Back to Reality

     We made it home this afternoon and the usual "after vacation" stuff is hitting...I was so wiped out I took a short nap and only woke up because Crash was adamant that someone was at the door...a few minutes later that someone called and it was my hypertonic saline being delivered.  :)  I'm hitting the ground running back into reality...I'm still in vacation mode and tomorrow morning is going to be the difficult and harsh reality setting in.  I have to fast for my Gallbladder ultrasound which is at 8:30 so if you'd be praying for that I would really appreciate it.  The fasting and ultrasound aren't too out of the ordinary for me when it comes to PCD stuff, but right now I'm so nauseous when I wake up and eating rice crackers and drinking my Arbonne fizzy and digestion plus (prebiotic, probiotics, and digestive enzymes in one), is the only thing that saves me some mornings and then some mornings nothing works....like this morning.  I was enjoying the cool morning breeze, sipping my fizzy and munching on rice crackers willing my nauseous stomach to behave but I had to blow my nose and started coughing and as they say, the rest is history. 

     Vacation was a great escape, but this side of heaven, I will never truly be able to escape PCD.  I shepherd my heart with Biblical truths about being redeemed and Christ's child, crack jokes about mucus, entertain kids while doing my vest, push through the pain and forget about it for the couple hours I'm hiking or shopping (Mom and I had LOTS of fun shopping yesterday and this morning!), but inevitably the "PCD hangover" hits.  All I have to do is look around and there is evidence everywhere that my life is not the "normal, carefree, happy-go-lucky" life that I would like to have.  In reality, I don't think there is a single person I have ever talked to that has had life go exactly as they had dreamed or planned.  In our pride, we try to pretend that we don't need God or that WE can do it, or that we are in control but God has a way of using painful circumstances in life to remind us that we are NOT in control and we desperately need Him.  Not just to save us, but every moment of every day.  It is in the valley's that I am closest to Him because my energy fades, my chest hurts, my sinus headaches make it difficult to read, I have to take 20+ vitamins/meds with every meal and some more in between, and getting me out the door for vacation takes lots of room in our vehicle and lots of extra planning.  It's totally possible, but not without lots of help from whoever we are going with and grace and lots of patience with each other!

     To give you an idea, here is what our bathroom sink looked like in Sedona:

   
     And that was for a "quick" get away...and doesn't include my vest or nebulizer or the "just in case" things I take that I'm not currently using but could possibly need at the drop of a hat.  This all has to go with me when I go to Tucson or anywhere so right now it's simply not worth it to only stay one night unless someone else can help me get everything together!  :)

     Don't get me wrong--vacation was totally worth it but with PCD, I pretty much have to run a "cost vs. benefits analysis" on everything I do and then double check my analysis (which is easily swayed by my desires to help others and do the things that I want to do even if it's not the "wisest" thing at the moment) with my hubby who is my resident protector--in more ways than one!  :)  So was packing all this stuff up, Mom and Dad paying extra money to shop at Whole Foods because my body is demanding that I have pretty much zero sugar (I had ONE KERNEL of Jordan's peanut butter captain crunch cereal and immediately got a sore throat!), very little meat, no dairy, etc worth getting away this weekend???  YES!!  They were sweet enough, not only to take us on vacation in the first place, but to buy expensive snacks that were yummy and I could enjoy and not worry about hunting for something to eat among all the "normal food".  Speaking of "normal" food, I'm also getting extensive GI labs drawn tomorrow, which includes the Celiac test for gluten...I always said that at least I could eat whatever I wanted with PCD but that is slowly fading away as well.  I LOVE my bread, but thankfully, I love to cook and I already have several great resources if something else comes back wrong.  At this point, I've pretty much made up my mind that nothing in my body (except my heart!) is functioning normally, so I don't think much would surprise me after these last two months.

     I will try to keep you all updated, but the coming weeks will involve lots of tests and doctors and I'm not sure how my body will react to everything, so I'll be taking one day at a time, trusting in Him as Matthew 6 reminds me to.  :)  Thanks for your prayers and here are some more pictures from vacation!

 Loving my new truck! (Just in case you didn't know...)  :) 

 Jord "loving" the hot tub lol ;)  

Sporting my "purple bling" from our shopping sprees :) 

Loving life and serving Him,

Rachelle :)