ifyourstomachoffendsyou

Your throat clearing and soreness is probably esophageal or pharyngeal reflux. Acid is creeping up your esophagus and into your pharynx. Either lose a few lbs or get a slight unfill. You may also be experiencing a cough when you lie down at night. sleep with your upper body elevated. Follow an acid reflux diet. Avoid coffee, tea, acidic foods, chocolate etc till it calms down. Or get you a script for Nexium or something. Arthritis pain can trigger overeating and lack of exercise. I'm making sure I can still take my anti-inflammatory. Cheri

I have to take an anti-inflammatory every day. I take it with food or try to coat my stomach with something. Right now I'm tight from weight gain and am having some trouble taking it. I'm using an antacid when I take it to protect my stomach. When I'm not tight I have no trouble at all. More reason to take these lbs back off. I do supplement with Tylenol extra strength if I need more pain killer. I take half the anti-inflammatory I used to take. Need less with the weight loss. I have heard that Tumeric (spice) is a great natural anti-inflammatory but that doesn't mean it isn't hard on the stomach. Same with Fish Oil supplements. Those are known to contribute to reflux.

Sorry you've been sick Kisti. Jessica, way to go on everything. Seems like your life just keeps coming together. I'm on a toot with the food. Can't seem to stop. Just so sick of eating good for almost 2 years. Don't quite know what to do with myself right now. Facing some big challenges and changes at work. Daughter is so sick. My husband is working on changing up his hours. That might help some. Better weather might help. Been raining and overcast and cold for a few days. Need to find a new hobby for at night. Cheri

LInda, so sorry for your loss. I'm trying to get some time freed up from work next week to spend time with my daughter. This next round on Monday is probably going to be her worst and I want to be there to help her. Cheri

Don't know if I ever said beautiful pic of you and your daughter, Sandi. They were gorgeous. Happy Birthday Eva! Had a tearful or verge of tears day today. Rachel is the last thing on my mind when I fall asleep and the first on my mind when I wake up. I'm hoping to take some family leave time next week and spend the week with her after her chemo next Monday. This will be her final dose of the big time chemo. Each time she's been more and more sick and the aftereffects last longer. Her DH needs a break. And I need to spend time with her. For me. Cheri

Melissa, hope you get the full-time position. Take care of your back. One Day at a Time. Your Mantra. Linda, praying for your DB. Janet, glad you're able to exercise again. Can't believe the vertigo issues on this thread. You and Linda exercise more than anyone on here and Apples runs around doing stuff beyond anybody I know. Gets more natural exercise than anyone on here. Makes me wonder if there's a relationship. Jewel, the new thing in your life is your BC pills. Could they be causing fainting as well as other issues? Are you getting enough Protein and eating it frequently enough? I had trouble during my concert because I went too long without protein. Great, blood pressure meds and other meds can cause pharyngeal reflux. (One of the side effects of my daughter's chemo) So can your band. I would also see another specialist on that node and not take a chance. Any lump is nothing to fool around with. Ask my daughter. Who, by the way, is miserably sick from the chemo. So hard to watch her suffer. One more dose of this heavy-duty chemo, then she switches to "chemo-light." It will attack the cancer from another angle. Tumor continues to shrink rapidly. The best outcome is for the tumor to be completely killed by the chemo by the time of the surgery. Her cancer is so aggressive that that will improve her survival rates to 80%. She has done research on her type of cancer and its amazing to sit and listen to her talk so matter-of-factly about her outcomes. Her cancer has very few estrogen receptors making that line of attack (eliminating estrogen from the body completely via complete removal of ovaries and tamoxifen) not at all effective for her. Laura, how is your dad doing? Apples, I'm so sorry. Hope some of your issues get resolved. Cheri

Linda, we had a temporary principal whose job has devolved to keeping the school open and running and setting it back on its financial feet. He's just now getting to improving the educational climate. It's been one crisis after the other. Meanwhile we've been looking for a full-time principal and we've found one who is an African-American female who has years in the classroom and as an administrator and retired a year ago. I think she'll be able to take us to the next level and start the rebuilding process for the school. She has a lot of contacts in the Roseland community and will hopefully be able to help us increase our enrollment. She and her daughter (who does grant-writing) are already working on bringing us more resources, equipment and students. Yesterday, we looked at a new reading curriculum. A presenter came from the company with materials we could look at. It's the latest research based /standards based curriculum that really works on providing differentiated instruction based on mastery of skills (materials geared to various levels of ability/achievement). It also provides constant assessment to determine which students can move on to harder levels or enrichment and which need more instruction. I was impressed but not sure how I'll fit into the picture. It may be harder than ever to pull kids from the classroom to do academic support. We have fewer specials I can pull them from to do my thing with them. I'm supposed to be supplemental but there has to be supplemental time from which I can pull them. Wrote that this morning. Now I'm back from being at my daughter's all afternoon. This was an incredibly beautiful day and the kids just didn't want to quit playing outside. Skylar seldom has an opportunity to play outside with other kids so I just stayed and let her play. Allowed me to spend time with my daughter and to do some of her laundry. Back home. Busy day tomorrow, too. Cheri

Hi everyone. Got asked to babysit Skylar tonight so my youngest DS could take his wife out for their anniversary. Rachel is still sick as a dog (she now has horrible reflux, her throat and esophagus are burning with it) so I ran out by her and picked up David and Joshua and am having the 3 overnite. I was hoping to have my other DS's daughter, Leah, too, but she is with her mom's relatives because Mom is in labor. So, I may get a call sometime tonight or tomorrow. Last I heard 10 minutes apart but not hard. She's due the 26th but baby is a big boy and she is not a big girl. LOL. My son, his father, was 22 1/2 " and weighed 9lbs. 2oz. I remember when I was 7 1/2 mo along with him there came a day where it felt like he was pushing steadily in all directions (he'd been very active) like he was determined to make more room for himself. Maybe he was turning upside down and it just took all day and he was stuck crosswise but I remember feeling like I was going to split, and the next day I had a brand new stretch mark, the first one that reached above my belly button. I have to say that, unless I inherit a few million dollars, I'm not likely to have PS. It's not just the expense, its the guilt over spending money on trying to repair what would never have happened if I hadn't gained all that weight. The one thing I would spend money on is getting my varicose veins repaired. They are embarassing, very visible (starting to cover my feet), and gross people out. I haven't worn shorts in year but my ankles and feet are totally visible in my flip-flops and capris. I'm just "vein" enough to want to vanish them. I refuse to wear Spanx because they are so uncomfortable. They hurt my band and I feel like I can't breathe. I get cramps. Plus, they are way too hot. I am a heavy perspirer and being hot makes me swell and sweat at the same time and I am totally miserable. And I start to stink. So, I'm finding these really cute bloussy tops that cover the ripples and the mushroom cap from my waistband and disguise the little hanging roll of skin from my tummy. I would'nt need a TT just a panni to take care of most of it, but then I'd want to take the hanging skin on my underarms and then want them to remove or lifting the sagging skin on my sides under my arms (and give my boobs a boost in the process. And then I'd want a thigh lift. And then I'd want a lifestyle lift, etc. The reality is I'm 59 years old, I lost 75 lbs., I'll never look like a teenager, but, dressed, I look pretty good, and I'll settle for that. LOL. Meanwhile all my extra $ go to getting my basement back together and to Roseland Christian School for financial aide to students whose parents struggle to keep them there. OK. I'm done. David wants to play Fishville on the computer. Cheri

Hi all! Not sure what to post!. Just in one of those exasperated moods. My kids IOWA test scores are back and most made progress or stayed the same, but a few I had hoped would show some gains just didn't. I think one girl may actually have switched two of the tests and written her answers in the the wrong place. Her scores made no sense at all. In teaching, with kids who are below the average, you're hoping they at least stay even from year to year rather than continue to regress, which frequently happens in the regular classroom. They need help just to stay even. If they make progress its cause for celebration. I keep track of their percentile ranking from year to year to check their progress. Some of these kids I have their records going back to grade one. Often the biggest gains are in the early years when you can really make a difference. After that its just keeping them making slow progress and not sliding backwards. Over time, most do make progress through about the 5th grade. Then, despite our best efforts, the kids who struggle tend to fall further behind. Frustrating. I have some 8th grade girls who are just now starting to decode multisyllabic words. However, they've been avoiding or unable to read grade level material for so long that their vocabulary and knowledge base is still way behind. That's incredibly hard to make up for. The school still struggles in so many ways. Next year a new principal with her own ideas. I've been my own boss in a lot of ways and I'm hoping she doesn't try to change or control my program. It's one of the things that really works at this school. Food's OK, not great. Rachel has a really bad cold and her immune system is really struggling to cast it off. Her chemo combined with the shot that makes your bone marrow produce more white blood cells already makes her nauseous and her bones ache like the worst case of influenza and stomach flu and now upper respiratory infection you could ever imagine. Went with her the other day to IEP meeting for my grandson David to determine what the school would be doing to help him with his special needs. Rachel informed them that I might be meeting with them at future meetings if she couldn't be there. We discussed how the school could handle any meltdowns and emotional difficulties David might have due to the serious nature of her condition. They have a social worker who has already started meeting with him. He is in a very good school that is providing great services for him. It was humbling and encouraging to know my daughter trusts me with David's educational future, but also incredibly sad to think about why she needs to do that. Cheri

Sandi, you and daughter quite beautiful together.

Melissa, one more thing. Nothing ever changes if nothing ever changes. You can't keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. Some have called that the definition of insanity. You need to be sick and tired of being sick and tired. Channel your anger into doing something differently. Pray, Eat Healthy, Love. Pray, Eat Healthy, Love. Pray, Eat Healthy, Love. Linda, so sorry about your DB. Words aren't enough. Hugs. Julie, glad you're doing better. I understand your fear. To control your cravings do what we bandsters do. Increase your Protein, decrease your carbs. Don't wait for your daughter. Do it now. Cheri

Melissa, hugs. i sent you an e-mail. You're going to be OK. Cheri