Welcome to another addition of Freaky Friday! I am looking to have one or 2 guest host each week so if you are interested please leave a comment and I will send you all the info! You can link up GFC, Twitter, Facebook & Google+ all in the same place.
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Make sure you label what the link attaches too like I have done with the hosts.
There are just a few simple rules to follow for this one:
This week for the writers workshop I am going to write about 3.) How did your love affair with Coffee begin? (Or Diet Coke or Tea or whatever your beverage of choice might be.) (inspired by Buried With Children) I am going to substitute Dr. Pepper because everyone that knows me knows that I drink a lot of it. Well I used to drink a lot of it now I am down to 1 can in the morning when I get to work and the rest of the day is spent drinking water.
Anyway when I saw this prompt the first thing that popped in my head is about one of my roommates from my freshman year of college. She is from New Hampshire and came to Utah for college. When she was first she didn’t like Dr. Pepper but since I always had it in the fridge by the end of year she liked it as much as I did. Also by the end of school year we had her liking fry sauce as well lol.
I really have no idea when I stopped drinking other drinks and just stuck to Dr. Pepper. I am sure it had to have happened in college but I am not sure. Since I have been drinking for years I can’t even imagine what it would be like to not ever have one again. I have cut back in the hopes that I will be able to lose some weight and not have to stop drinking it for good. I have tried tons of times to stop drinking it and lets just say the longest I have lasted has only been a few weeks.
I placed my daughter for adoption in July of 2005. I attend a support group for unwed mothers that the agency I was going to had. Not everyone in the group was placing for adoption but I learned so much from the girls that have placed and listening to what worked and didn’t work for them. I figured that I would share some of the things that worked for me and things that may work for other birth parents.
Before I get into them I was researching some things on adoption and I found this article. While I reading through article I found this paragraph and I really liked what it said. I am going to post it here because I think it speaks volumes about how birth parents are looked at by people who don’t understand are choices. Here is the paragraph:
Now on to the ways I coped and ways that others have coped with the greif.
Journal-I wrote out why I placed her in a journal that I then gave to the adoptive mom to give to my daughter when they thought she was ready to read it.
Talk to other birth moms-It helped me tons to be able to talk to other girls who had been though it and could tell me that it would get better with time. I never thought the first year would end but each year it gets easier at least it has for me.
Take one day at at time-There are time where You are going to have to take it minute by minute but know that time will heal the pain. At first the pain is so raw that it is all you can think about but it does get easier I promise.
Build a support system-I helps to have people who know the whole story and whither or not they agree with your choice they will still stand behind you and listen to you talk. There will be times that just talking to someone and having them not try to answer but just listen helps so much. It makes such a difference to just get the thoughts out of you head and have someone not feel the need to try and make it better but just listen.
Allow yourself to feel the emotions-I know in the beginning I wanted to run from the emotions I was feeling and not feel anything but by doing that you are going to be making it harder in the long run. Allow yourself to feel and grieve.
Keep Scrapbooks and/or pictures around-If you were to walk into my room right now the only pictures I have up are the ones of her when she is older. In the beginning looking at the pictures made me feel better but after the first year and even know it is so hard for me to look at the pictures of her while we were in the hospital because I want the baby. I heard from one of the girls in the support group that her child became two different people in her head even though she knew they were the same. She like me wanted the baby and not the child that she is now.
If you need help ask-Don’t be too afraid to talk to a counselor if you are having a hard time deal with all of the emotions. I saw one quite awhile after I placed my daughter and that helped me so much.
When I think of more ways I am for sure going to post them and if you know of any other ways to cope please leave a comment so that I can add it to my next post.
I am sure most of you know that I have Multiple Sclerosis (MS). I was diagnosed when I was 15 or 16. I know that many people don’t know anything about MS so I am going to write a little bit about it in order to help raise awareness to the disease and to open peoples eyes to what this disease is.
Multiple Sclerosis is what they call an autoimmune disease. This means that the persons immune system for some reason decides it is going to attack some part of the body instead of only attacking viruses and things like that. In MS the immune system decides it is going to attack the nerves of the CNS (central nervous system). The CNS includes the brain and spinal cord. They are not sure what triggers the immune system to think that part of the body is a invader and needs to be attacked.
MS symptoms happen when the immune system attacks the myelin around the nerves. If you think of your nerves like a wire the myelin would be the protective covering around the wire. If the nerve underneath the myelin gets hurt that is what causes the symptoms and some times causes permanent disabilities.
The body tries to repair the damage that is done but it is never the same. Once the nerve is damaged it won’t ever function the same again.
There are a lot of different symptoms that go along with this disease. I am going to list some of the most common ones: Fatigue, problems with walking, numbness, tingling, slurred speech, tremors, stiffness, problems with vision, cognition, speech, and elimination. Every person with MS has different symptoms. Which makes some people wonder if everyone that has MS actually has the same disease or if it isn’t a few different diseases that just get grouped in with MS.
Anyone can get MS. Women are more likely to get it than men and so are people with a lighter pigmentation to there skin. So Montel Williams who has MS is a real rarity.
They think MS has a genetic link but they aren’t sure what it is. In my case there is no one in my family history of it.
You usually get diagnosed between the ages of 20-50. I was a rarity and was diagnosed at age 15 or 16. Although younger patients are now getting diagnosed because doctors are starting to look for it at a younger ages. I have noticed though that I have had lots of activity show up on scans but I haven’t had many flare ups that people could see. In fact if I didn’t tell you I had MS and what symptoms I do have you can’t tell I have it all.
MS is rarely fatal. Most of the time people with MS with get a common cold of the flu and that is what will end up taking their lives.
There are several treatments out there that each do things differently. I am on one called Tysabri and it is the most expensive and most dangerous of the drugs. All of the current MS treatments are expensive and it makes it hard for people who don’t have insurance or even with insurance to afford.
It has been shown that treating the disease helps to stop the progression of the disease but since all the treatments are so expensive there are many people who simply can’t afford to treat the disease.
There is always new treatments in the works and exciting things happening in research that hold so much hope for future generations. They came out last year with the first pill you can take once a day for treatment. Up until the pill came out all the treatments were either shots or an infusion.
There is currently no cure for MS.
I think I covered most of the major parts of the disease but if you have questions or want any more information please let a comment and I will answer your questions!
This week I picked a quote that I saw on one my phone apps. After I read it and thought about it I totally agree with it. Here is the quote: I have keep reminding myself not to let my fears of things stop me from living my life. I want to the best I can be and like the quote says you will never become that person if you let fear run your life.
This week for the Writers Workshop I am going to write about #4.) Pinterest Challenge, find something you’ve pinned, TRY it and share it. Was it worth pinning?
So this is a pin I saw on Monday while I was at work and it sums up my life pretty well! I can’t really try this but it is so how my life is and how I could I not repin something that is 100% accurate with my life???
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