparent here: Jennifer is a close, dear friend of mine.  Her husband and mine have been the best of friends since high school.  Jennifer is one of the most creative writers I know.  Not that I know many.  None really.  But her writing style and subject matter never cease to entertain me.  Jennifer has published a series of children's books, tweens really, about a London squirrel in 18th century Williamsburg.  If you want to read something funny, witty, thought-provoking, and often off-the-wall, check Jen's blog out at Of Course, What Do I Know?

5. As someone who works in healthcare, as well as a person with a chronic, idiopathic, progressive condition, I find reading about healthcare from the perspective of the doctors very interesting.  That's why I like to read KevinMD.  The blogs are written by many different doctors and other healthcare providers and I find their honest, often fallible, admissions to be a reminder that they don't know all the answers.  They are people with doubts, opinions, insights, and questions about medicine and human nature just like the rest of us.  While I've seen many good points made here, I like that it reminds me that ultimately I am the one who is responsible for understanding my condition and how to treat it.

So, that's all for now.  I am hoping to post a little more regularly here in the coming year, simply to share the little things that, when we are feeling well, we take for granted - but shouldn't.  Though, realistically, there will probably be some bad days thrown in as that is what Meniere's disease likes to do to us: give us just enough freedom to regain some semblance of normalcy, then strip it away from us like a super-sticky Band-Aid being ripped mercilessly from a hairy piece of skin.  Gotta love it.


6 comments:

  1. We need to get you to Quebec, P.E.I. and Norway!! (Mexico? Meh.)

    Une mille merci for the Savannah of Williamsburg and blog S/O! You doth rock, Goodewife Bruce!

    Apropos, Jennifer is still missing from "Of Course, What Do I know?": most likely a Disneyland Christmas mishap in Pirates of the Caribbean. Until then, Miss Hannah Hart is doing a jazzy job taking the wheel at www.goodtobeageek.com. She'll keep an eye on this Blogger Award and do what she can to buzz the judges' ears ... no pun intended.

    Congratulations!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Angelea! Thank you very much! I will try to do you proud :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. You have humbled me! Such sweetness.
    I knew you had twins!
    I knew what type of dietitian you are...so not surprising you tell people, more fat and more calories. (did I ever tell you that my mom's oncologist told us that she was the only patient she ever had who gained weight on Chemo? I worked hard to make sure things tasted good, and anything she wanted...I made it for her. I also made a lot of Strawberry Ensure Milk Shakes! She didn't like the Ensure just chilled, but when I made it think like a milk shake..she loved it. Which beating the cancer would have been that easy...but I was thinking, you'd be proud of how I adjusted her diet to get her the most nutrients and calories I could!)

    I got married about 8 miles from the Mexican boarder but have never been there. (they stopped our car when we were leaving the ceremony to check for illegals...but have never been to Mexico.) I did go into Canada for a day once...saw Niagra Falls...that's about it.
    I'm thinking we should take a road trip! : )
    But I need a passport. ha.

    I could have gotten my driver's license at 15 in S.C. (14 if you lived on a farm). But I waited until I was 17! I just didn't feel ready I guess.

    Wow a Nobel Prize winner! I know..or knew..one of the guys on the original patent for the MRI. I went to high school with him..even dated him for a little while. Genius, if a little strange. : )

    I liked getting to know more about you! and finding some new blogs to check out.

    You turned me on to Tiny Buddha a while back. You may want to check out Turning Straw Into Gold Toni Bernhard's blog on Psychology today.
    http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/turning-straw-gold

    Thanks for sharing!
    Glad you liked the award!
    wendy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wendy, You sound like a nutrition support dietitian's dream! I actually often consider getting certified in oncology nutrition. Maybe my next certification period.

    Yes! Road trip! What a sight we'd be. Lol!

    I've dabbled in Toni Bernhard before, I need to go back and read more. I really like her.

    This was a fun post to write, thanks for sharing!!

    A.

    ReplyDelete
  5. i am just now reading this. i am so behind on keeping up with everybody and so embarrassed about it. thanks for thinking of me. i am honored! especially because i have dropped the ball lately on blogging myself!

    i loved reading the 7 things about you. i think you should go to canada and visit deb and then come to n.c. and see wendy and me. although visiting sunny san diego sounds sooo good right now!
    ~nicki

    ReplyDelete
  6. I vote for everyone to come here. Hee hee!! It is 82 degrees at 4:30 in the afternoon and pretty, blue skies.

    ReplyDelete