Focus

Almost Six Weeks Later................

PT is going very well and I'm pretty much 95-100% off my crutches!!! What a relief.....not sure if my shoulders could have handled it for much longer!  The past week, while walking without crutches, my leg is so weak that I tend to walk like Festus (which happens to be my new nickname :P)!  My therapist said most of my left leg movement is horizontal causing a lot of truck rotation which in turn is bothering my back, neck, shoulders, ect.  I've started to walk more normal now since my leg is getting stronger and I think I can tell a difference in discomfort.  The other week I went for my four week post-op check-up and had x-rays done.  Apparently I don't have two screws....I've got four.  So far everything is healing nicely and I'm happy with it!

Four Weeks Later

I can't believe is only been four weeks since I had surgery and I ditched a crutch last week. Besides separating a joint in my left foot and pumping a tube of air into my blood stream, recovery has gone well!!!!  My foot healed up quickly (Thank-goodness)  and the air thing......well lets just say I'm not likely to forget to prime the tube again.  Recovery has gone drastically different than expected.  With changes to the surgical techniques I had no hip restriction from the beginning.  Meaning weight as tolerated ect,  Every day brings new surprises with what I can do.  I'm just having trouble slowing down!  I had no intention on having my other hip done anytime soon but now that I know how things go, I'm putting that on the plate as a possibility next year.  We'll see what happens.

Nothing to Fear

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup, and have made my lot secure.   Psalms 16:5

My New Hip!!!

Having a PAO was a big decision but so far I'm happy I made it! Now on to recovery:)

Ramblings

One bum shoulder (right) and with the fact that I'm right handed I figured I'd sit down and begin the art of mastering such tedious matters left handed!  Hip surgery is approaching and as I prepare for that I'm also busy with pre-op appointments, commissions ect. ect. ect.....

I had to donate over 500ml of blood for this surgery coming up.  With all honesty, I'm just starting to feel a little better from it and its been a week.   Losing all that blood really didn't help POTS;)

one of many paintings I've been working on!

LOVE it !!!!!

Love, LOVE this song!!!!

"We need to live by faith not by sight" Derick Rabelo 

 WOW Films is coming out with a movie, called Beyond Sight, about Derick Rabelo who is a truly inspiring blind surfer!!

New Blog!!

Hey everyone!!  I just set up a site for my art and photography business. Feel free to check it out!! :-)

The Studio: Alana's Art and Photography

Good Ol' Summertime

My summer has been a busy one, but I can't complain too much.  I'd rather have things to do than nothing at all! It was only about three weeks ago that I really started reacting to the heat.  I'm so thankful for feeling a wee bit better this summer:D

Earlier in the week, I went on a trip.  It was lots of fun but sitting in the car for 10hours and then the trip to PT wasn't all that great on my SI joint and hip.  My SI came out of place the other night.  I was able to get it back in but during PT the next day it came out again.  My plan for this week is lots of time in the gym and no long car trips.  With POTS really giving me a hard time the past week I'll probably remain horizontal when I can't be vertical :)

I have to say that I have found my new all time favorite smoothie! A friend introduced me to green smoothies.  The sound 'green' smoothies made me.......lets just say it got me interested :) She really liked them and with that said, I was willing to try it.   Not because she was my best friend, more like I trusted her taste buds better than say....my brothers :D

It doesn't look all that green because I put blueberries in it.

You can put pretty much anything you want in it. Today I used bananas, spinach, avocado, blueberries and frozen orange juice.  Next time I'm going to put our homemade Greek yogurt in it!!  You pretty much put anything vegetable and fruity in it and walla!! Since I don't eat vegetables for breakfast this is a good way to have something full of protein and vegetables and still call it breakfast.  It even a good snack and also makes a good lunch :)

A few pictures from a rodeo earlier this month.

Hip Chick and Artsy Randomness

For the past few hours I've been busy cooking, cleaning, laundry ect.  For the past two hours my bad hip has been trying to get a message through that its just plum tuckered out.  Unfortunately I seem to be ignoring it ;-)  I still have a few things to do but I'll make myself take it easy for a little bit.  I love being busy and active but having a bum legs kinda gets in the way sometimes :-D  

making homemade granola!

The past few weeks I've been getting really busy with art.  I'm also getting ready for some art shows and competition this summer!


Here's a few things I've been working on lately:

watercolor

watercolor

watercolor

Its gonna be loud this summer!

Now, these insects aren't the most attractive or let us say.........quiet, but it only happens every seven years.  Yesterday, as I was walking around the yard picking flowers I noticed several cicadia  skins on an iris bush.  Then, THE bug in a flower. A few moments later I noticed that they were all around.  In the bushes, trees, even in the tall grass in the woods......all full of skins. The more you looked the more you saw.  Its was quite a sight. I only remember hearing them when I was younger (probably when I was about 11 ;) 

yes that is poison ivy :)

I must have seen about twenty or thirty of theses things!!

Its gonna be a loud one :D

Spring has Sprung

Spring has come quickly.  Its seems like it was just the other day when we got a couple of inches of snow.  A little over a week ago I finally finished high school.  It took a week or so to get use to the idea of waking up in the morning and not having to do school!  So right now, I'm off to new things-looking for jobs, taking classes and working on getting a business going in the next year or two.  It takes a lot of thinking and planning beforehand- this I've realized quickly!

watercolor and pen/ink

watercolor and ink
Soon to become stationary!

watercolor and ink
First painting of mine to go up for sale in a gallery!!

 

graphite and pencil sketch
Finally finished and framed.
It took about 40 plus hours of work to complete it!

Photography class this past month

In February, I took a photography class and loved it so much!! May is going to be full of photography workshops, watercolor classes, a painting class and drawing classes.

Best time of the year!!

The past week or two has brought 80 degree weather and surprisingly I have been able to weather it fairly well with POTS!  I am really hoping I'll have a better summer than the last one.  I staying busy working out at the gym.  I'm still planning on going surfing this year!!!

"Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?  See my hands and my feet, that it is myself.  Touch me and see."      Luke 24:38-39

It looks like Narnia!

Eight inches and a possible five more to go!!!! I'm hoping for a good snowball fight before this is over : ) Even thought the snow is beautiful, EDS never ceases to make its presence known in this cold weather!  I was feeling it even before it started snowing last night........great weather announcer I'd be : )   

Finding Joy In the Simplest of Things:)

Earlier this morning:

Had fun taking these pics!

I was able to snap some shots this year as opposed to last year. :D

Right now:

POTS is making me feeling plum tuckered out
I feel like giving in
I feel unproductive with my day
I'm fustrated

I'm feeling lazy

But:

All I need to do is focus on the things I CAN do and take joy in the simplest of things that I'm blessed with each moment:)

Two things that make me smile:

One of the best two cats in da world!!!
Earline playing with my camera 2010:)

 

The other best kitty in da whole world:) 
Her royalty in all her glory:D

Gluten-free Granola Fruit Bars

I created this gluten free recipe but it wasn't without the help of a recipe on the back of a granola bag.  Both the recipe and the granola included gluten.  I used the basic concepts, used the same measurements and added different ingredients. Note.  These recipes do include oats which I can tolerate but are not officially gluten free unless you use gluten free oats.

Gluten-Free Granola Fruit Bars:preheat oven to 350*

In a bowl mix:

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
*1/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup Pamela's gluten-free Pancake and Baking Flour

1tsp salt

1 1/2 cups gluten-free oats (I use the regular Quaker Oats)
1 1/2 cups gluten-free granola **

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/4 to 1/3 chocolate chips

*Last time I tried using a little less than 1/4 cup of honey instead of brown sugar and it was a little bit crumbly.

**You can use store-bought gluten-free granola or this is the homemade recipe I use with regular oats.

Homemade Granola: 

preheat oven to 350*

5 cups gluten-free oats or regular oats
1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup nuts

1 cup honey

1/2 cup canola oil

Mix the above ingredients in a bowl and spread onto a baking sheet.  Cook for ten minutes.  When it turns light brown flip the granola and sprinkle 1 cup plus of raisins, cranberries ect. and put back in oven for a few minutes until brown. 

Once the granola is taken out of the oven, it will need a lot of stirring until its cool. Otherwise, it will stick to the pan.

Blueberry, Banana, Peanut Butter Smoothie

Since I've been on a Gluten-free diet,  I always like concocting new smoothies. The other day I read about someone liking a smoothie that she called a Blueberry, Banana, Peanut Butter Smoothie.  At first I thought it would be pretty disgusting. But after thinking on it, I decided to be brave and try it (Something I'm really bad at when it comes to food. I had no recipe to follow so I just threw together the following ingredients.  IT IS SO DELICIOUS!!! Also note that I do not measure out my ingredients  so the following amounts are close to what I use.

In a blender mix:

1 banana
1 cup of Blueberries
1-2 TBSP Peanut Butter (almond butter, ect)
1/2 plus tsp of vanilla
1-2 TBSP of shredded coconut
2 cups plus of milk (almond milk, coconut milk, ect)

1 tsp of sugar (optional.  I have found with smoothies, sugar isn't always necessary)

1/2 to 1 cup blueberry Keifer (optional.  If using keifer...reduce milk some. Also Keifer is 99% lactose free!)

After blended add 1/3 cup granola

ENJOY!!

2012 Recap and New Year

Year 2012:
A year ago, things were a lot different for me.  I was in chronic pain and my joints would shift, dislocate and sublux a lot.  The previous summer I was diagnosed with POTS and EDS. It seemed like I went to Chemistry class every week with a different brace on.  A sling one week and knee brace the other.
Last February, I started six months of Physical Therapy.  At first I wasn't convinced it was going to help one bit.  But by the time I was discharged in June, I was 85-90% pain free.  My knees, hips, shoulders, and wrists didn't pop out and or shift.
To honestly say, I wasn't sure how to take it.  It was strange to be given a small taste of what 'normal actually felt like. Then the summer heat hit and POTS came with a thud.  It was so bad at one point that I could not get UP from the floor after an exercise because I was too weak and exhausted.  I couldn't sit down at the table and write a simple email for more than a minute (sometimes not even that) before I was hit with REALLY bad nausea and fatigue. Forming a sentence was exhausting. I had to draw laying on the floor sometimes.
At this point I had let go of a lot of things.  I had content with simple little things.  Being able to go surfing was amazing. Something I never thought I get to do.


As the summer months came and went, POTS never really let lose.  Then, in November, we switched doctors and now I have a WONDERFUL team working with me.  By the end of November I was put on a trial of hydration therapy (saline IV infusions).  It seems like such a small thing, but the difference it made wasn't.  I went from limited daily activity, juggling simple daily tasks, matching my physical abilities and taking all day to workout, to having more stamina and endurance.  School is less of a problems than what it was, and I can sit at the table and do projects and work.  My daily tasks have increased as well and my ability to keep up with 'life' a bit more has improved.

Current 2013:
Right, now I'm in PT again. This time for cervical instability.   I'm about a week and a half behind what my Therapist was expecting me to be. The therapy is mainly focusing on strengthening parts of the neck that 'normal' people would never have to strengthen.  My headaches have decreased but I still have a ways to go with my strength and endurance in my neck.

Although huge strides of improvement have been taken, I still have struggles and issues.  They haven't all gone away. And I'm fine with that.  A year ago I never expected to be were I am right now.  For me, learning to embrace trials and struggles has been a learning process.  God NEVER allows things for no good reason.  And I am thankful and blessed for all that He has given me and walked me through.....the good and so called bad. I'm better for it.  No matter how yucky and downright tough it gets, there truly is a purpose to it all. GOOD will come out of it.  Whether it was what we expect or not!

A few of my 2013 goals and projects!
-increase strength and get in better shape ( A life long goal)
-Go surfing!!!!! (I've been dying to get out there again and master the delicate art of balancing on a surf board!! Ugh......I'm still frustrated :P
-Make the most of every moment
-Get my drivers license....ahhh...scary:-)
-It's not exactly a goal (maybe a in the next two years goal), but I do want to get my hip surgery DONE......FINISH!!! Whether this year or next.
-Finish writing a story I started six years ago (we will see.....cough....how this one goes ;-)
-Scrapbook two albums
-Finish school
-Continue working on my reading list.
-Take a few western riding classes

Just got my 'sketch a day' sketchbook the other day!

 

Please pray for a dear friend of mine.  

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/allisonworkman

(you will also find her link on my blog list)