I hate doctors, medicine, pills, hospitals, and everything related to that. Well, maybe except for the Discovery Health channel, which I love to watch.
But, it turns out I’m no robot after all. I am pretty disappointed with myself, I must admit. I thought I could take on any amount of stress, deal with it, shake it off, move on, and be as good as new. Right?
Wrong.
In the last few months, I’ve been waking up with headaches even after 8 hours of sleep (which is rare, but still). And, sometimes, the headaches last all day long… Moreover, any significant excitement (positive or negative) also tends to cause my head to ache later.
While I casually blamed the headaches on my life style and all the stress around it, gradually, this new ‘headache’ thing started to significantly affect my everyday life, and just wouldn’t seem to want to go away.
So a month ago my mom suggested I buy a blood pressure monitor. I listened (which is also rare).
I never really monitored my bp before, except for when I was pregnant with Will. My bp was high then, but I blamed it on the pregnancy, naturally. So it's been a discovery for me that my baseline blood pressure is high (above 140/100 first thing in the morning). Based on my bp logs of two weeks, I have hypertension, stage 2 (the last one).
Last Monday was a particularly stressful day for multiple reasons, and my blood pressure spiked to 190/110. I spent that night in the ER.
Tomorrow I have my first family doctor appointment to get additional testing and get on a bp medication. I feel like a grown-up now – I have a family doctor… Haven’t had one since I had a pediatrician back in Russia.
I don't know if this thing is temporary or I'll have to be on meds indefinitely. Honestly, I don't really care right now -- I just want to get my bp under control and the headaches gone.
My 2010 New Years resolutions list should be interesting…
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
You snooze, you lose.
It's been a while since I felt the need to blog about Autism. Reasons: 1) I felt that for some time Will had been making progress, and life was becoming more "normal", 2) been busy with selling the house, then not selling it, then refinancing it and all the stress that came from that, 3) I generally like to blog about the things I love doing, like cooking, photography, music, travelling, and, of course, things I do with and for Will.
But, blogging about Autism is like cutting my heart out of my chest and giving it to the rest of the world to examine, under a microscope. It's that personal. And, it's that painful.
Last night was really tough. Will has a cold, so he coughed half of the night, and was finally able to fall sleep around 3am. At 5:45am, my alarm went off, as always, but, instead of hitting the 'off' button, like I always do (which makes a 'beep' sound), I hit the 'snooze' button (which produces no sound). At that point, I thought Will was completely asleep but, when he didn't hear the 'beep' sound, he went from a sound asleep stage to an absolute psycho melt-down stage in less than two seconds. He jumped off the bed and started running around, trying to push every single button he could find in the bedroom (vcr, tv, light switches etc.) in search of that 'beep' sound. It lasted about 30 min, and me trying to comfort and re-direct him was only making him more frustrated. Finally, I just sat there and stared into space, waiting for all of it to pass. Seeing my child be like this was horrible and, for the first time since his diagnosis, I realized that Will needs more help.
Since Will perceives the world and life around him as a set of patterns, any deviation from those has a disastrous effect. Naturally, the easiest thing would have been for me to reset the alarm and hit the 'off' button. But, you can't give into this ritualistic behavior because, otherwise, as you continue to feed the problem, he will continue to expect the same outcome.
A structured school environment and daily ABA therapy help him a lot with the issues of Autism, but I feel like now we need to do even more. I don't know what though, and I am afraid of what the doctors may suggest, since no one really knows how to treat Autism. I am and always have been against any sort of anti-depressant or anti-psychotic medication but, perhaps, it's time to put my personal convictions aside and take Will back to the Children's National Medical Center for a check-up.
But, blogging about Autism is like cutting my heart out of my chest and giving it to the rest of the world to examine, under a microscope. It's that personal. And, it's that painful.
Last night was really tough. Will has a cold, so he coughed half of the night, and was finally able to fall sleep around 3am. At 5:45am, my alarm went off, as always, but, instead of hitting the 'off' button, like I always do (which makes a 'beep' sound), I hit the 'snooze' button (which produces no sound). At that point, I thought Will was completely asleep but, when he didn't hear the 'beep' sound, he went from a sound asleep stage to an absolute psycho melt-down stage in less than two seconds. He jumped off the bed and started running around, trying to push every single button he could find in the bedroom (vcr, tv, light switches etc.) in search of that 'beep' sound. It lasted about 30 min, and me trying to comfort and re-direct him was only making him more frustrated. Finally, I just sat there and stared into space, waiting for all of it to pass. Seeing my child be like this was horrible and, for the first time since his diagnosis, I realized that Will needs more help.
Since Will perceives the world and life around him as a set of patterns, any deviation from those has a disastrous effect. Naturally, the easiest thing would have been for me to reset the alarm and hit the 'off' button. But, you can't give into this ritualistic behavior because, otherwise, as you continue to feed the problem, he will continue to expect the same outcome.
A structured school environment and daily ABA therapy help him a lot with the issues of Autism, but I feel like now we need to do even more. I don't know what though, and I am afraid of what the doctors may suggest, since no one really knows how to treat Autism. I am and always have been against any sort of anti-depressant or anti-psychotic medication but, perhaps, it's time to put my personal convictions aside and take Will back to the Children's National Medical Center for a check-up.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
"Sharlotka" (Russian Apple Pie)
Autumn is my favorite season... The air is fresh and cool, yet it's still not too cold to sit outside with a blanket, enjoy a glass of good red wine, and watch the leaves fall.
Autumn is also the time for those of us who cook to do so more often -- it's the season of hearty soups, stews, rich casseroles, and pies.
Speaking of pies... I've been meaning to make Sharlotka (a common name for a Russian apple pie) for a few weeks now, and today was the day. The recipe is so easy, a caveman can do it (hehe).
Ingredients:
* 3 large apples (I find that yellow apples taste the best for this type of pie)
* 4 large eggs
* 1 cup of flour
* 1 cup of sugar
* 1/3 tspoon of baking soda
* 1/4 of stick of butter
Directions:
Peel the apples first, then cut/slice the them up however you like. I tend to slice them pretty thin, but that's a personal preference. Place the cut-up applies into a baking/pie dish, pre-treated with olive oil, butter, or PAM, to prevent it from sticking.
In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, flour, sugar and baking soda. Once the batter is ready, pour it into the baking dish over the cut-up apples. Stick a few small pieces of butter into the batter in the pie dish (my mom's secret - "it will taste better"). Place the dish in the oven (uncovered) and bake at 375F degrees for 30 min.
Serve warm or room temperature. I like to sprinkle some powdered sugar on it when serving to make it a bit more sweet. Priyatnogo appetita :-)
Autumn is also the time for those of us who cook to do so more often -- it's the season of hearty soups, stews, rich casseroles, and pies.
Speaking of pies... I've been meaning to make Sharlotka (a common name for a Russian apple pie) for a few weeks now, and today was the day. The recipe is so easy, a caveman can do it (hehe).Ingredients:
* 3 large apples (I find that yellow apples taste the best for this type of pie)
* 4 large eggs
* 1 cup of flour
* 1 cup of sugar
* 1/3 tspoon of baking soda
* 1/4 of stick of butter
Directions:
Peel the apples first, then cut/slice the them up however you like. I tend to slice them pretty thin, but that's a personal preference. Place the cut-up applies into a baking/pie dish, pre-treated with olive oil, butter, or PAM, to prevent it from sticking.
In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, flour, sugar and baking soda. Once the batter is ready, pour it into the baking dish over the cut-up apples. Stick a few small pieces of butter into the batter in the pie dish (my mom's secret - "it will taste better"). Place the dish in the oven (uncovered) and bake at 375F degrees for 30 min.
Serve warm or room temperature. I like to sprinkle some powdered sugar on it when serving to make it a bit more sweet. Priyatnogo appetita :-)
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