Colorado Shooting- Our hearts go out to all that hurt
It is such a nightmare
the distress that happened on that night
so many smiling faces
no evil acts insight.
There is no way to imagine
just how you must feel
we understand it expends you
we too wish it wasn’t real.
Our hearts go out to all that hurt
you are prayed for every day
would love to reach out to each of you
but realize there are no right words to say.
As best that we can say we are sorry
it is an ache that no one should have to bare
although we may not know you personally
we really truly care.
No one of us can relate exactly
to this Colorado crowd
but hope they all realize
their strength makes us proud!
Misty
July 2012
Endometriosis
What is endometriosis?
Endometriosis is a female health disorder that occurs when cells from the lining of the womb (uterus) grow in other areas of the body. This can lead to pain, irregular bleeding, and problems getting pregnant (infertility).
So what are some of the symptoms?
Painful Periods
Pain in the lower abdomen before and during menstruation
Cramps for a week or two before menstruation and during menstruation
Pain during or following sexual intercourse
Pain with bowel movements
Pelvic or low back pain that may occur at any time during the menstrual cycle
I found out that I had endometriosis in my teenage years. I had a lot of pain which would call for many visits to the doctor. Pain that was so intense I would often throw up. Sometimes I would be in so much pain that my face would swell. My body seemed to react to the intense pain with a vomiting reaction. There were times when I couldn’t get out of bed to go to school, to go to work, to do anything for that matter. I was told I had irritable bowel as most women with endometriosis are typically diagnosed with. I went through many test. I was told that I would probably never have children. I had my first laparoscopic surgery when I was 18. My first surgery was estimated to take an hour but ended up taking three. I felt great after the first surgery and thought I would never have to deal with it again. It was after this that I did get pregnant with my daughter. I remember being in my bathroom in my condo and praying to God to allow my body to carry this baby. I had many problems during my pregnancy but I was fortunate to have a beautiful daughter who is now 13. Needless to say I call her my miracle child. This could even contribute more to why she is so spoiled. I would feel pretty good for a few years after the endomotriosis was removed but like clockwork it seemed the pain would come back. I had surgeries almost every 2-3 years. It was the same thing over and over. Pain and then surgery. It was the end of June 2007 when I underwent yet another surgery. I think this was number 8 or 9. I mentioned before I usually felt good for a couple of years after a surgery. This time I didn’t. Oddly, still feeling the pain from surgery, I still had intense pain from the endometriosis. I didn’t understand it and I kept waiting day after day if the pain would stop. It was that pain that sent me back into my doctor’s office. Not even a couple of weeks after my surgery I was destined for yet another surgery. This one would be different. This one was the one. The one that my doctor and I had hoped that it would not come to. So on July 26th 2007 I was back in the operating room having a hysterectomy along with exploratory surgery. I was very thankful that my doctor did the exploratory because it was then that he found endometriosis on the tube between my kidney and bladder. This would have stopped my kidney functioning. Recovering from the hysterectomy was a battle in itself. I can remember taking a shower on my second day home and crying. I stood in that shower and I felt like I cried out every ounce of water my body holds right down that shower drain. I felt empty. I did feel like less of a woman although I did agree to the surgery. I am happy to tell you that those feelings did subside several days later. I must admit the hysterectomy was the right decision for me. I do have some issues with the hormone replacement (HRT) and I usually do not wear the patches or take anything as when I problems with being able to sleep get worse. I do have hot flashes still but for me they get worse with the HRT. I wish I could end this blog post telling you that all my problems are over or saying that I conquered endometriosis but that just is not true. I will say that there are options that will allow you not to suffer in pain and give you your life back. I will tell you that should you have any of these issues you should talk to your doctor right away. I believe that the sooner you find out you have endometriosis the sooner you can start treating the endometriosis. There are also support groups like endometriosis.org and a lot of resources on the web and please feel free to contact me for support. I have tried many things (relaxation techniques, homeopathic mixtures, diets, etc) that did help me with the pain (at times).
Catching Up
Hello Everyone!
It again has been a while since I posted. I have been so busy working on advancing my drawing skills. I have been working on some exercises to help me get back in “the groove” per say. I have really been enjoying myself immensely. I think the hardest thing for me to draw and to draw in “real life” as people say, is the hands. It has become a lot easier now that I am remembering to see hands differently. Here is a before picture.
And this is after ( ”seeing” differently). It think it is pretty amazing.
What do you think?
I have also been working on the store part of my website. I’ve not made it public because it needs lots of work still. Did I just say lots of work? I mean tons of work. It is also nice to have great pictures of things so I pulled out my good camera (the iPhone is okay but it just doesn’t cut it.. ha ha) I really had hoped that I would have it ready but it looks like it may move into the end of August. I wish I could snap my fingers and make it happen but I have also noticed that everything I do lately has really involved patience. Just one more great thing about drawing, painting, and writing. There is no need to rush. You notice so much more when you don’t. The entire world could use some slowing down in my opinion!
Speaking of slowing down. I had a family reunion over the weekend and it happens to be what I call “down south”. Fredericktown is not really considered “down south” to most. I notice that people do not rush around down there as much as we do here where I am at. I love that. I love taking more time to see the beauty in things and just taking a breath of fresh air overall. I’m trying to really focus on slowing down in general. Why do we have to stress ourselves out with all this rushing around? Am I the only one that finds this exhausting? We (my husband Chris, my daughter Michayla, and her friend Alexis) took some time to take that breath of fresh air by making a pit stop at Knob Lick Tower. I didn’t research this but I believe that this tower might have been used as an aid for the fire department in locating wildfires back in the day. I don’t think it is still used much for that these days. Although, there have been several wildfires this year with the lack of rain we have had. As a matter of fact in one of my pictures you can see where there has clearly been a large fire. It was such a beautiful day and I certainly think you will agree. I was a bit scared to climb the tower. I made it up the first flight of stairs and chickened out. It’s okay though because I have been up this tower a dozen times already in my life time (my name is written up there somewhere). I guess maybe I felt like I’ve conquered it before and it was okay that I didn’t this time. Ha! Chris and Michayla climbed up the stairs and made it as far as they allow people to go anymore. I think Alexis felt sorry for me being chicken and so she went up a few flights, almost to the top, but decided that she would hang with me. Oh and another great thing about this place, other than our childhood memories, it also holds a special place in my sister’s heart because her husband proposed to her there. How cool is that! So let me share some of these beautiful pictures with you. These were also taken using my iPhone but you can still see the beauty. It was so inspirational for the artist within!
Beautiful right?
So I have been plugging away. I do have a product that I bought that I want share a review about too. So stay tuned for that. If anyone has any products that they like I would love to hear about them and give them a try. If you have a product that you would like to try but just aren’t sure you want to spend the money on without some feedback let me know that too. You can either comment on my website http://www.painteddiva.com or comment on my fan page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/IamPaintedDiva. Please also LIKE my Facebook fan page.
I’m off to cook homemade taco’s and do some drawing! Have a great night everyone.
For you indoor tanners
Another great product that I have used for sometime is the hottie hot bronzer by Playboy. I like tingle and heat when I tan indoors. I like lotions or bronzers that I do not have to use a lot of and that do not leave me or my tanning bed greasy. This product will help you get a darker tan a lot faster. I do not recommend that you use this product if you do not have a base tan. It does get pretty hot and you will burn immediately without that base tan. So what exactly does this product do? It primes your skin. Allows your skin to get a deeper tan. I am a person that does not sweat. Seriously, I can lay in the hot tanning bed for 20 minutes and not even break a sweat. So this product helps prime my skin and actually helps me to sweat. I still do not sweat a lot but my personal experience is that I get a much nicer looking tan if I can sweat. This product is more for experience tanners (it does day this on the bottle) so be aware! You will feel the tingling and you will see reddening of your skin. You can use this on your face but be careful because the face is obviously a lot more sensitive than the rest of the body. What I recommend is that you use what little lotion remains on your hands and even rub your hands to your arms again to really rub the lotion in and then lightly add some to your face just using what you have on your fingertips (you may not see any but it is there). This way you will have a very small amount remaining on your hands and fingers that will help you to avoid adding to much to your face. If you have never used a product like this I do not recommend that you put it on your face at all. I also recommend that if you have never used a product like this that you test on a small area of your body before using. Again, it is an awesome product but is also very extreme.
bioinfusion review
The cost of the shampoo was $7.99 at my local Walgreens.
The cost of the conditioner was $7.99 at my local Walgreens.
Based on my experience I do not recommend the bioinfusion shampoo and conditioner. I have used many other shampoos and conditioners that I have paid a lot less for and have had better results.
Two thumbs down on bioinfusion shampoo and conditioner.
Note: I was not paid for this review. This is my opinion and experience.