March Link Luv 2016
| March 3, 2016 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
Dismal but not non-existent!
Aarene writes about keeping her dragon occupied while on stall rest. Been there, done that my friend. It’s why Farley knows how to drive – why just walk when we could walk and learn something.
I found myself nodding along with Irish Horse. YES leap day is special. Maybe I’m a nerd but it really does feel like we gained an entire day. This year leap day Becky Bean gave birth to her twins, I did an FHO surgery on a dog for the first time ever, our house almost closed (it was suppose to…), and our tax refund check cleared. I could just feel the positive energy. March 2016 is looking a whole hella lot better then February 1-28 2016!
You DO have time to do what you want to do. He’s right, “I don’t have time” is decade’s version of “I’m too stressed”. I just assume that when I hear this whatever is on the docket isn’t actually a high priority for that person compared to other things in their life and that’s their way of communicating it. This is totally true for me. It’s not that I don’t have time to put in the training hours for whatever new level of craziness I want to do, but sometimes I have higher priorities that are on the front burner. I try and check in on those not-now-maybe-later goals often so I don’t look back in 5 years and have regrets – it was a conscious decision one way or the other.
I don’t know what it’s like in other organizations but I agree with GoPony on this one. If you are interested in endurance, stay the hell away from social media, or at least do NOT get sucked into the melee.
Books I read last month that got at least a 4 out of 5 star rating for me.
- Royal Assassin (Book 2 of a Trilogy by Robin Hobb)
- I’m not done with it yet, but I’m mostly through the first Longmire mystery, “Cold Case”. Whether you are a fan of the TV show or not, it’s definitely going to be on next months book list.
A quick update
For those of you who remember my saga with my eye…I might have an update. EVERYTHING has been ruled out, and I mean everything. We are left with MS so I did a second MRI just to make sure that the first one didn’t miss something and nope….still nothing. Still not classical/typical for MS. It’s a true optic neuritis with no apparent cause. Then at the AERC convention during a presentation on Lepto and the controversy over vaccination I had a sudden revelation – I had gotten the flu shot about a week before noticing the symptoms. I did a little digging and optic neuritis in females is a very rare complications, but documented. The doctors agree with me and the consensus is flu vaccine reaction for now. I have a neurologist consultation mid month where they will review my case and hopefully I can start to get some closure. Vision still hasn’t come back even though some of the nerve swelling has gone down (but has remained static over the last couple of months). I declined IV steroids when MS was on the table, but now that it now have a different etiology it may be considered again. Typically whatever vision you have recovered in 6-12 months is the best you get. I’m almost to the five month mark.
Random Fig photo
Just wanted to clarify that I am not suggesting that people don’t get the flu vaccine because of this very very small risk. I’m at very high risk my job for getting the flu and my husband and my baby are not able to be vaccinated and so I made the choice like I make most years and got vaccinated. I happen to be unlucky. That doesn’t mean that I think I Made the wrong decision with the information I had available at the time.
Totally agree with the time thing. There are always ways to make it work if the drive is there. I certainly catch myself doing it at times in various aspects of my life. Glad you’re getting closer to some answers re your eye.
Fingers crossed for some more return of vision. But if it IS a vaccine reaction then at least it won’t be progressive/affect the other eye… Maybe…?
Most of the case reports in the literature are unilateral which is interesting. I’m EBV positive (epstein barr – the virus that causes mono) and sometimes that virus can cause a chronic syndrome that I do NOT have, but the flu vaccine is contraindicated in people who do have the syndrome. I’m wondering whether a combination of being EBV positive, third trimester of pregnancy, as well as having a really reactive immune system (bonus – I rarely get sick, downside – I have all sorts of allergies, sensitive skin, drug allergies) normally set me up for this. I’m female in my mid 30’s which is when autoimmune things seem to rear their ugly head too. The vaccine reaction is also our “best guess”. We will probably never know for sure unless I do end up developing MS in the future. However the flu vaccine thing, as far fetched/rare that it is is the only thing that has fit so far.
And yes, shouldn’t be progressive, should be unilateral, shouldn’t continue to get worse in the one eye. And I’m never going to be able to get the flu vaccine again.
Wow, that is a horribly, horribly unfortunate flu shot reaction if that is what it is, although it is better than MS. I hope that if the steroid shot is an option it works. That is awesome that you were able to figure it out.
Sorry to hear that you wont be able to have any more flu shots, I am very much for them too.