Hippocratic oath

It was brought to my attention that this blog has languished since moving into my new house. I wish I had pictures to show, but since the house has been a mess since the day we moved in, I have nothing to share. It is nice, I like the 'hood, I like the house, but I hate cleaning, and so there we stand.

It isn't the home ownership that has kept me from updating here, but all the other stuff. It seems like a million things (all expensive, of course) have come up since we moved. It has been one thing after another, most annoyingly some nagging health issues that have laid me low.

Long story short (although short is relative), one day I suddenly began experiencing mild, constant vertigo. The vertigo was accompanied by extreme irritability and exhaustion. Many doctor's appointments, blood tests, an MRI and more later, I have a vitamin deficiency. Vitamin B12. I've been taking B12 injections since then and I haven't had any vertigo since. Yay. Except it leads to a larger question of WHY I became deficient enough in a vital vitamin, of which I was eating plenty in the form of animal products, to experience neurological problems.



"I've never seen neurological problems from B12 deficiency in someone your age. It normally affects people in their 70s."
  -- My primary care doctor



I can only assume that since I was eating plenty of B12, I simply am not absorbing it. But why? My doctor is now curious about some other seemingly benign blood markers from my physical in January that may be pointing to a larger problem. That barely low hematocrit level in January, while appearing to be no big deal then, now seems relevant. What about that slightly elevated other thing? What about all those autoimmune conditions (thyroid dysfunction, IBS, chronic tendonitis) I've developed in the past few years? WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

Words like Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis and Colonoscopy and Pernicious Anemia get thrown around. At least its better than Brain Tumor and Multiple Sclerosis and Spinal Fluid Shunt that was thrown around when I was trying to figure out the vertigo.


But, since no one has any answers, and the answers could very well end up being "nothing is wrong," I've decided to take matters into my own hands. Even if nothing is wrong, I've felt like a bag of butts for the past four years. All day, every day, feeling tired and irritable and generally crappy. I assumed it was just life. Having a "spirited" kid, working a demanding job, marrying a complicated man, buying a new house. But now I'm thinking it is different. Deeper. 




"All diseases begin in the gut."
   -- Hippocrates



At the recommendation of my doctor, I've consulted a nutritionist to fix my gut. Except, with all these recent medical bills I can't afford a real nutritionist, so I'm consulting the wide world of never-wrong-or-conflicting internet nutritionists. Specifically Chris Kresser and Dallas and Melissa Hartwig. I'm embarking on a gut-healing protocol that I hope will help me start absorbing vitamins better. I'm embarking on an autoimmune-trigger-reducing diet that I hope will help calm some of the IBS and thyroid problems I've been having. In essence, I'm cutting out all inflammation-promoting foods (cereal grains, legumes, industrial seed oils, sugar, alcohol, processed soy) and all autoimmune trigger foods (eggs, nightshade vegetables, dairy). I'm adding in gut healers like bone broth. I'm giving myself one month of nothing but clean eating to see if things get better. To see if I feel like a human again. After the one month mark, I'll assess adding foods back in to determine what is making me sick and what is perfectly fine. (I'm really hoping dairy and eggs end up perfectly fine.)

I know this is extreme. It is. It also will be totally sucky. But something has to give. Something has to be causing all this crap, and food is the number one thing I can experiment with.

"The food you eat either makes you more health or less healthy. Those are your options."
  -- Dallas and Melissa Hartwig


I'll choose the former, please.

Eight days and counting

I am stressed. Turns out I'm not super great at handling it, either.

My poor insides have been tortured, twisting and churning and trying to make my very very unhappy. My stress-related IBS has flared, making life unpleasant. I'm tired. I'm irritable. I'm depressed. I NEED TO GET THIS HOUSE BUYING MADNESS OVER WITH!!

At least 75% of my recent stress is house-building and -purchasing related. The final walk-through and warranty wrap-up is tomorrow. But as of Tuesday we still didn't have a full-painted exterior, the sump pump in the basement wasn't working leading to standing water and a bit of mold, the powder room sink was ripped out due to a leak, the microwave hasn't been installed, the wrong kitchen island was installed, only half the window-coverings were in, someone spilled paint on the tile floor, we are missing a few heat registers and our inspector found a handful of minor issues that are easy to fix but still take time. All this is supposed to be completely finished by tomorrow at 11:00 am. If not, we have to do a SECOND walk through before the closing to make sure everything is finished.

To top it off, the damn mortgage company keeps asking for more stuff, or letters to explain previously-acquired information, to "finilize everything for write-off." Huh? Why not figure out everything you need from me and ask once instead of calling me three times a week and freaking me out?!!

And so, as you can see, the stressful two-week period before I buy a house is in full stressful bloom for all the world to see. And don't even get me started on packing.

This too shall pass. And when it does I will have a lovely home for many years to come. I need only to survive the next 10 days, the finishing and purchasing and packing and moving, and I will be fine. Fine fine fine. I just need to breathe. Sleep a little more. Eat more vegetables. And breathe again.

Now is the time for freaking out

HOLY FRIJOLES. People. I close on the new house in 16 days. I do the final walk-through in nine days. The inspector comes in six days. I start freaking out in zero days!

We have packed exactly three boxes. I know that most packing has to wait until the last few days, but it is hard to know that this entire house of belongings needs to be boxed up and moved in less than three weeks. The freezer! The bikes! The couch! Everything! I'm going to lose my mind.

We've settled on a paint scheme for the living/dining area. It is hard to imagine, but we're going with three large horizontal stripes in light chartreuse and dark grey. Evelyn's bedroom will be a high gloss midnight blue. The master bedroom is TBD.

When last I visited (Monday), everything was in except the kitchen counter, kitchen backsplash, window coverings, bathroom mirrors and medicine cabinets. Our yard-adjacent neighbors moved in last weekend, and with them a giant dog that can look right into our dining room from his dining room. They have a "Welcome" sign on their front door. It looks like a country broom. I have already judged them for that. (Yes.)

We were told our wall-adjacent neighbors are a fun young couple, the husband of which is an Air Force helicopter flying instructor. So far we've only seen one kid, and she is an 18-month old at the end of the courtyard. Considering one enormous factor in moving to this new neighborhood was to be engulfed with Evelyn-aged children, I am disappointed. Lots of young, childless couples that may start procreating in the next few years, but few that already have. Boo.

I've already started imagining my new life in my new neighborhood. I'll bike to the store! I'll bike to work! We'll take the dogs to the dog park, via bicycle! (Do you see a theme?) I've decided our family minivan will actually be an Xtracycle, and we'll become hipster bicycle enthusiasts, with handlbar mustaches and olde tyme tartan wool pants.

EDIT: This will be me.









I hope, really really hope, that this move turns out to be a good decision.

Cue the Benny Hill music

Our lives are one big comedy of errors. Example 1:

What you see there are two baby guinea pigs, miraculously born last night to our two MALE guinea pigs. Yeah. Guess the pet store people were wrong on that whole gender thing.

I can not BELIEVE our guinea pigs had guinea pigs. I saw their little penises! They are male! Except obviously not. I also can not believe baby guinea pigs are born full of hair and as big as two golf balls. They are already running around, eating, loving life. That poor mama must have had quite a night!

So...baby guinea pigs. Yeah. What next?

One month to go

We close on our house February 24. One month. I AM SO EXCITED I COULD SCREAM!

Everybody loves the Stock Show

Year of the Dragon

Holiday wrap up: It was good. Family, food, sleep, gifts, repeat. I got a nasty stomach virus last week, but all was healed by the time I returned to work today. I didn't turn on my computer for 11 days. (The iPad doesn't count, right?) I feel rejuvinated and rested. Thank you to everyone who made the holidays wonderful.

The New Year: Do you make resolutions? I don't. I try to pick a "theme" for the year and focus my thoughts and actions on that. A friend of mine posted on Twitter something to the effect, "What would happen if everyone who resolved to lose weight in the new year instead resolved to fight poverty." Yes! What if? Instead of Ten Tips To Declutter Your Closets! we chose ten tips to declutter our minds. Instead of Lose 20 Pounds This Month we chose to help 20 people this month. What a revolutionary thought. I'd like to try that.

My goal for this year, beginning in October for my birthday, is to make it the Year of Rachel. I did pretty well in the last quarter. I lost 12 pounds. I donated to charity organizations I believe in. I maintained two new friendships. I bought purple eyeliner. I became a better parent. I discovered I was gluten intolerant and adjusted my diet. I continued to kick ass in my kick-ass job.

I believe 2012 will be more of the same. More self improvement. More introspection. And, hopefully, more of that good-will-toward-men stuff that is so important. And more Ryan Gossling. Definately.

Make it the Year of Rachel + Others.

So what does the Year of the Dragon have in store for you?

(And P.S. Evelyn starts preschool tomorrow. I'm nervous for her. I'm nervous for Jon and I. I have to start packing lunches! We have six weeks of a brutal commute! What if she misses her old daycare friends? More later...)