My crazy life....

I'm only blogging about this because, well, because maybe I can help somebody out there. Maybe there is someone else who is going through what I'm going through and will benefit.  I've always felt like things happen to us for a reason.  Our pastor finishes every Sunday by saying something to the effect of, "Know that you are exactly where God wants you to be."

So, six weeks ago I woke up and looked like this:

I had been doing massive house cleaning a few days before and my eyes felt puffy the previous day.  I've never had particularly bad allergies but I just assumed I'd overdone the dusting and cleaning and was having a bad reaction.

I went to my GP and he gave me a steriod shot.  Three days later I was only a tiny bit better so I went back to my GP.  He gave me a few steriod pills and told me to go to the eye doctor. My eye doctor couldn't find anything of consequence and said my eyes seemed to be REALLY REALLY dry from the LASIK I had done in January. No real news there, I've been dealing with it for three months thinking it was normal. I've had a really hard time post Lasik--my vision is still is not where it needs to be. 

I was not improving so my amazing friend, Kate, got me in to her amazing allergist husband. He prescribed some cream and did some blood work.    A week after with no improvement he did allergy testing on me....and I found out than I'm allergic to NOTHING. Not even dust or cats like I always thought....turns out you can be "irritated" by something and not be "allergic" to it. I couldn't take a pic of my own back so you just get to see my arm test...

 Two days later....

 So, the saga continued.... We knew we weren't dealing with an allergy so we looked at the blood tests --mainly--thyroid tests.  I have a disease called Hashimoto's thyroiditis.  It's an autoimmune disease where your body attacks your thyroid.  I've had it for 5 years and have had very few issues.  Things pop up now and again but most of the time I manage it through diet and exercise.  My antibody numbers were through the roof so he sent me to my internist.  My internist didn't think it was my thyroid but he ran some more tests anyway.  He did a blood test to check for thyroid cancer and he did a Lupus panel.  Both were negative thank goodness.

So, three weeks goes by and I wake up every day looking like this.... This is me on a trip to Dallas with my girlfriends....the first time I've EVER been away from all three kids...and I looked like this.  While I'm thankful for the trip, I'm hoping for another as soon as the craziness goes away :).

By the end of the day the swelling goes down and I look like this....not me...but at least its not like that all day...

So, we decided to try some different things.  I took a medicine that knocked me out for three days and didn't help.  My eye doctor put me on Restasis and another prescription dry eye drop.  That did seem to help.  After a month, we decided to do an intensive round of steroids.  Within a day or two I was here during the day:

 And here in the morning:

 Now I'm here (actually this was Sunday, I think its been better the past two mornings):

 And here I am last Tuesday night before my Junior League meeting:

Today was my last day on the steroids and I'm kind of freaking out.  I'm so anxious and nervous about what's going to happen without the medicine.  I'm still not myself--but at least I can go out in public without being stared at. We've never figured out a cause for why this is happening.  My mother in law has a friend who had a similar thing happen and it turned out to be a severe reaction to dry eyes.  I've been on the dry eye meds for a month and have seen a little bit of improvement, but not enough to start having a party over.  I have been one major stressball for the past six weeks---and I'm sure stress is playing a role in this.  There is so much going on in my life....a best friend with cancer....building a house...dealing with this medical mystery....and then last week my son (and I)  finally did have to face the death of a classmate's parent.  Last week was A VERY HARD WEEK.  So friends, while I know God has put me exactly where I need to be....would you mind praying for him to help me with this thing I'm going through?  I'd be ever so grateful...


I promise there will be a happier post next time :).