Busy Weekend

So on the 14th Chris and I had dinner with his mom and Tom at Middleton Place, a plantation near by, for his mom's birthday. It's beautiful out there. We got there a little before our reservation so we got to walk around before it got dark.

I took several pictures of us, which Chris was happy with at first but then he got tired of it lol.

Also Chris's friend Jonathan and Danny came to town to visit for the weekend. They got in late Friday night. Saturday we drove down to the beach where Jonathan proposed to Danny. It was so nice out. We went further down the beach than we normally do to get away from all the people. He drew a big heart in the sand with "marry me?" writen inside the heart. It was very sweet. Chris video'd it on Jonathans phone and I took pictures.

That night we went out to eat at Hymans, which is this very delisious restarunt. Sunday Chris had a soccor game. It rained the entire time but they kept on playing. I sat in the car and watched. Jonathan and Danny left Sunday afternoon. It was a great weekend.

Medication

Medication is such a controversial issue. Some parents over medicate their kids, giving them every vaccine known to man, Tylenol, vitamins, any time their even remotely sick their given something, antibacterial disinfectant every time the touch something. Then you've got the parents who believe in not medicating their kids hardly at all. No vaccines, no doctors unless horribly sick. And I'm not just picking on parents here. They're just really easy to generalize. The elderly often over medicate now too. Aspirin a day, vitamins, minerals, fish oil pills, lipitor, blood pressure medicine, creams, liquids, etc. It's ridiculous.

Most people want to blame the doctors. We're suppose to trust them. They're suppose to be looking out for us and what is best for us. So when people are taking so much stuff for so many things they blame the doctor for prescribing it or telling them they should be taking it. But the fact is, it's the individual who is responsible for the medication they take. You are the one who ultimately decides what you should take and what you shouldn't. It is up to YOU! Doctors are giving you advice. Their professional opinion. Read that again "professional OPINION" You don't have to do what they say. Look into medicine before you take it. I do believe that a lot of doctors do truly care about your health and what to do what is right for you but there are also a lot who aren't. You have to be an advocate for yourself. Find out what medication is right for you and what isn't. Also don't always take what a doctor or pharmacist says about the duration of that medication. You should look into the side effects for yourself, because often time the side effects are worse than the condition or they can cause the same symptoms as the condition in which case do you really want to take it.

My experience: My stomach was hurting a lot, all the time, when I was hungry, when I ate, after I ate. Just all the time. Then started the heartburn. Horrible heartburn practically all day. Worse at night. Then came the reflux. I won't even get into that cause people think it's gross when you tell them you couldn't swallow a pill because your esophagus pushed it back up. Yea it was bad. Well went to the doctor. They gave me some medicine (Prevacid) to relieve me of it temporarily until I had an endoscopy done. They thought I had a stomach ulcer (at the age of 20). Well the medicine actually started working pretty well. I had the endoscopy done and guess what no ulcer. Surprise surprise. They determined that I had GERD (acid reflux disease). They told me to keep taking the medicine they prescribed me until I took a 24hr PH test. I asked what it was and what it would tell us. They explained the test which I quickly told them I wasn't doing lol. My mom asked them if I took the test what would it do for me. They said it would just tell them more accurately how bad my reflux is so they can adjust the medicine. So here's what I heard, even though the medicine is working great now and I feel almost completely better we want you to take this awful test so that we can tell you to continue to take that medicine. Obviously I didn't do it lol. I took the medicine for several months and was doing great. I had changed my diet and how I ate which helped a lot. But after a while I started feeling sick again. I looked up information on the medicine and found that if you take it for an extended period of time it causes an upset stomach. So essentially the medicine that I'm suppose to take for my chronic problem I'm not suppose to take for more than a couple of weeks. Well that's just great. Now I hardly ever take it. I've got it relatively under control with eating habits and the occasional tums. But sometimes it just get too much and I start taking the medicine again. Only for a few weeks though to get things back in balance.

That's what medication is about. Balance. Sometimes your body does things it isn't suppose to. Sometimes it doesn't work right. If you can sort it out in a more natural way great but sometimes you have to take some medicine. Just know what your taking. Know the side effects and what can happen if you take to much or take it for a long time. Be an informed consumer and an advocate for your own health. Don't take someone else word for something no matter who they are.

ugh

So for those of you who remember my post about all the trouble I was having with my car, here is the ending. My check engine light had been on also during all that crap but I didn't get it look at then. Saturday Chris and I finally took my car to the chevorlett dealership to get checked out cause they were the cheapest place. It's $45 just to look at it and tell me the problem. However if I choose to get it fixed then the $45 fee is waved. So I'm taking it as that $45 is just a small payment in the LARGE payment that I will be paying to fix my car. Because it will have to be fixed. I'm going to Atlanta in a few weeks for my moms birthday and can't drive a broken car that far. So we get there and the guy imediately says that there was a recall on something on my car and it might be the problem. So I'm hoping and praying all day that it's gonna be something simple. Of course I'm not that lucky. I don't hear back from any one and finally call between 3:30-4:00. He says that he was just about to call me. Of course you were. He procedes to tell me that my catalac converter is crap and I need a new one. I will also need the gasket that it goes in. Also my drive belt is dry rotted and I need a new one. Then he tells me the price. I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him. A GM model coverter plus the other parts would come out to be more than $2000. A different shop had a converter not GM model for MUCH less. The total would come out to be $984 before taxes of course. No one ever tells what something is going to cost with taxes they always wait till you're there to hit you with it. So using common sense I told the guy I wanted the cheaper one. He understood and then proceeded to try and get me to get my car a tune up as well. I told him nope all I want done is those 3 things replaced. Just the $984 price! I will look into getting a tune up some other time. He tells me that they have to order the parts but they'll be there monday and I should be able to pick up my car monday.

So of course I am stressing about how much money I'm about to spend. I've got it but it is going to kill me handing it over. I was just starting to feel like I was getting ahead and able to start saving some again since the move. But NOPE stupid car had to crap out on me. It is 12 years old and this model isn't really made to last super long so everyone has been really impressed with how long it has lasted. Even knowing that my car is old and needing some major repairs now it still hurts my pockets. So we picked up my car monday evening. I paid an arm and a leg but it's over. I felt much better when I got home. The stress and worry of it were gone cause now it was over and I don't have to think about it. Just work on building back up my bank account lol.