This is only the
single most exciting news I’ve gotten in months and I waited a WHOLE week
to share it! What’s wrong with me?!
Last Monday I got
the call from the CEC and Dr. Sinervo’s office! I am officially scheduled for my
April excision surgery with one of the top doctors! I’ve been asked if I’m nervous and the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT! I’ve had so many unsuccessful abdominal surgeries performed by
surgeons who weren’t skilled enough to “fix” me. No more band-aids for this girl’s endo pain! I already feel so highly optimistic simply from
hearing all the success stories and from the amount of kindness and hospitality
I’ve received from every single person at the
CEC. They’ve been nothing short of amazing thus far!
Plane tickets are
bought for a 10 day trip to Atlanta for Mr. Pennington and I. We are staying a
considerably long time because we are still unsure how invasive the operation
will be. Everything will be done via LAPEX (laser), but depending on which
parts of my body are impacted by the disease and to what extreme, I could be in
the hospital anywhere from 23 hours to 4 days!
Today we put the
final touch on our travel plans by securing a place to stay. This has been
insanely stressful for me and absolutely mind consuming. I woke up in a panic
(full blown, pass the wine so I can take my Xanax PANIC) this morning after
dreaming about it all night long. Hotels are outrageous for 10 day stays, some
places have terrible (like….dog poop on the bathroom floor of the hotel
room terrible) ratings, some places are so far away from my doctor and the
hospital, what if this happens, or what if that does? BLAH! I finally rented a
studio apartment for the 10 days that’s within half hour of the airport, the CEC,
and the hospital. The best part was that the fare for this was almost HALF of
what we were being quoted for a “medical discount” at area hotels! I told my mom today that I think I’m moving to Atlanta. Everyone I’ve
dealt with has been so flipping sweet! The property manager at this place
secured me a first floor studio since stairs aren’t
ideal post-op, and was more than happy to answer any questions I had as well as
provide me with documentation I needed.
I am beyond giddy to
make this trip! The only thing that’s a total bummer is being away from my third graders
for several weeks. It’s been a 4 day weekend and I miss them! I
guess it’s a good thing I’m only a mile from school and can visit often!
Now all I have to do
is hurry up and wait. 7 weeks to go!
Sunday Funday…better than a Monday! Just a
little nod to one of my favorite shows ever. Anyone else watch and LOVE You’re the Worst on FXX? You should.You're welcome for the song that's about to be stuck in your head.
We spent our Sunday Funday outside
as much as possible because HELLO, it’s 65 degrees in Ohio IN FEBRUARY! Sunny
weather makes this crew happy!
We always spend our Sunday mornings
meal planning, grocery shopping and trying out a new (or oldie but goody)
brunch spot. Today we had the kiddos and decided to treat them to one of our
favorites—816 Pint & Slice in Fort Wayne. The pizza is delicious and
as big as your head! It’s also not on the diet, so we had gluten free grinders
which were really yummy! I highly
recommend checking it out!
Back to the grocery shopping. My
main goal today was to purchase the items we needed to get back to natural,
non-toxic cleaning…for ourselves AND our home! Ironically, my best group text
friends (doesn't everyone have that ONE group text that never ends?) and I were discussing cleaning products today and I was so geeky
excited that they brought it up because I knew I was posting a blog on exactly that!
So many of the products we use
every single day are so full of toxins and carcinogens. Shampoo, lotion,
cleaners, laundry soap…you name it. Even items marked as “natural” are, well, not so
much. The products that are the scariest to me are all of the items we use in
the shower or in our kids’ baths. A time when the steam has our pores so open
and susceptible and we are lathering up with yummy smelling everything! Those
scented goodies we suds up with are full of things that are terrible for our
bodies! They can cause inflammation in anyone (but especially those of us with
inflammatory disease like endo), introduce carcinogens, and trigger many
allergic reactions. These items also have a huge impact on reproductive organs,
as well as a host of other issues!
Even when we think we are buying
the best products because they’re marketed as “healthy”, “all natural”, “organic”…we often are still buying
toxic stuff. How can you know which is good and which just LOOKS good? Well….there’s an app for that!
Think Dirty is a totally free app that you can download to your iPhone or
Android. It allows you to scan bar codes of all items from deodorant to window
cleaner and everything in between. The app then gives you a rating of 0-10.
Items with a score of 10 are the most dangerous and harmful. You might look
like a total dork (or in our case, the 4 person family dork squad) walking
through the store scanning items, but it’s very much worth knowing what you’re
purchasing!
Now, to answer my group text
besties…here are some of the things I’m using in my home that work
GREAT, are all natural (toxin free for me and for the Earth), and totally
affordable! These are DIY items that are tried and true in the Pennington casa!
Laundry Soap
This DIY laundry soap is easy, affordable and lasts forever. And
works great at cleaning stinky little (and big) boy socks!
You’ll need
¼ cup
pure castile soap (I use Dr. Bronner’s Orange and Hemp)
¼ cup
washing soda
¼ cup
baking soda
20 drops of your favorite essential oil (lavender or orange oil
are my favorites!)
1 gallon of warm water
Simply mix your warm water and dry ingredients together well in
a container. (The container I used was one of about 4 we bought for our wedding
and figured we’d never use again. They work like a charm!) Add in your castile
soap and oil. Stir well (or in my case, have Mr. Pennington shake up).
Voila! You’re done. Use 1/3 cup per load of laundry. This
detergent WILL stay liquid and will need mixed again before using.
DIY Dryer (and EVERYTHING) sheets
You’ll need:
½ cup
vinegar
8-10 drops of your
favorite essential oil
Fabric cut into squares (I absolutely love those small baby
washrags!)
Pour vinegar into mason jar or airtight container. Add your
oils. Roll the cloths and add to the jar. The cloths will soak up the liquid.
Just toss a cloth into the dryer in place of a toxic store bought dryer sheet.
I use 2 for big loads.
Disregard my photos. I'm ashamed to admit that I actually am capable of taking professional images. No time for that!
But wait, there’s more…
These suckers are SO amazing for cleaning glass as well! I actually
made up a few jars and have them around the house for quick access. Wipe down
your glass surfaces and mirrors with your “dryer sheet” and wipe clean with a
dry cloth. For these I highly recommend using thieves oil from Young Living due
to its anti-bacterial properties. Works better than any blue cleaner in a spray
bottle…and it’s safe for your family!
I can’t wait to share my essential
oil beauty regimen with you soon! As I’ve mentioned, my best friend is a Young
Living consultant and she has hooked up me up with some seriously amazing “potions”
for helping my hair grow out, getting rid of acne, and a salt scrub that’s to
die for! But more on that another day. You have to get busy downloading that
Get Dirty app and scanning everything in your house. It’s terrifying and I’m
sorry in advance. But not really…it is worth it in the long run!
Enjoy your week! Hopefully you get
to celebrate President’s Day at home making safe cleaners.
What a crazy week! I’m so glad my
favorite night of the week is here! We had a snow day from school on Thursday
and I spent yesterday in the peds ER with my littlest guy who’s dealing with
some sort of viral nastiness. I managed to get some groceries this morning,
visit the chiropractor (where I ended up getting x rays and learning that my
body is a whole jumble of messed up…more on that later), and came home to hang this cuteness in my
master bath.
But evening is here, the kids are
with their dad, and Mr. Pennington will be home soon. I love Saturday nights
because it’s the one night we can stay up late (like….10pm), drink our wine (if
my endo is willing to let my body tolerate alcohol) and snuggle in for a movie.
Or in our case a documentary! Mr. Pennington went from a beer, pizza, wings,
and steak kind of guy to a total clean eating health nut several months ago. He
needed to get his blood pressure down and refused to do it with drugs. As a
result, he’s lost 35 pounds and looks and feels great! I’m so super proud of
him! Part of his continued motivation is watching documentaries on all the toxic
junk in our food. I can’t lie…I’ve always been pretty healthy and these documentaries don’t
really hold my attention, but nonetheless I indulge in them with him.
Last weekend I got to choose so we
watched a documentary that’s near and dear to my heart: Vaxxed. I am an
anti-vaxing mama. Partially because I have an immune deficient child who never built
immunity after his 2 month vaccines (but did suffer all the side effects).
Partially because I’ve seen the damage an MMR vaccine can do to a child through
one of my good friend’s son. And have seen her bust her ass to bring her little
boy back…it hasn’t been easy and is a day by day regiment of
supplements, vitamins, clean eating, detoxing, environmental screenings, and an
extremely watchful eye on EVERYTHING he’s exposed to. She seriously is my hero…and she thinks she’s just
an ordinary mom! And finally, I’m just not comfortable with pumping my babies
full of toxins. I could go on about this topic for hours, but will spare you.
I, of course, respect every parent’s right to choose what they believe is best
for their child. I do suggest watching this documentary though, no matter what your standpoint!
Back to “Saturday Night Doc’ Night”,
tonight is one of my choosing as well! (It’s the simple things in life that
make me happy, folks!) I just bought my digital copy of Endo What? and also
ordered my Endo What? tee shirt. I came across this documentary this morning
and was so excited! And a little disappointed that I didn’t even know it
existed until today. After watching the trailer, I really started researching
how I can put my story out there and other ways I can help spread awareness. I
told my husband that he really needs a fat promotion at work so that I can quit
teaching (yeah right) put my opinionated big mouth to good work advocating for
women with this disease and to spread awareness about it! I’m really looking
forward to my life as a crunchy, rally attending, hippie who fights this
disease as hard as it has fought me all my adult life! For now, I’ve sent a lot
of emails to volunteer at events and tell my story. I also signed up to be
contacted to have an Endo What? screening somewhere close to me. Until I have
some emails back…my big mouth is asking YOU to please check out the Endo What?
website. Watch the documentary (you KNOW you’re dying to have your own wild
Saturday Night Doc Night!), donate to the cause, check out the School Nurse
Initiative…which is amazing! Check it out, guys! Help set the record
straight that this disease is more than just “bad periods” or “normal pain”. Do
it for me if you know me. Do if for one of the 1 in 10 women in your life who
is affected by endo.
I’ll jump off my soapbox for a
minute to get back to the chiropractic visit I mentioned. Hopefully someone
might have some advice on this weird situation. Sooo, I have been having these
fainting episodes lately. And have been weirdly dizzy. I had x-rays done today
and my C2 and C3 (cervical vertebrae, in the neck) are twisted/rotated as a
result of scoliosis (that I had corrected at age 13. Coincidentally that
correction could be the cause of all my reproductive organ issues!). There are holes in these vertebrae that allow
your vertebral arteries, and obviously blood, to travel to your brain. With
this rotation, when I raise my hands above my head, the artery gets pinched off
which in turn limits blood flow….and life goes fuzzy while I ooze to the ground. I’m seeing the
chiropractor weekly now, more if needed. If anyone else has dealt with this,
what did you do? Yoga (with no child’s pose because that has made me dizzy for
months and I didn’t know why), exercises, stretching….any advice is good and
more that I have now! While this is a pretty big deal healthwise, my biggest
concern is that when everyone is “throwin’ your hands way up in the air, waving
‘em around like you just don’t care”….I’ll be the jackass who appears to care because I can’t lift
my hands up above my head. The struggle is real, my friends.
Mr. Penington has entered the casa
which means doc night is about to commence. I think you better go download it
right NOW also! Have a happy weekend!
Holy flare up, Batman! I destroyed
my body by having too many cups of coffee from my favorite shop, too many glasses of wine, and one
junk meal over the weekend. I’m paying for this SO heavily! I took a personal day today
because my husband had the day off, and I’m so
glad I did because I felt pretty rough. I was trying to explain the pain to him
the best I could….
Me: Sooo, imagine being all out of shape and
randomly running a 5K, then doing 500 crunches AFTER working a 12 hour shift on
your feet.
And for good measure, to describe the pelvic
aspect of this pain, I told him I felt like a bowling ball was laying in my
pelvis so maybe he could just imagine a lead grape trying to escape his man
parts.
Him: total silence and insert that big eyed
emoji
Anyways, this is actually supposed
to be a happy news post! I was talking essential oils with my best friend last
night. She is a Young Living consultant and makes amazing body butters, roller balls, lip balms, massage bars, salt scrubs and any other amazing product you can imagine.
We were talking about making my 9 year old something for his anxiety when it
hit me that there’s probably something for endo as well!
Sure enough, today I have a roller
ball in my possession! My 7 year old calls these roller balls “potions”. My potion has geranium, clary sage, frankincense, and Cyprus oils.
I kid you not—I put it on and felt a tiny bit of relief in minutes. Within
half hour my pain was half what it had been! Like with any oil treatment, I
needed to reapply after about 3 hours, but again, it worked quickly to lessen
the pain!
I highly recommend checking out
any of my bestie’s products! Check out her Ella Sophia shop on Etsy! You will
NOT be disappointed!
Thanks, BFF, for enabling me to
drink coffee and wine when I know better. That’s what
friends are for, right?!
