I am on my way home from Charlotte and am writing this thanks to the free wi-fi access Airtran is offering this week. I left last minute to go stay with my Aunt who I wrote about previously who is sick with Lyme disease. It was nice being there since this was her first week back to work after two weeks of being bed-ridden. We really had a nice time together and I love Charlotte. I drove her to work everyday so I got to get a better feel for the city.

Her flight was most unfortunately canceled to DC to see her doctor. She got as far as Atlanta before finding out she had to go all the way back home. Now instead of seeing the doctor she has to pay $350 out of pocket to talk to him over the phone. There aren't many doctors who treat chronic Lyme. It is very complicated but her doctor lost his ability to practice in NC because he does treat Lyme patients. People travel from all over to see him and it is a shame he can't practice in Charlotte anymore. There are some in the medical field who think Lyme is all in the head, that the people who suffer it are just hypochondriacs. That is what happened to my Aunt and why she wasn't treated soon enough. When you don't get treated early enough it becomes very very difficult to get it out of your system.

If my Aunt becomes this sick again this year she fears she will be forced on to disability. It has been 13 years she has lived with this. Everyday she is sick but when she has a flare up it is like having the flu but worse. My grandparents will be there to help her in two weeks. They are going to stay for two weeks with her which is good. My Aunt's best friend and roommate died 6 years ago. Despite everything she really doesn't ever complain.

While I was there there was a news release about how researchers have found that papaya leaf extract may be able to reverse cancer and tumors because of the affect it has on the immune system. She might ask her MD about it. Interestingly, papaya leaf extract is also used to fight malaria and my Aunt is taking anit-malaria drugs as part of her treatment for Lyme.

The South has this fast food chain called Chick-fill-a. It is so funny because it isn't pronounced with a soft A but like fillet as in chicken fillet. I cooked every night and froze the left overs so she has plenty to eat until my grandparents get there. She just doesn't have the energy to do much by the time she gets home from work. It kind of perpetuates the illness because then she isn't eating healthy and it is harder for her to get better.

My Aunt is sick with Lyme Disease. It has been so many years and she has suffered so greatly from this horrible sickness. It is almost as if she has AIDS and it often becomes debilitating. I wish that I could do something to help her but she lives alone in the South and I can't do much except pray. She is going to DC to see an MD tomorrow. As sick as she is she is going to get on a plane by herself and see if this MD can help her. I hate how much she suffers, she really does not deserve it, she has been a great aunt and a great person. She is a principal at a school for children with learning disabilities.

Happy Anniversary Mikey!

Thanks for coming over to "see my Cuba pictures". It has been 4 years that we have been together (minus a short hiatus) but even longer since we first met at Coffee &. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. We have both come such a long way.

Tonight (e:mike) surprised me and came to my house to cook me dinner and clean my dirty kitchen and give some loving to my rabbit! I left the house at 8am and didn't return until 9pm so it was so nice to have Cinderella come and spread her magic while I was away. I was so tired and thinking about my dirty dishes and how I didn't want to cook myself any food. I love (e:mike)!

This is me and my niece Holly who is turning 16 tomorrow the 4th of February. I don't get to see her much now, but I did take care of her a lot when she was younger. I am so proud of her, she is an incredibly strong and amazing individual.

I got cerumen impaction from using Q-tips. Yup, my ear got completely clogged with ear wax to the point I couldn't hear and I thought I was getting an ear infection. The Q-tip was pushing the wax back up into the ear, leading to the impaction. Just remember (e:tinypliny)'s beady eyes of disapproval every time you grab one of those "earbuds". The below comment was taken from (e:paul)'s journal "Shove a sponge in it?"

tinypliny writes at 09:34:26 10/11/08 - Comment #40098tinyplinyThanks for sharing, ((e:dragonlady)). I will keep that in mind and might switch when the guilt becomes unbearable.
Blood is not revolting or even disturbing to me at all.

As for ear candles. PLEASE RETURN THEM!!! They are clinically not efficacious, and in fact injurious.
link I was so grossed out by the sponges that I totally missed that you bought them!!

If you want to get earwax out, try and get eardrops/oil and drop them into your ear for a week or so (a few drops daily). This will soften the wax up. Then get a syringing appointment at the ENT clinic. Syringing is a process by which a fine spray of sterile water is pointed into the ear and pushes out the softened wax.

More tips for ear-health:
PLEASE get rid of all your earbuds. They are the NUMBER #1 reason for impacted wax and do more harm and no good at all. They push ear wax deeper into the ear. The ear has a natural conveyor belt like assembly whereby ear wax is naturally circulated outward from the tympanic membrane into the external ear canal. The best way to clean your ears is by swishing your finger gently around your external ear while you are showering. Poking and using earbuds are the reason 50K Americans report to the ENT clinic with impacted wax every year. I cannot reiterate this enough. Get rid of the ear candles and the earbuds. Both are evil little implements of ear ruin. :(

Seriously, PETA has proposed to the NYS DOT paying for Peace Bridge repairs in exchange for renaming the bridge "Peace on Your Plate Bridge"!

"Changing the bridge's name to the 'Peace on Your Plate Bridge' is a win-win situation," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "The name change would help keep this vital link in Western New York's economy up and running, and people crossing the bridge would be reminded that we really can have world peace -- starting with one meal at a time."

I would rather them close the bridge than name it something so ridiculous! PETA is seriously deranged.

Does anyone know where I can find bulk peanut oil? I'm hoping to spend less than $30 for a gallon, if at all possible. I love peanut oil so much but find it is too expensive to deep fry with. I'm making Paula Dean's Southern Fried Chicken "Y'all"! I made it with regular vegetable oil and it was awesome but I know it would be super super awesome with peanut oil.

Last night I slept so good and didn't wake up having a coughing fit. I think I'm going to skip going to the after hours clinic today. If it comes back again tonight I'll maybe go tomorrow. My new bed was delivered on Saturday and last night was my first really good sleep on it. It is a Sealy pillow top. I went from sleeping on a full futon to a nice firm queen. I'm so happy with it after this last night's sleep. I can't believe how high the bed is. It feels like I need a step stool to get in it. Not only did I get a new bed but also really nice new sheets and pillows. The difference is amazing.

It still has that new smell which is the biggest downfall. The top layer of the mattress is organic cotton but that does little to protect me from all the flame retardant chemicals they douse the bed in because some people can't refrain from smoking in bed and passing out with a lit cigarette! I took the down comforter (e:mike) got me last year for Xmas out of storage and am using that with the window cracked open because my apt gets so hot. I leave the humidifier running all night otherwise I get completely dried out from the inside out.

Now that I can sleep well I think my lungs will recover. I should go to the gym today rather than the clinic.

It is nice to see how happy we were. We had a nice conversation by phone the other day.

Since getting sick right after Xmas I have been waking up in the middle of the night with coughing fits. Last night I went to bed by 11pm and woke up around 1am coughing and started to have a hard time breathing. I think I have bronchitis or maybe asthma. This may be related also to my allergies which have been very bad lately with the latest box of timothy hay I got for my rabbit. A new kind of hay, orchard grass is due to be delivered today and I know that my allergies don't react that bad to this hay. This latest timothy hay I have even makes my arms break out when I touch it.

Tomorrow I plan on going to the afterhours clinic since it doesn't seem to be going away on its own. I hope they won't have to give me antibiotics or put me on an inhaler but if it will make me better, I'll take it. It is so weird that it only happens at night and I am almost completely fine during the day. When I got sick over Xmas it was different than I normally feel when sick. I had so much more mucuss than normal. There was one time I almost chocked on it.