Oh immune system

So ever since I came down with Dengue Fever, my immune system has been bad. I used to get sick all the time to the point where the doctor at Urgent Care knows my name. It was usually every three months where I was getting sick. But that break I took from serving in Children's (8 months) made my immune system a little better because I wasn't exposed to their little germs. Well, I started serving back again with them in March, got sick and now...I'm sick again. Which actually is more than a three month span, but still...my immune system is so weak. I am going to attempt to fight it with cold medicine and plenty of rest, but I won't be surprised if I wind up going to Urgent Care.

It started Monday night with a tickle in my throat. I kept hoping and praying that I was just really thirsty. Yeah, not so much. My throat was worse yesterday and today I've come down with a full out cold. Bleah, I hate summer colds more than anything. Know what I did at 5:30 this morning? I went to Walgreens in my pj's to get cold medicine and Kleenex for my cold kit that I have to have when I'm sick. The guy at the counter asked me how I was doing and I said, "Bleah". He said, "Ah buying cold medicine so early in the morning must mean you're sick." My response, "Bleah" again. I am not in the mood to talk when I'm sick. He probably thinks I'm a horrible person. My cold kid consists of:

• Big glass of water
  
• Anti-Viral Kleenex
  
• Cough Drops
  
• Cold Medicine (Day and Night pack)
  
• Plastic bag for the kleenex
  
• And of course some hand sanitizer, which I'll overload on for the next few days.

Phooey to you summer cold! It's only the second day and you managed to deprive me of sleep last night. And for that I'm annoyed.

Anyways, so let me rant a little about Xanga's sub-communities (Revelife, Datingish, Momaroo). Now I subscribe to Revelife, but all three of these communities subscribe to me and they are all "friends". I don't ever recall any of these sites actually visiting my blog and leaving any comments. So, whether you subscribe to someone or not, if they are your friend, you will still see if they posted something on your home page. You just won't see it on your subscriptions. Lately when I log into the home page....there are pages upon pages of updates from these three communities. They each post anywhere from 4-7 times a day. Which in turn was making my other subscriptions get lost in the mix. So, I have to say, I think it's great that these communities exist, however yesterday, I unsubscribed from Revelife and deleted all three of them as friends. Now, I can actually read my real subscriptions. Hooray. It was starting to annoy me that I couldn't get to my subs right away. I sometimes just skim the front page and come back later. But they were preventing me from doing that.

Ah, school starts Monday. I'm rather excited for it too. Yep, I'm such a geek. Let's hope I'm well by then. As of right now, my head feels like it's going to explode. I want to go back to bed, but I have a lot of work to do. Good thing I can work from home, but still sleep sounds so pleasant right now.

Quote of the day: "The trouble with always trying to preserve the health of the body is that it is so difficult to do without destroying the health of mind." ~G.K. Chesterton

The Flame

Happy Monday, everyone! How are you doing? I'm pretty good. Except my allergies are killing me today. Phooey. It's definitely a glasses/ponytail day. Last night, I got to hang out with Jason. It was nice. I haven't seen him in three weeks. We had dinner and went to a movie. And we didn't even spend a dime. We both had gift cards, I paid for dinner and he picked up the movies. By the way, I HIGHLY suggest you go see 88 Minutes. It was a really good movie. It was one of those movies that keeps you guessing through the entire thing. GO SEE IT!

Anyways, as most of you know, once I get my nursing degree, I hope to be a missionary in a Spanish speaking country. Sometimes that “missionary flame” that I have seems to fade out ever so gently. As much as I try to keep the light going, I sense it going out for a few reasons:

·I haven’t been out of the country since 2006 when I came back with Dengue Fever. I am itching to go on a trip, but need to make school a priority right now.

·My church has a really good missions program, but I didn’t feel as though I could follow with them as their focus is somewhere where mine honestly isn’t. In the midst of everything going on, I had left my church for that very reason. But 7 months later, after not finding a church, God somehow brought me back to Central with the realization that He’s not quite finished with me there yet. And came to the realization that I volunteer with a mission’s agency when I’m not in school. I could get my foot in the door there.

·I really don’t have a lot of people around me who are missionary minded to help keep that flame ignited and it’s hard to be encouraged.

·I am in my 2^nd year of Spanish, and although I can read and write it really well, I don’t feel comfortable speaking it in the slightest. I love the Spanish language, which is why I want to go to a Spanish speaking country. But sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever be fluent in it to comfortably tell people about Jesus. I am not immersed in the culture and nobody really speaks to me in Spanish.

·My immune system. Enough said. I should be willing to die for Christ, NO MATTER WHAT, even if that includes me dying from a bug bite. I realize that, but to think how sick I was, how sick I could be if I get bitten by another mosquito, it honestly scares me.

I sometimes think maybe that’s not where I’m supposed to be. Maybe I’m not one of the called anymore because of all of this. But wait…God wouldn’t take something like that away, would he? It could very well be the evil one, just working his magic one. Then God, will put people or situations in my life that help me to remember that yes, I’m being called, just be patient, Brandy. So enough of the negative. Let’s focus on how amazing God is.

·I subscribe to a few people on Xanga who are missionaries. And although I haven’t actually told them this, but they bring so much encouragement to me. I read their blogs, and it’s just about their normal lives, except they are doing what God wants them to do in another country. And I love reading their blogs. So, to MissionaryMommy, EverythingLovely, angiewashington, and wrestlingwithGod, thank you for encouraging me. Even though you may not think you are encouraging me, you most definitely are.

·A few weeks ago, I had to speak at Tres Dias. My talk was about spreading God’s word. What better person to do it, than a girl who wants to be a missionary? I was so encouraged by people who had heard my talk. Many made me cry, because they all thanked me for being one of the called and keeping Jesus’ light going.

·Saturday, I met with the man in charge of the Hispanic Ministry at my church. He said I had been on his heart lately as to why I left, but was glad I was back. He said he knew where my heart was…Chile. Yes, it’s been there since 2005. He said he understood everything as to why I was having the feelings that I did. He really encouraged me in my walk, my missionary walk, and my Spanish walk. He wants me to start attending a Spanish Bible Study, just to listen and then when I’m comfortable enough, I can start participating and maybe volunteering with the kids. I also told him that I so missed my Spanish/English Bible. I had one, but in 2006 gave it to someone in the Dominican Republic. He was just learning English and had just become a Christian. God was telling me to give him that Bible, so I did. He needed it more than I did. But the Spanish/English one I want is $45 and I just haven’t been able to swing it to get another one. What does he do? He TOTALLY hands me a brand new Spanish/English Bible for free, it’s a nice one. That totally made my day.

·And then to top it off, I saw Jim Caviezel yesterday. He came and spoke at a church here in the valley. Do you know who this man is? Let me refresh your memory, he was in GI Jane, Frequency, Count of Monte Cristo, Déjà vu, Pay it Forward. Still doesn’t jog your memory? Have you seen the Passion of the Christ? He’s the man who played Jesus. Yep, yep. I totally met him yesterday. He’s a VERY STRONG Christian. I honestly cried through his entire talk. He talked about how being a Christian is not easy and we are to suffer, because Christ suffered. He said that during filming of the Passion, he actually became so sick from exhaustion and pneumonia that the doctor’s told him he could die. Do you know what he said? He said it didn’t matter, if he lost his life in order to save millions of people by doing that movie, then it was worth everything. I was honored to meet him, shake his hand, and talk to him for a few minutes. He is such a man of God, I had no clue how strong in his faith he is. See, God is AMAZING, but you knew that already, huh?

Have a FANTASTIC day and bask in His love!

Bran

Quote of the day: “You were not made to fit in; you were born to STAND OUT.” Jim Caviezel

Oh Urgent Care

So, yesterday, I saw an old friend, one I hadn't seen in about 6 months...Urgent Care.

I call them my old friend because I always go there when I am sick. See, I need to find a new primary care doctor as the one I have now, couldn't get me in for like another two weeks or so. It's always like that. So, when I'm sick, I don't even deal with my doctor, I just go straight to Urgent Care. I've been there so many times, one doctor actually knows me. Yep, seriously. I'm known as the "Dengue Fever" girl.

I had been feeling sick since Tuesday with just a sore throat. Thursday night, it got worse. I attempted to work from home on Friday, but only managed to get an hour or so in before the cold medicine kicked in. I was in lala land and slept most of Friday away. The cold medicine doesn't seem to be working, so I took my happy camper butt to Urgent Care. I got there 5 minutes after they opened and I already had an hour wait ahead of me. As I sat there, with my hood over my head, I attempted to breath into my sleeves, so I'm only breathing my own germs, not everyone else's germs. Ewww...I finally got called into see the doctor, the nurse said my temp was a little high. The diagnosis: Upper Respitory Infection, which in reality is a fancy smancy word for a cold. A really bad cold. They prescribed me some cough medicine, no antibiotics and told me to wait it out.

After a long wait to get my cough syrup filled, I was finally able to take some. HELLO my new friend, cough syrup! Oh man, the stuff they gave me has Codeine in it. Want to talk about knocking somebody out? Yes, that stuff makes it so I can't even open my eyes. I slept for about 3 hours yesterday afternoon after it kicked in. I do remember the phone ringing, me answering it, but I don't know who it was and I couldn't open my eyes. I went to bed at 7 last night, I vaguely remember getting up at 10 to go potty. I do remember not being able to open my eyes, they were so heavy. I crawled back into bed and slept until 5 this morning. I took some more medicine and it's about 6:15...I'm thinking of going back to bed to sleep the rest of the day away. I am a mess!

So, I shall provide you with a real update soon. One good thing I can say is I'm on Spring Break! Hooray!

Have I mentioned that...

I hate Gatorade? Oh man, I do. I hate it more than anything. And I only hate it because of the whole Dengue Fever thing. I despise Gatorade because I drank so much when I got sick. But here I am drinking it again. I am only drinking it because I’m trying not to get dehydrated. I managed to pick up a slight case of food poisoning while I was in Cali. Ah, as much as I love my fish tacos, this time, they didn’t settle with me too well. Very shortly after eating, I started feeling yucky. J bought me some mint tea, which helped sooth the stomach a little. I didn’t eat anything yesterday until I got home later in the evening. Yep, still no good. Today I’m still not feeling so hot.

So besides the fact I’m a little sick, I had an awesome time in Cali. It was a short trip, but it’s all good. I got to love on the baby and spend some time with my niece and her husband. And spend some serious time with Jason to further deepen our friendship. I got to see the sunset on Newport Beach, it was an awesome weekend.

And I have pics, however, not many. I just wasn’t in a mood to snap pictures. I got a few of the baby, a few of the beach and that’s it. I would love to share them with you, however, it will have to wait until I get my new laptop. I got my other one fixed, except for now I can’t connect to the internet. Cox says everything is fine on their end, something is wrong on my end. And on Friday, I really didn’t have the patience to deal with it. I came really close to chucking the laptop out of the window. So, instead of messing with the old one, I’m waiting for the new one to come. Then I can post all kinds of pics.

I went over to J’s house on Saturday to do some homework. My religions class is overwhelming when I don’t have a computer at home. Yes, I can over to his house to do my homework, but it’s just a matter of getting there with school and work. And I’m not one to do mediocre work, I’m not. So with that said, I’ve called MCC and dropped the religions class. Today was the last day to do it, and I’ll be able to get a refund. I will plan on taking it next semester. I am really interested in it, and I want to be able to concentrate on the class and I just can’t do it right now. But I’m still in my other classes and they keep me quite busy.

Anyways, gotta go!

Have a great day!

Quote of the day: “A good friend is cheaper than therapy.” ~Author Unknown

It was one year ago today...

That I came down with Dengue Fever. Yes, today is the day. Well, actually I was sick in the Dominican Republic, but the symptoms really manifested today. I know, how crazy to remember that date.

The mosquitos that carry the Dengue Fever virus have the white spots on them. Ah yes, my dear friend, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. This little insect made my entire team of 8 people deathly ill. Of the 8 of us, 4 people were hospitalized, and one of those people actually came very close to dying. The day before I got sick, a team mate of mine called me to inform me her husband was in the hospital. Doctors were saying he had Dengue Fever, and she was coming down with it as well.

Literally the next day, I broke out in the symptoms with the exception of the skin rash. I had the rash, but very minor. I went to Urgent Care, my temp was 102. The doctors said if did have Dengue Fever, I needed to go to the ER right away. Off I went to the ER for them to say I only had a sinus infection. And even though I had just come back from a foreign country, no lab tests were ran at all.

By the time I got home my fever spiked to 104. I was home alone, left to try to fight this myself. I don't ever recall being that sick as 104 temperature is really high. I was trying to sleep but because my fever was so high, I couldn't sleep. I just laid there and cried. I was alone and couldn't even manage getting off the couch. My fever went down later that night. I remember crawling on the floor to the fan and just collapsing on the floor with the fan on me. Poor Stella, the cat, just laid next to me on the floor with her paw on my arm. She knew I wasn't feeling well. I had the fever for a few more days, then it got worse...I broke out in the skin rash, severely all over my entire body. I don't know what's worse: a temp of 104 or the skin rash that I couldn't control ravishing my body so bad that nothing was helping heal the itch. I went back to Urgent Care, crying, pleading with someone to please believe me that I had Dengue Fever and I needed some sort of help. By time I had gotten to Urgent Care, my fever began to spike and the rash had spread even more. The doctor listened to me and said he did believe I had the virus just from what I was telling him. He wound up giving me a low dose steroid to help with the itching. It took a few more nights for the steroid to take effect. I remember waking up at night clenching my fists, I was trying to avoid itching my skin. Even the slightest touch was extremely painful, everything hurt. They also call Dengue Fever the "Bonecrusher fever" because it literally feels like your bones are being crushed. It was horrible. My legs to this day still have red dots on them, a lasting symptom of the virus. Maricopa County finally stepped in and ran my blood. Between them and Centers for Disease Control (CDC), they determined that me, as well as the rest of my team, had Dengue Fever. This is a picture of the rash, but as it's clearing, not on my arms, I pulled this off of CDC website.

The doctor who incorrectly diagnosed me didn't get away so easy. I received a survey from Banner asking how my experience was. I typed up a nice long letter explaining everything that happened and how I was sent home. I don't really know how sick I was because my blood didn't get ran until 2 weeks after the symptoms disappeared. I don't know the outcome of the complaint, but I did get a letter from Banner apologizing for everything and said that if anything happened to the doctor, it had to remain confidential. Oh well. I just hope that next time someone says they've just come back from another country, he'll take more precautions and order labs.

My immune system was not strong before I got Dengue Fever, but the doctor's have said my immune system has been compromised and I need to be careful because something like the flu could now kill me. My immune system is literally shot now. Oh joy. Since November of last year, I've made 7 different Urgent Care trips and I've averaged about 10 hours a month in sick leave. Funny what a little mosquito can do to you, huh?

Here are some websites, my favorite of course, is the CDC website.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_fever

www.cdc.gov/NCIDOD/DVBID/DENGUE/

www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/dengue.htm

Quote of the day: "If you think you're too small to be effective, you've never been in the dark with a mosquito." ~Unknown

Mmmm...gyros

Happy Tuesday everyone! How are you? Me? Well, I hate to say it, and honestly it's time...I am not feeling well. My throat is hurting and I'm scared it might be Strep Throat again. I say it's time because I usually get sick about every three months. I really don't need this now, I'm going on a retreat this weekend. I'm hoping that with the wind for the past few days, that is the cause of the soreness, but not sure. Blasted mosquito! It's coming up on a year since I've gotten Dengue Fever. My immune system has been HORRIBLE this past year. So, let's hope and pray that I don't get sick.

Sitting in Psychology class last night, my teacher was going on a rant about something. In the middle of class, I started wanting a gyro. I mean really wanting a gyro. It doesn't help that I didn't have dinner before class. My teacher kept talking and talking, I kept wanting the gyro even more. Oh man, I couldn't even focus! As soon as school got out, I high tailed my butt over to Super Gyros on Country Club and University. ----Have you ever been there? I love it! It's a hole-in-the-wall place, in a scary plaza. But it's owned by a Greek family and has been open for a long time. They have the best gyros ever! I've gone there for quite some time. Oh yummy! My aunt married a man from Greece. I grew up on Greek food. So finding a place that reminds me of my youth is always a good thing.

I'm still in the process of checking out churches. I've only checked out one, you really have to experience a church more than once to base your decision on whether you're going to attend that church. Unless of course you just have a horrible first-time experience. My two experiences with Broadway Christian Church has both been awesome! They mentioned that right now their missions department is only sending out youth trips to Mexico, but felt as though God was telling them they needed to do more. So, this coming year, they are going to start sending out more people to more places. *Grin* You know I perked up when I heard that, I even cried. Yes, cried. Suddenly, I just felt so refreshed and alive. The pastor was talking my kind of language! I have a huge heart for missions. If you heart isn't there, you can't understand where I'm coming from.

After I return from the retreat, I'm going to check out Chandler Christian Church, Cornerstone Christian Church, Real Life Christian Church, a church in Scottsdale (don't remember the name), among others. I hope to have a new church "home" by January. That way, I can start fresh with serving.

Well, I should go. Have a fantastic day! Oh yes, I haven't posted pictures in awhile, I've been busy. But here are just a few current ones.Yeah, I know they are not of me, but who cares! Look how cute my great niece is! *Grin*

Paige

Rosie, Nick, and Paige

Awww...my niece is all grown up now. *Sniff, sniff*

Quote of the day: "Some stand on tiptoe trying to reach God to talk to him - you try too hard, friend - drop to your knees and listen to him, he'll hear you better that way." ~Ever Garrison

Scripture of the day: "An undisciplined, self-willed life is puny; an obedient, God-willed life is spacious." ~Proverbs 15:32, The Message

Diagnosis: I'm sick

Wow, you really think so huh? Where did you get the crazy idea? Oh was it the upset stomach that I've had for two weeks? No, no wait, was it the sudden muscle cramps, high fever, chills, and MASSIVE headache that gave it away? Oohhh no, it had to be the nasty, itchy, burning skin rash that is all over my body. Yep, that it's it. Needless to say, I wound up going to Urgent Care again last night due to the rash. Oy vei! The doctor said he believed me that I had Dengue Fever and gave me a low steroid (pill form) to get rid of the itching and a mild sedative to sleep. He said my eyes looked pretty bad. How lovely. He also referred me to an infectious disease doctor. Really? Another doctor? Phooey!

I wonder if that pesky little mosquito that bit me realizes that I don't like doctors, hospitals, etc. and if I really wanted to spend $150 on medical treatment because that little bugger bit me. Oh mosquito, me and my team will somehow be prepared for you next time. Now, you might be saying, "Wear Deet." Deet is no match for mosquitos, a few people wore Deet and they are the ones in the hospital.

Stupid Mosquito Bite!

Bugga! I'm still feeling icky. My stomach is still upset. A few days ago when I broke out in all my symptoms, my arms broke out in a skin rash. Needless to say...today, my entire body has a rash on it and I'm itching like crazy! Itch cream is not helping. Phooey! I am miserable, I'm sure of it.

What a week!

Oh man, I've had the longest week of my life! As you know in my previous post, I put that I had gotten some sort of stomach sickness in the Dominican Republic. Well, it escalated Wednesday. I woke up feeling okay, but by 9:30, I had severe chills, a pounding headaches, muscle cramps, and a really high fever. I took of my four layers of clothing only to find that my arms had broken out in a skin rash. A few of my team mates have been diagnosed with Dengue Fever, this is from a mosquito bite. I was starting to show the symptoms. I wound up going to urgent care only for them to tell me that if I did have Dengue Fever they couldn't help me and suggested I go to the emergency room. What? I really hate going anywhere near a hospital, but I was really sick so I trotted on over to the hospital. I explained to the doctor's where I had just come back from and a few of my team mates have Dengue Fever. I have never been sick coming back from a trip and was pretty scared something was really wrong. The doctor's literally looked at me like I was crazy. They didn't test my blood, nothing. He just said I have a really bad sinus infection. Ummm...okay. When I was at the ER my temperature was 101, but by the time I had made it home, it had spiked to 103. I don't ever remember having that high of a temperature. And I literally thought I was dying. My fever finally broke about 6 hours after getting back from the er. Oh man, what a relief. When it did break, I laid on the floor and let the oscillating fan run over my body and I literally laid face down in an ice pack. I was a mess!

As of today, all 8 team members are sick with the exact same symptoms. I am feeling better, but my appetite is still not there. Bleah, I can't stomach anything. Before I got sick, I knew I had the greatest friends in the world, but I really saw it when I was sick. As soon as word spread that I was in the emergency room, my phone was ringing like crazy and I was getting serious text messages making sure I was okay. Even my far away friends were wishing they were here to care for me. I love you guys, you are simply the greatest!

So, my dad is going to be here tomorrow. I'm excited. Although I talk to him all the time, I actually haven't seen him in 6 years. So, it will be awesome.

Anyways, I don't wanna type anymore. Have a great day!

Blessings and love,

Bran