Category — Multiple Chemical Sensitivity

Yesterday, I watched the bipartisan meeting on health reform. The summit was fascinating to me for many reasons but there was a highlight, for me, in the form of remarks made by Rep. Louise Slaughter. She really stood up for women’s health!

Rep. Louise Slaughter

She boldly spoke up for women at the 2/25/2010 health summit

In my mind, her comments can be appreciated by all women and especially any any female patient who has lived with the effects of gender discrimination in relation to medical research (i.e. lack of research on women or lack of investigating illnesses that affect just women) or cost of healthcare that is tied to gender. I won’t even get into a discussion of how common it is for women’s symptoms to be dismissed when similar symptoms would be taken more seriously for males (i.e. heart disease). The point is that Rep. Louise Slaughter stood up for all women and I was just beyond thrilled that she took the opportunity presented by the summit to address these issues.

My thanks to Diana of the Somebody Heal Me blog for posting this video. When I clicked on the link she posted (to the video below), it took me to the Odd Time Signatures site.

Yesterday, I was so thrilled to hear what Rep. Louise Slaughter said that I resolved myself to scour the Internet today to find a video clip of her at yesterday’s summit. Again, Rep. Slaughter wasn’t just speaking up about health reform.

She was speaking up for female patients everywhere and she was shining light on the fact that medical research studies were done almost exclusively on white males up until a startlingly short time ago, relatively speaking. I believe that any patient with an illness that affects women can appreciate the way Rep. Louise Slaughter spoke up for ALL female patients.

As a patient with numerous illnesses that either affect women alone or that affect more women than men, I was absolutely ecstatic to hear Rep. Louise Slaughter articulate what too few people are aware of… and to hear her do so in such a public forum!

There IS gender discrimination not only in the area of medical research but in the very cost of health insurance itself for women vs. men. Before I had even had a chance to locate a video of Rep. Louise Slaughter at yesterday’s summit, I came across a link from Diana that led me to Odd Time Signatures site.

(Video run time 12 minutes and 59 seconds):

Did you miss the summit? I will warn you up front. It’s long. However, you can scroll through the link below and watch parts of it if you choose to. (This video was just a snippet from the summit).

The link below has the summit, in its entirety, broken down into five video parts. You can watch some or all of it at the link below:

Bipartisan Health Care Meeting

This post was written by Jeanne at http://chronichealing.com. Copyright © Jeanne — chronichealing.com. All rights reserved.

“Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” ~~ Robert Fulghum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for supporting this blog by shopping Amazon via my ads & spreading the word to others! So many of you have done so in these last couple of months; I greatly appreciate your support!!

Thank you for your blog comments!

New to blog commenting? Just click “comments” below the post. If you grab a Gravatar, your picture will show with your comment.

>> Stumbling & tweeting my blog posts is greatly appreciated! <<

(Photo credit – Getty)

I have written previously regarding healthcare and wanted to take a moment here to post an update on the current situation, for those of you who may not be aware of the status of things at this time.

Rather than re-invent the wheel, I will cite the following post from:

S E N A T U S: Daily Coverage of the United States Senate

See “About Senatus” (taken directly from that site):

Providing daily, non-partisan coverage of the U.S. Senate and the elections which determine its members. This is a private-citizen effort and is in no way affiliated with the federal government.

(Photo credit – Associated Press)

See the following post on the Senatus blog:

Reid Says Reconciliation Likely On Health Reform

According to various news reports, 20 senators have signed so far, calling on Majority Leader Harry Reid to pass the public health insurance option through “reconciliation,” which only needs a simple majority in the Senate. If your Senator is listed as “unknown” on the list below, please consider taking a moment to email or call him/her requesting he/she join the 20 Senators who have already called on Majority Leader Harry Reid, as per above:

Name – ST – Status:

It is too late. I already am. Late. It seems like I’m late on everything both online and in real life. It is maddening. I feel like I can’t ever catch up. It’s always just a matter of how far behind I am on things.

I won’t bore you with the long list of things I’m late on in my real life. My to-do list has reached nauseating proportions. I’m going to need to take some drastic measures to make significant progress.

As far as online matters are concerned, I’m late moderating comments. I’m late answering Facebook messages. I’m late blogging. (This is my first post since Monday. I don’t usually have gaps like that between posts). I’m really late on responding to email.

So, if you are one of the people wondering why I am so slow responding to a comment or an email… please accept this as my apology. It has been a stressful week.

Why? Why am I so stressed out?

I don’t have any big, dramatic news that explains why I am so stressed out. So, I found myself actually asking, “why am I so stressed out? I concluded that a large number of little things or moderately problematic issues have just culminated into one big pile of stress and that stress is on top of “medical stress” (meaning stress associated with all things medical, a type of stress I’ve had plenty of this week too).

So, I’ve had some significant “medical stress” this week but I can honestly say that this – what prompted this post – is other stress on top of that. Does that make sense? Anyone who is chronically ill knows that medical issues certainly cause plenty of stress. Obviously, the illnesses are probably the biggest stressor I have in general.

(Do me a favor and pretend that is a pile of stress. Oddly, I was unable to find a picture of one. I named this “stresswood”)

So, I think what I’m trying to say is that I am stressed by lots of non-medical issues that have popped up throughout the week on top of “medical stress”.

There are many reasons this week has been a stressful one. I won’t belabor the point with an exhaustive list of the many things that have stressed me out this week.

However, since this is a blog about chronic conditions, I will name the conditions that have been flaring up in some way this past week: fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity, interstitial cystitis, vulvodynia, irritable bowel syndrome, endometriosis, and Raynaud’s. I am too tired to hyperlink all of those conditions. So, if you are interested in reading about any of them, check my “categories” or “search this blog” options in the right sidebar… as most of the conditions I have mentioned have been written about on this blog before.

Needless to say, many of the above conditions trigger others listed above. So I’ve been dealing with the chain reaction syndrome I am very used to by now. So, I just wanted to surface for air long enough to let you know that I am drowning in tasks to do, I am going as fast as I can to catch up, and it may be awhile before that happens.

I have had several wonderful friends remind me in the last few days to practice what I preach and remember to make self-care a priority. So, I am going to listen to my wise, thoughtful friends (too many to list, I’m afraid, but you know who you are!) and try to remember the basics such as relaxing, breathing, and taking breaks. I also want to thank the friends who have given me special support this week. Again, there are too many to list but you know who you are.

Have a wonderful weekend. Peace out.

This post was written by Jeanne at http://chronichealing.com. Copyright © Jeanne — chronichealing.com. All rights reserved.

“Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” ~~ Robert Fulghum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for supporting this blog by shopping Amazon via my ads & spreading the word to others! So many of you have done so in these last couple of months; I greatly appreciate your support!!

Thank you for your blog comments!

New to blog commenting? Just click “comments” below the post. If you grab a Gravatar, your picture will show with your comment.

>> Stumbling & tweeting my blog posts is greatly appreciated! <<

This post is a partial reprint of an article I read on The Canary Report.

While the full post there was more detailed and got into specifics involving claims made by companies targeting multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) patients, for the purposes of this post I have decided to focus on the ten warning signs of a scam, as compiled by Lourdes Salvador and Linda Sepp, and as previously published HERE.

This list, in my opinion, is applicable to nearly any chronic illness patient because the tips for spotting scams listed here are so universally used. This fantastic list is far more concise than I could have written. Yet it captured something I have been wanting to blog about for some time. Longtime readers know that I have blogged about scams and false cures before. However, this list nicely sums up what you, as a chronically ill patient, can be on the lookout for.

Reprinted with permission from:

Lourdes Salvador of MCS America
AND
Linda Sepp, a contributor for The Canary Report

Ten Warning Signs of a Scam:

1. The Promise Of A Quick And Easy Cure

2. Presence Unproven Patient Testimonials & Emotional Appeals Instead Of Science

3. Claims To Cure Many Ailments Which Have No Cure In Medical Science

4. It’s Not Sold In Stores

5. It Has Undisclosed Ingredients Or Content

6. You Have To Keep At It To Get Results

7. It Doesn’t Work Because You Did It Wrong

8. Science Hasn’t Even Bothered To Discredit It (No Threat To Pharmaceutical Sales)

9. The Seller Lacks A Medical Degree Or Similar Qualification

10. It’s Too Good To Be True

Copyrighted © 2009 MCS America

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I am very grateful to Susie Collins for posting about this topic and to Linda Sepp and Lourdes Salvador for writing about this very important topic!

This post was written by Jeanne at http://chronichealing.com. Copyright © Jeanne — chronichealing.com. All rights reserved.

“Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” ~~ Robert Fulghum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for supporting this blog by shopping Amazon via my ads & spreading the word to others! So many of you have done so in these last couple of months; I greatly appreciate your support!!

Thank you for your blog comments!

New to blog commenting? Just click “comments” below the post. If you grab a Gravatar, your picture will show with your comment.

>> Stumbling & tweeting my blog posts is greatly appreciated! <<

Controversial blog title? Read on and find out what it’s all about…

My friend Susie Collins is the editor of The Canary Report, an excellent site focusing on multiple chemical sensitivity (an illness I have myself).

Susie consistently writes articles that are high-quality and thought-provoking. The article I’m about to reference is no exception!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Susie, a breast cancer survivor, wrote a post with a provocative title that caught my eye:

Why I boycott Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Over the years, I have become more and more aware of the “commercialization of illnesses”. The remarkable story Susie shares in her article and the wealth of blog comments to it are a fresh look at how Breast Cancer Awareness Month is marketed, how it got started, and whether it is accomplishing what breast cancer patients need.

I have a close friend, Roberta, who is also a breast cancer survivor. I thought she’d appreciate Susie’s post and sent her the link. Here was her response after reading it:

I don’t donate money to illnesses anymore because of some of the exact reasons she states. As you look around the more money that is donated the disease becomes a big money pit and no one has ever been cured with that mentality. It just helps big pharma companies spew their money making schemes onto the public with the hopes that they will feel better. Cancer is an especially huge market for a way the drug companies have to promote their “life saving drugs”, yeah right. As you know, I don’t believe that there are any drugs that are good or safe for us.

I am with my friend Susie regarding boycotting Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Her post explains in detail why she boycotts it. I agree with her.

I also support my friend Roberta’s decision not to donate money to organizations that are not getting results for patients. Roberta did research after her own breast cancer diagnosis and discovered that she was not comfortable with how various breast cancer organizations were using donations.

These two friends, both breast cancer survivors, are seeing through the pink ribbon marketing and I have to agree with them.

I urge you to read Susie’s article:

Why I boycott Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I believe it’s important to make informed decisions about how we spend our money in relation to illnesses. For me, Susie’s article is a thought-provoking look at Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I encourage you to check it out. It might just change the way you look at things regarding Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Please check out Breast Cancer Action, a San Francisco-based organization. Check out their very thought-provoking Think Before You Pink campaign (including a video).

Thank you to Susie for highlighting the need to take a peek behind the marketing extravaganza to determine whether it is really serving the needs of breast cancer patients.

This post was written by Jeanne at http://chronichealing.com. Copyright © Jeanne — chronichealing.com. All rights reserved.

“Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” ~~ Robert Fulghum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for supporting this blog by shopping Amazon via my ads & spreading the word to others! So many of you have done so in these last couple of months; I greatly appreciate your support!!

Thank you for your blog comments!

New to blog commenting? Just click “comments” below the post. If you grab a Gravatar, your picture will show with your comment.

>> Stumbling & tweeting my blog posts is greatly appreciated! <<

As many of you have concluded by now, my twitter account has been impersonated.

Before I proceed, let me mention that the single easiest, simplest way to reach my authentic twitter page is to click on the twitter icon (small blue heart) in the right sidebar of this blog. This will route you straight to my account. If you are following any accounts that look very similar but have a differently spelled twitter name, please block them!

Please read this post carefully as the twitter account that is posing as me has caused confusion and I want to help you know which account is which so that you will not accidentally follow the hacker’s account.

Here is a picture of my twitter page:

Please note the spelling of my twitter name:

@jeanneendo

Please be aware that the impostor’s account uses a very similar twitter name spelling, uses my exact same avatar picture, uses the same twitter page background I use, etc. In other words, visually these two accounts look extremely alike!

I am not going to mention the impostor’s account name here because I don’t want to give that account any more “free publicity” than it has already gotten. If you think you may be listed as a follower to the impostor’s account and want to block it, simply skim through the list of who you’re following. If you see an account that looks like me, please look closely at the spelling of the twitter account name. If it is anything other than my account listed above, PLEASE block it.

Some of my twitter followers have already accidentally followed the hacker account thinking it was me. If you have followed any twitter account other than what I list above, thinking that you were following me… please block that account. Obviously, it’s important that my twitter followers not also be following the account of the impostor posing as me.

The impostor has sent out messages aimed at hurting not just me but my twitter friends. I ask that anyone who is accidentally following the impostor’s account as well as mine or in place of mine (you see, the impostor is doing an impostor’s job and confusing people as to which account is which and there have been people who have followed me for years and stopped following me/started following the impostor, thinking that my real account is the impostor)… simply block the impostor’s account.

If you are unsure of whether you are following the impostor, I ask you to please check who you are following to make sure that you are not following the “look-alike” account.

I have one and only one twitter account. It is the same one I have been using since 2007.

Again it’s:

@jeanneendo

As of the writing of this post, I have 8,514 tweets listed on my authentic account. However, the important part to pay attention to for differentiating my twitter account from any impostor is to pay close attention to the spelling of my twitter name:

@jeanneendo

Again, the screen shot above shows my REAL account. Again, the impostor’s twitter page looks very similar.

Unlike the impostor, I do not use profanity in tweets. I have seen tweets sent by the impostor which contain profanity and hurtful attacks on individuals.

For anyone reading this who is confused about who @jeanneendo is, I would encourage you to look through this blog and get a better understanding of what I write about and do. With the confusion caused by the impostor, the best way to get a handle on what @jeanneendo is about might be to take a bit of time to read this blog… and see what I have written in my own words, see what topics I write about, etc.

Last but not least, I would obviously like to get this message out to as many people as possible. Therefore, I would greatly appreciate and Stumbles you could do. I would also be grateful for any “Tweet Me” updates you can do. There are many people confused about what’s happening. I am only one person and answering everyone’s questions in a timely fashion is quite impossible with the number of questions I’m getting. My hope is that this post covers the #1 question people have been asking me… Which account is real and which account is the impostor?

Thank you for your patience and understanding in getting through the challenges posed by this unfortunate incident!

This post was written by Jeanne at http://chronichealing.com. Copyright © Jeanne — chronichealing.com. All rights reserved.

“Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” ~~ Robert Fulghum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for supporting this blog by shopping Amazon via my ads & spreading the word to others! So many of you have done so in these last couple of months; I greatly appreciate your support!!

Thank you for your blog comments!

New to blog commenting? Just click “comments” below the post. If you grab a Gravatar, your picture will show with your comment.

>> Stumbling & tweeting my blog posts is greatly appreciated! <<

Last year, I participated in Blog Action Day 2008. (Last year it was Blog Action for Poverty Day).

Here is a video about this year’s Blog Action Day:

I will be blogging for Blog Action Day 2009 for Climate Change.

Are you on twitter? Twitter hashtags for this event include #BAD09, #climateweek, and #climatechange.

Whereas I participated in Blog Action Day 2008, I had not yet heard about the 2009 event until I saw a message from Susie of The Canary Report on twitter. Thanks, Susie, for bringing this to my attention early.

P.S. Please don’t forget to Stumble and Tweet This below to help get the word out. Blog Action Day will be on October 15, 2009.

This post was written by Jeanne at http://chronichealing.com. Copyright © Jeanne — chronichealing.com. All rights reserved.

“Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” ~~ Robert Fulghum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for supporting this blog by shopping Amazon via my ads & spreading the word to others! So many of you have done so in these last couple of months; I greatly appreciate your support!!

Thank you for your blog comments!

New to blog commenting? Just click “comments” below the post. If you grab a Gravatar, your picture will show with your comment.

>> Stumbling & tweeting my blog posts is greatly appreciated! <<

I have a notion some of you are going to be able to relate to the topic of being overwhelmed…

One word sums up this week for me… overwhelmed! I’ll just focus on my overwhelmed state online. I won’t take the space or energy to delve into the “in real life” aspects. Here goes…

I had grand plans for all of the posts I was going to do about various chronic conditions this week in honor of Invisible Illness Awareness Week. There are so many invisible illnesses that I have myself and have written about in the past (endometriosis, fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity, and interstitial cystitis… just to name a few) and that I was planning on focusing on this week.

However, whatever the date on the calendar may be and whatever I may try to plan, I have learned that I have to listen to my body. This was a tiring week. I did the best I could. I managed to do an Invisible Illness Awareness Week post on kickoff day and since then I have written posts about chronically ill blogger friends of mine who were in need of support:

… for Allison HERE and for Melissa HERE

Most of my time online this week was on twitter. I promoted Invisible Illness Week there and I did my best to rally support for my friends. With twitter I can use short bursts of energy. Even when I spend a more extended period on twitter, I don’t have as much trouble concentrating on what I’m writing as I do for a post. So sometimes when I’m really struggling (like this week), I’m actually on twitter more.

Is there a 50% complete post sitting in my draft folder on Invisible Illness Week? Yes. Do I have enough energy to finish it? No. It’s not getting finished, unfortunately. This post I am writing right now and some brief time on twitter will probably be about all I can handle today, especially considering I just got back from seeing my primary care physician (almost an hour drive each way) and I saw my dentist earlier in the week (also an hour each way).

Bottom line… I am exhausted. My email is the most backed up it’s ever been (which is saying a lot!), my comments moderation is currently backlogged (which I try not to let happen), I feel guilty because there are so many blogs I’m long overdue to visit and/or comment on, and right now I just can’t stress about it.

So, if you’d like to read about the topics I mentioned or other chronic conditions I have blogged about, please check out the “categories” section or search box in my blog’s right sidebar.

If I had the energy I’d finish that post where I was going to generate all the hyperlinks and sort them by illness. However, I have to listen to my body and right now it is telling me to SLOW DOWN.

Oh, I should make note that I also have blogged extensively about infertility. There are so many women with endometriosis who have infertility and this is a topic near and dear to my heart. So I just wanted to be sure to point that out too!

I wish I could write more but I’m about to drop. This has been an emotional, tiring, busy, draining, stressful, exhausting week. It did not help one bit that my period came early again and that it is zapping my energy like there’s no tomorrow. Endometriosis has a tendency to sometimes do such lovely things. (At least in my 27 years living with it I have found that to be true).

So, if you are chronically ill and/or in chronic pain and you feel tired or guilty for what you didn’t get done today… cut yourself some slack and get some rest. We can only do our best (i.e. our best without pushing ourselves TOO hard in unhealthy ways). After that, we just need to step back and accept that “it is what it is”. So, take a deep breath and go engage in some form of self care.

Whether it’s a cup of tea or popping in your favorite CD, do something to make yourself feel good and try to distract yourself from your symptoms and just relax your muscles. Your body will thank you.

How about you? Are you overwhelmed? How do you calm down or cope when you get overwhelmed? Please leave comments on this topic. When we share our coping skills, we help ourselves and help others simultaneously.

Let’s help each other. Please share your ideas.

This post was written by Jeanne at http://chronichealing.com. Copyright © Jeanne — chronichealing.com. All rights reserved.

“Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” ~~ Robert Fulghum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for supporting this blog by shopping Amazon via my ads & spreading the word to others! So many of you have done so in these last couple of months; I greatly appreciate your support!!

Thank you for your blog comments!

New to blog commenting? Just click “comments” below the post. If you grab a Gravatar, your picture will show with your comment.

>> Stumbling & tweeting my blog posts is greatly appreciated! <<

The Invisible Illness Awareness Week conference starts this morning. There will be radio seminars where you can dial in to ask questions if you wish. A variety of topics are scheduled to be covered. Interested in checking it out? No need to leave home for this conference.

Just click for seminars:

CLICK HERE FOR INVISIBLE ILLNESS WEEK SEMINAR INFORMATION

Enjoy!

This post was written by Jeanne at http://chronichealing.com. Copyright © Jeanne — chronichealing.com. All rights reserved.

“Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” ~~ Robert Fulghum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for supporting this blog by shopping Amazon via my ads & spreading the word to others! So many of you have done so in these last couple of months; I greatly appreciate your support!!

Thank you for your blog comments!

New to blog commenting? Just click “comments” below the post. If you grab a Gravatar, your picture will show with your comment.

>> Stumbling & tweeting my blog posts is greatly appreciated! <<

Please note:

For those readers experiencing infertility, there will be some pictures and references to my family in this post (including my daughter). I just wanted to mention that up front for those who may not wish to read this particular post.

I apologize for the delay in writing this next installment about traveling when chronically ill. My food poisoning last Saturday threw me for a loop and I am now trying to catch up.

If you missed it, the previous post I wrote about traveling while chronically ill is —> HERE. If you haven’t yet read that post, this one will make a whole lot more sense if you read that one first.

Please indulge me as I will be discussing more than just “chronic travel”. Some of the challenges we experienced were not related to chronic conditions at all. So, I apologize in advance that this post will undoubtedly get long. Also, this may not be the most streamlined post as there was a fair amount of stress involved with the trip and I am still trying to regain my energy a couple of weeks later. (The food poisoning last weekend didn’t speed things along, needless to say). So, please bear with me on this post. I’m not operating at 100%.

Anyway, as I had indicated in the prior post, we had some difficulties on our trip. Chronic travel can be challenging for a variety of reasons. This plays out differently for different people… depending on what their illness is (or illnesses are).

One of the things I had to plan for with travel was my multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). For information on MCS, I highly recommend this site: The Canary Report. (I will talk more about MCS in the next post).

As I explained in the prior post, I decided a Bed & Breakfast would be safer MCS-wise than a hotel chain (see Chronic Travel post for details as to why).

I spoke to the owner by phone and asked her some questions (including the questions about smoking that I mentioned previously). The Bed & Breakfast we stayed at is pictured above. We headed out for our trip the day after I had spoken to the owner. My husband worked a half day. So, by the time we reached the B & B, it was about 7:30 pm. We walked in and a woman came out from the back of the house to greet us. There was a bit of an awkward silence and then I referenced the phone call where I’d made the reservations. (I was figuring this was probably the woman with whom I had spoken by phone).

It turns out this woman was not the owner of the B & B. I should mention that while I’m no B & B expert, this was not the first time I have stayed at one. Believe me, I’m not one to want to chit chat and hang out with the owners of a B & B. (I know some B & B guests like to “hang out” like that but I’m not one of them). Certainly I’m up for some friendly (albeit brief) conversation and generally at a B & B there’s a bit more of a personal connection than one would have in a hotel chain. However, when I’m on vacation… I’m there to do things, see the sights, etc. I’m not there to hang out at the place I’m staying at. So I honestly wasn’t looking for some sort of engaging conversation with the B & B owner or anything. (Bear in mind I had spent hours online preparing for the trip, including reading testimonials from previous guests at the B & B raving about the couple who owned it and how hospitable they were and that sort of thing). Honestly, we were anxious to get some dinner. Nevertheless, I was a bit taken aback when this woman who was giving us our key revealed that the owner was gone for the entire weekend… many states away, in fact. I was also dismayed that she seemed extremely rushed… to the point that I felt rushed and tense. So much for that homey B & B atmosphere! Honestly, a two minute conversation about restaurants would have gone a long way in my book. But I digress…

Anyway, it was news to me that the owner of the B & B wasn’t even in the state for our entire stay and I was baffled as to why she didn’t simply mention this on the phone the day before when I spoke with her. (The B & B landline number had given a message indicating a cell phone number and that is how I reached the owner to make the reservations. Apparently, unbeknownst to me, at the time I spoke to the B & B owner on her cell phone… she was already out of state). This was not the end of the world and the woman who was covering for her was nice. It was just not what I pictured at all after reading people’s glowing comments online. (I guess the B & B owners recently went through a divorce). This was also my husband’s first Bed & Breakfast experience and I was disappointed that this was his “welcome” to it when he was slightly apprehensive about going to one. Sigh. (I was envisioning the trip-planning demerits that were being assigned to me and we hadn’t even finished the five minute or less check-in).

Anyway, as we were escorted to our room in this very large house built in the 1800s, the lights were flickering and the woman looked up with a nervous glance and commented, “I hope the power doesn’t go out”. (It was getting quite stormy out at about this point). When we asked where we might find flashlights in case it did happen, she had no idea where we would find them. Lovely. Mind you, this all transpired in the short time it took her to walk us up to our room. Our entire check-in encounter with her was 5 minutes or less in total. She was clearly very rushed. She had a family member waiting for her to leave. So this is how we started out our trip. So much for the slow-paced, relaxed atmosphere I had read on and on about online. It was not the end of the world but not what I had pictured either.

(I really don’t like feeling rushed when I am on vacation… Again, I was anxious to get to dinner and didn’t want idle chat. I would have liked a couple of quick dining suggestions, though!)

So, basically, if the power went out (which, believe me, looked very possible), we’d be in a pitch black mansion that we are not familiar with at all. (I would not have wanted to attempt the staircase in the dark)! My daughter’s eyes got as big as saucers as she imagined the power going out in this house. (Right about now this lovely old Victorian home was looking like a creepy Addams Family house with those flickering lights). So this was our welcome to the place we were staying at and the area…

The body language and rapidity of speech of the woman checking us in made it obvious that she was going to be heading out immediately. She spoke so quickly that I didn’t even catch where she said the binder of restaurant menus was. (We managed to find it after she’d gone but it was frustrating to have so much information thrown at us at once before she flew out the door to go home). The atmosphere was just far from what the websites had depicted. There was one other room occupied that particular night but the people weren’t there at that point in time. So, once she left (she did leave a phone number where she could be reached for emergencies) we were the only people in this old mansion that, while interesting, would have been very creepy to our daughter if the power had gone out. Thankfully, it didn’t!

That’s enough about the B & B check-in process… We dumped our luggage in the room. My husband, my daughter, and I were all extremely hungry. We had no clue where we were except that there were no restaurants nearby. (We had yet to find that binder downstairs). I needed to use the bathroom before we went to hunt for dinner. I received a surprise during this excursion to the bathroom that I was not at all happy about.

Just a wee bit surprised…

I was surprised, upset, frustrated, and angry. Can anyone guess why? Those of you who have endometriosis… can you imagine why I might have been upset? If you guessed that I got my period (over a week early) the very night we started our beach-centered trip, you are correct!

Yes, that’s right. This trip was our first family vacation (we have had trips involving visiting relatives over the years but this was the first trip where just the three of us… my husband, my almost nine year old daughter, and me… went on a trip just for fun and family time). Between financial barriers, time issues (not being able to get any time off work), and the very challenges travel poses for me with my illnesses, we never (in almost nine years) ventured out on a family vacation for just the three of us. The very last thing I wanted on this long-awaited trip was this. I was very, very upset. This was a game-changer. So many activities my husband and I had planned on were now out the window for me. I just couldn’t believe it. Why, why, why did my period need to come early for this trip?

I should not have been surprised by this twist. My periods are not the most regular but they are far more so in the last few years than all the years before that. I may not know exactly when to expect it like some people do but I generally have a darn good idea. More than a week earlier than I could possibly have imagined just threw me for a loop. Then, as I scanned back through my memory, I realized something. No matter how carefully I try to plan the timing of activities such as this (beach time), there has not been a time since I was 13 years old that I have actually pulled it off. Ever. I ALWAYS get my period in cases like this, regardless of whether it’s due. What kind of denial state was I in that I thought this trip would be any different?

We had so much commotion over whether we could even go on a trip at all (due to my husband’s job) that it did not even occur to me that this might happen. Thank you “Endometriosis Enemy”… for keeping that running record going (even when I let my guard down and I thought the coast was clear). Sigh.

It looks like this post is already pretty lengthy and will need to be continued. (Trust me, there’s more)!

Let’s just say that when I get my period, as a spectacular bonus, my interstitial cystitis and irritable bowel syndrome both get aggravated. Yes… exponential fun!

In the next post, I will tell you about my multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)-related adventure and the hard lesson I learned. It was really something.

Finally, as with the other post I would like to end on a positive note. My daughter had a blast taking her first bath in an old-fashioned claw foot tub. The tub was white on the inside and purple on the outside with gold feet. Trust me that a deep purple tub that has feet is cool to an eight year old! Also on the cool list was the fact that the toilet was an old-fashioned pull chain water closet. I explained to our daughter that when indoor plumbing first came out, all toilets were like this. I’m 40 years old and I had never seen a pull chain water closet. I had only read about them. So that was interesting.

Last but not least… here are some pictures of my husband and daughter. They rode the waves and had a blast while I played photographer. They even used boogie boards to ride the waves. See? The trip wasn’t all problems!

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Getting used to the waves (and the not-very-warm water):

Watching for the next wave…

Will the next wave ever get here?

My sweeties on their boogie boards… looking for waves.

Playing in the sand… Note that her Hannah Montana boogie board is next to her on the sand. Once we got her a boogie board, she didn’t let it out of her sight.

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Things didn’t go perfectly on the trip but my daughter is still very enthusiastically talking about how much fun she had riding the waves. (There were waves measuring eight feet when we were there and she literally did ride the waves). It warms my heart that she had as much fun as she did!!

In my next chronic travel post, I will tell you all about the adventure we had thanks to my MCS. I learned a huge lesson!

This post was written by Jeanne at http://chronichealing.com. Copyright © Jeanne — chronichealing.com. All rights reserved.

“Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.” ~~ Robert Fulghum

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