Mystery Diagnosis

I am once again on antibiotics for my throat, I had the added bonus this time of being on steroids for the first three days of meds as well. This was due to the fact that my uvula was severely swollen and I was basically swallowing it, every time I swallowed. I am half way through the meds and am feeling fine again.  The troubling thing about this is that I have been plagued with what ever this is all summer.  I get off of the antibiotics and am fine for a week or two then my throat starts hurting a little then it gets to the point where it hurts to swallow or talk and I'm miserable and off to the doctor I go. I have baffled the doctors office that I go to when I can't get into my E.N.T. Doc.  The last time I was in there which was last Monday he said that if it comes back I need to make an appointment with my specialist because he doesn't know what is causing me to have this problem and it would be cheaper for me to go to the E.N.T. and get tests then to do them there at the walk in clinic.

I have a theory of what could actually be causing me to get so sick. A really good friend of mine uses the Doterra essential oils and swears by them, they work for her and she is allergic to almost everything under the sun. She only started using them earlier this year. You are probably wondering why I told you this, well it's important to my theory that's why. I realized after getting sick this most recent time that I had hung out with her and her son literally right before I started getting sick and thought back and every time I have gotten this blasted throat problem I have hung out with her.  SO I wonder if I could be allergic to the oils. But then I think ok if I'm allergic to them wouldn't my symptoms go away after being away from them for a while? to which I counter with well yeah you would think that but remember Stephanie you are your own kind of special  when it comes to getting sick.  Plus like I said earlier my friend only started using them earlier this year and every single time this summer I have been around her I end up having to go on antibiotics because of my throat. I at first maybe thought because she has a kid that I was just picking up germs from him but wouldn't I get something different every time and not the same thing? I talked to her about it, and she says they have never heard of anyone being allergic to the oils like this, just with skin irritations so she doesn't think it's the oils.

Anyways I asked her that the next time we hang out if she could please make sure not to have put on any of the oils, that includes her son as well, just to see if in fact it is the oils that is causing this problem or if indeed I have some weird infection that I just haven't killed completely with the antibiotics so it keeps coming back. Hopefully she remembers but if she doesn't and I get sick again well I guess that proves it too.

Back to Normal

After months of the apartment looking like a tornado went through it I finally have it looking good again. When I get sick it's hard for me to convince myself to keep up with the chores of the apartment because I just don't feel good, so I slack off then the next thing you know it's been 2 months and we are having to dig through garbage bags to find clothes to wear cause I haven't folded the clean laundry. But all that is behind me now and I hope to keep it that way for a while and even if I do get sick to try and at least not let it get so bad.

 It's August which means in just a few short weeks it will be time for the State Fair, which also means the rain has come and trust me we needed the rain. It also signals the end of Summer and the start of Fall. Our days are getting shorter not by much but it is now getting dark around 9-10pm. We are slowly getting to my favorite season, when the temps get cooler and I start making crock pot dishes and warm hearty meals again. Oh and tons of Taco Soup. Mmmm Taco Soup man that sounds good.

I have been reading a bit more which is nice, I haven't really wanted to read for a long while but now I'm getting back into seeing as how I am doing it just for me and not to see how many I can read in a year. I find myself gravitating back to books if I'm bored or don't want to do anything else. I even started a group on Facebook called Whatcha Reading? Where you basically tell other members of the group what you are reading, in hopes that it will give someone else an idea of what to read next. It's just a fledgling group not many people in it but hopefully it takes off and helps people decide what to read.