Breathe, Breathe and then Breathe again... Sigh

We must stop meeting like this... I have so much to tell and I'm not sure where to begin, but I'm sure once I'm done you will fully understand why I haven't posted in over two months.

We had such a wonderful and much deserved vacation in August to Northern California for our twelve year anniversary. We spent a couple days in Geyserville, where we did a 15 mile bike ride through beautiful vineyards. 

Vineyard in Geyserville

...then some time in Petaluma and Sonoma. We ate a the Girl and the Fig, which was something I had been wanting to do and then we headed to the Muir Woods for a 5 mile hike through the beautiful redwoods. 

beautiful redwood tree in Muir Woods

Our last couple of days we spent in Point Reyes. They know how to live. We visited a beautiful cheese farm 

Point Reyes Cheese Farm

where we learned to make paella. Yes, we made that and it was as amazing as it looks.

the paella that we made

It was all wonderful and I have no complaints, other than needing another vacation already.

When I returned from vacation I had my genetic test results. I'll go into further detail about those. I also came home to some disappointing lipid results. I'll come back to this... what happens next is a domino of crazy stress makers that my body is still recovering from. We were home for two weeks when we discovered a giant plumbing issue. We live in an old neighborhood and the tree roots had grown through the old plumbing causing basement flooding and all kinds of back up issues... this ended up being an $8-10K issue and was when I was so glad I'm not the home owner. I felt sorry for our landlord. None-the-less it was a huge inconvenience for us as well. I was only able to take one minute showers or a little over a week, we really were not able to flush very often and could do minimal dishes while the problem was being fixed and by this time there was raw sewage flooding my basement. Not good. This all gave me a new appreciation for the devastation that was about to hit our beautiful state of Colorado, the 2013 flood. While the plumbing was being fixed my husband had to leave for a week long business trip. He missed the flooding devastation that was in process. All the while our plumbing was being worked on round the clock. By the time my husband returned home, the plumbing was fixed and the rains had let up slightly, but there was more flooding to come.  The floods have finally receded, but our state has so much clean up that will probably take years. There has never been flooding like this in Colorado.

Then, I received a call from my sister and come to find out she was scheduled for major oral surgery the following day, which she had told almost no one about including myself because she has been traumatized by dentists since she was a little girl. She will now suffer for the rest of her life and must build a trusting relationship with a good dentist. I had an extreme amount of guilt for not being there for her, but I had no idea. I was so worried and so glad to hear that she had made it through this procedure, but she has many more to come over the next few months. I'm just hoping the worst is behind her and that she won't be in pain. 

Next is the icing on this stress cake. My dear sweet dog Jack had a seizure on the Sunday following the day my husband returned from his business trip. I was home alone with him when it happened and it is one of the most terrifying and helpless feelings I have ever experienced. I was able to load my dog in the car along with my other dog and I drove to the vet in pouring rain. My husband met me at the vet where they ran a series of tests and X-rays... this was the day we would find out that our sweet dog of 11 years had terminal cancer. Some of you may not understand this, but our dogs are like children to us. The vet gave us a shot of valium to give to him if and when there was a next seizure. We went home determined to spoil Jack for whatever time we had left with him. Mostly he still seemed like himself and we were told that he is in no pain. Needless to say I decided that going to work on Monday wasn't an option. I needed time to deal with the news I had just received and I felt like a bus had hit me. On Monday morning, less than 24 hours after the first seizure a second one had begun. I gave him the valium and it didn't work to stop the seizure like it was supposed to. I was by myself with him again and I was really freaking out. I knew this was it. Jack is a daddy's boy and I frantically tried to get in touch with my husband. We took Jack back to the vet and the options were not good. It was time to say goodbye to our dear sweet boy. We miss him so much.
 

Our sweet baby Jack - R.I.P

Goodbye sweet friend. Needless to say, the loss is still pretty fresh. It will be only 2 weeks tomorrow. I have moments when I think I see him and moments that make me burst out in tears. I know it will take time. My body is exhausted and none of this has been good for all the health challenges I face. Our other dog, Dre, is finally coming around to being himself again, but he certainly went through depression and we were a bit worried about him. We are spoiling him rotten and this is the one time when I believe that is perfectly fine. He is 11 too, so we will make the best of his time with us.

The day after Jack passed, I had my appointment with my ND. It is time to start making inroads with regard to genetic mutations that seem clinically relevant with my symptom picture. I'm truly excited about the things we can now personalize with my results. I have roughly 60 genetic mutations and several are in the area of methylation. This is the area we are beginning to utilize because methylation is important for genes. I'll go into further detail about all the mutations I have in a future post, but for now I will focus on the CBS mutation that I have. It is heterozygous and because of this mutation it is compounding the problem with my MTHFR mutation. The CBS pathway is responsible for sulfer and when there is a mutation in the gene it can cause methyl trapping, which causes more problems. That said, I will have to go on a low thiol diet for 8 weeks. Thiols apparently are more important than just avoiding foods that are high in sulfer. So, no more dairy (I primarily avoid with exception of goat milk products, which I will need to avoid), cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, mustard greens...), onions, garlic, wine, most meet other than poultry and fish and eggs of course, which I am already avoiding and any products with added sulfites. I have to avoid them to lessen the sulfer load on my body and in the meantime I will be supplementing with Molybdenum among other supplements, which will help to lower my sulfer load and assist my body in being able to utilize the methylators.

Genes are complicated yet interesting. I am fascinated by my tests and not too disturbed by things I had no idea I am at high risk for (Multiple Sclerosis, Macular Degeneration, Celiac Disease...). Though there is one that bothers me because it it hits close to home for me every time I have a lipid profile done. I eat so healthy and I am so active despite all my challenges, you would think that I would have optimal HDL and triglycerides. My HDL is lower than ever and triglycerides higher than ever... all that combined with finding out that I am at high risk for Coronary Heart Disease, Obesity and Diabetes combined with low Adiponectin levels according to my genetic test results... not good. All the more reason to push my docs to get creative with ideas and motivation for me to do all I can to take preventative measures beyond what I am already doing. So we are running a VAP test, which will actually tell us about the health of my actual cholesterol cells. I should know the results next week and we'll take the necessary steps from there based on what we find out. 

In addition, I am doing well on my Lyme protocol and will be able to add an additional remedy about mid-October, which should help in improving symptoms. My Lyme ND is also checking for viruses that Lyme patients are more susceptible to. I should know those results next week as well.

Last, but not least, my husband made me a wonderful dinner for my birthday yesterday. Thank you hubby! It was yummy.
 
That is all for now. I'll share more next month. I hope that all of you have a wonderful and enjoyable fall!