newsday tuesday - on Monday

There are a few things I wanted to share while I have a few moments...

I worked half a day today. It was incredibly painful and discouraging. I'm not 100% and I hate that. My work family is wonderful and they have all been incredibly patient and kind. I'm blessed. I plan to try again tomorrow.

I went back to the doctor today and she was all the things that made me like her as a doctor in the first place. I don't know what her deal was last week... but I got the kind of attention I needed today and I feel better - emotionally, if not completely physically. I'm a "second antibiotic" kind of girl. I hate it. Think about this, moms and dads, when you're feeding your kids beef and chicken that is loaded with hormones and antibiotics... my body doesn't respond to antibiotics. And no... I'm not blaming my parents because we didn't know then what we know now... and we certainly didn't know that I'd grow up to have the various chronic conditions that would require frequent antibiotics making them even less effective. Today I got a shot... which is what we should have started with... and a stronger pain medication... and a secondary pain medication. They sent the "lab sample" off to grow a culture... again, something that should always be done with me because the types of infections I have - strep, bronchitis, etc - always have an unusual underlying bacteria. I've got cooties, apparently. It's a common thread with all my infections.

So there's that. And... as she did the exam today... she felt some ovarian cysts... which is consistent with the granuloma disease that I have... they're in my sinuses, my lungs, my kidneys and... so it would stand to reason they would grow in my ovaries too. So far, all the granulomas/cyst formations that have been found have been completely benign and have only served to cause mild discomfort and increased risk of infection. But... they're there.

Today Austin got his new schedule and - as he requested - he's taking the Catalyst Christian Learning Center class and he's taking chemistry. It's a full course load for him and it's going to be difficult but he's excited and enthusiastic. He was chattering nonstop about the Learning Center and "Miss Natalie"... who he's known most of his life... and I'm so grateful that God has worked it out for him to have that Godly influence in the middle of his school day, every day. The class is small - only a half dozen or so kids - and the focus this semester is dating and marriage. He needs - desperately - a Godly perspective on relationships because he hasn't gotten it in his home.

How cool would it be to find out you were Oprah's long lost sister?

Something happened last week when I was really sick... and laying here miserable... my neighbor was playing music really loud... and normally, that is the kind of thing that really gets under my skin. But something made me mute my tv and actually listen to her music... she was playing one of my favorite songs, a contemporary Christian song that I feel has really defined my life... "does anybody hear her can anybody see... does anybody even know she's going down today... under the shadow of the steeple, among the lost and lonely people... searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me... " I cry almost every time I hear that song... because it talks about the loneliness and emptiness that some people carry with them when they come into church... and how desperate they are to feel a touch of a savior. But it wasn't just that she was listening to the song... my neighbor was singing the song at the top of her lungs... not just singing... she was crying out to the Lord... and I recognized in her, in the voice that carried through the wall of our duplex... I recognized that desperation in her voice because I've sung the same song in the same spirit so many times. I was so blessed to hear her singing. I just sat here quietly and listened.

Anyways... that's what's happening around here today... I'm going to be better soon. I just know it.