10 things you probably don't know about me. 

1.I have fibromyalgia, and Sjogren's syndrome. I coincidentally have Celiac disease, which causes a malabsorption syndrome that contributes to the inflammation and pain of the FMS and SS.
2. Most people assume: That I am fine because I don't let my pain show much. Even when I am hurting, I try to keep a positive attitude and keep my friends and co-workers feeling positive too. 
3.I'm not a 'morning person,' never have been. So calling me before noon, or expecing me to be at my best in the morning is not wise. I wake up, I hurt, it takes me an up to an hour to really get moving. I don't know if the pain I have when I crawl out of bed will get better or worse throughout the day, but I push myself to keep going.g up.) 
4. Treatments and medications: I wish insurance covered massage and acupuncture. The meds I get, I take at maximum dosage just to be able to get through each day at work. 
5. People are surprised to know: I am stronger than they expect. When this first hit me, I felt helpless and overwhelmed, and let the diseases have control. Then I learned, the hard way, that giving up is the wrong tack. I started fighting back, by doing a tiny bit more each day. I grew stronger, but I am nowhere near as strong as I was before. But the struggle to be stronger physically, has made me stronger mentally and emotionally.

6.The hardest thing to accept about this combo of disease is that I must 'pace' myself. Unlike most people, I can't just jump in and do things and push through the pain, because if I overdo, it may cause a 'Fibro-flare'  which could set my progress back considerably. So if I spend 5 minutes on my elliptical each night, I only increase by 1-2 minutes a week - more is dangerous.
7.Something my illness has taught me: patience, kindness, understanding, compassion, to be supportive. People can be cruel because they don't understand that I truly am in pain, but that I'm so accustomed to constant reminder of an achy body, that I simply let it flow over me and keep going. By the end of the night, walking down one flight of stairs can be too much, or getting to my car may mean I have to stop and rest before lifing my tired legs into the car.

8. The commercials about my illness: Lyrica ads, but they downplay the how you really feel, the illness and are unrealistic about results. Lyrica did absolutely nothing for me. I did get the right rheumatologist and the right medicine, but it's not a walk in the park. I wish I could walk in the park - I live less than a mile from Forest Park and have been there once in two years. 

9.Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: sleeping through the night. I wake up every hour or two because of pain. I miss being able to walk throuigh an entire mall. I miss biking, and just walking down the street. 

10. Despite being hit with this, I've learned over the last 15 years to roll with the punches. I'm grateful to be alive, to have a career I'm proud of, and family and friends I can turn to when needed. I thank God, or whatever higher power you want to name, for the mercy of not becoming completely disabled. I'm a fighter and I'm not giving up. I've learned to eat healthy, because a vegetarian diet reduces inflammation; less inflammation translates to less pain. I'm not a Vegan, I'm a flexitarian, cause I still want a bit of chicken vindaloo now and then.  If you've stuck with me this long, thanks. Now you know me a little better.

History vs. Legend

The interchange of ideas through online message boards and news groups has helped my journey into the history of my family immensely. I've been able to contact a cousin who shared a full family history interview with my grandmother's sister.  I've learned many ways to search, and places to go for help. And the exchange of ideas confirms what I have always felt about the search for family history - that it is as important to carry along the false ideas and misconceptions as well as the truth. Eventually, those tall tales may come to represent, as much as cold hard facts cannot, the personalities of those who passed them along. 

For those who've guided me, and chided me when I made mistakes, I owe a great debt. I look forward to completing the first section of our family history, and to editing and appending it as time goes on. 

One of the tales I enjoyed hearing was that of my fathers "Granny" - Bertha Ramsey O'Guin. She was a sturdy woman, and she raised my father and his sister after their mother died of tuberculosis.  Dad's sister, Madeline, whom I knew as "Aunt Bo" said granny was just mean to her, and treated Dad like a prince. After their baths at night, granny would line them up and give them a good swat or two on the butt, "for whatever you did that I didn't see."  Her understanding of Granny was that she was 1/2 Irish and 1/2 Indian [to be politically correct, I should say Native American]. However, she spoke german with my grandfather, so either she was quick to pick up languages, or there may have been something more in her background. Bo said they'd speak german when they didn't want the kids to understand what they were talking about.

Among the more recent misconceptions in family history may  relate to Bertha's ancestry. Dad always said she was Cherokee, and came down the Trail of Tears, but later he said she was of the Capaha.  His explanation to me was that this was a branch of the Cherokee tribe, but history says the Capaha [a name common in the Cape Girardeau area] were in the area when the first French and Spanish came along, and there are tales of the honor and dignity with which they met the newcomers. So, is she one, or the other... or perhaps a little of both. Since that would probably be the Ramsey side of the family, to find out more there is a group doing Ramsey family DNA testing I can contact. 

Another area in which Dad seemed to be in error was his belief that the german side of the family was from Heidelberg. I always had assumed he knew what he was talking about, especially after the 70s and the Baader-Meinhof group in that same city made news. However, once I began to look at information, I found Great Grandfather Matthais Bader was listed on as ship as being from 'Brumpelking' - which, as I delved deeper, turned out to be a erroneous transliteration. The family came from a small town called Dunstelkingen, and it is not far from Heidenheim. However, it is quite possible they went through Stuttgart or Heidelberg along the river to the northern seaports as they left Germany. 

I have discovered so much already, and my next big investment will be the Ancestry DNA testing. Expensive, but it will bring so much more to what I have been learning and will help with the narrowing of search areas in some parts of the history. 

Back to the search...

OT- Sci-fi Oops

OK. I love sci-fi, especially the Star Trek series, all versions. However, I have one major complaint.

Funerals. All this space on board, all these options, and when someone dies and we have their body, there is a huge funeral, as if at sea, with the body in a large coffin-like metal casket, which is slid out into space and left behind. 

Now I understand that in years gone by, ships at sea did put bodies into the sea. They were not in caskets or even wooden coffins. They were wrapped in canvas and weighted with ballast, which meant they would decompose naturally. I suspect it would have been rather unhealthy to keep a bloating dead body on ship before we had electricity and a way to keep the body either cooled to prevent decomposition till one could land and bury it, especially on cross ocean voyages.  Having personally experienced the aroma of a body that was dead three days before it was found, I certainly agree with that policy, though I'm sure that the cruise liners and other ships at sea in this day do not dump their dead into the ocean. 

So back to sci-fi and the dead in caskets. You've got a ship in space and the potential to land on any nearby planet. You probably have cryo units for stasis, so why would you dump a casket into space?  The real reason - for the story line. 

For a limited resource ship in strange space, it seems that recycling would be the most likely scenario. But no, Voyager opted for the casket, which gets picked up by an alien species that reproduces by reanimating the dead and giving them a new, changed life, even to the point of changing the dead's DNA. 

Grave robbers, I say! And if they are, does that mean other alien life forms also dump their dead into space? Ewww!  Can  you imagine the clutter in a few millennia? If you have to use a casket, add a small guidance system and push it in the direction of the nearest star. 

Besides the risk of the grave robber aliens, what about enemy aliens who might either mimic your species or study your features and dna to find a way to defeat you?  

Nope, sorry.  I can understand  Captain Kirk sending a steel casket into space, he was hardly beyond the Neanderthal, but Janeway, you've disappointed me. Tsk. Tsk.

Mags out.

Switchover

This began as a private musing, mostly about genealogy and the things that make me who I am.  The original profile said "I finally know who I am, and am satisfied with that. On the downslope, I guess it's time to write in the sand and leave something for those who follow, however inane, insignificant and ephemeral."


I figured it was something to leave for the kids and grandkids later. But I've made enough progress to be rather excited about my family, and enough to be willing to share. Hank's son Marty is a part of us now, and we're all looking forward to his visit this winter, and to meeting his  fiancee.


Meanwhile, historically, I've finally pinned down Dad's missing 3rd wife. She wasn't 3rd chronologically, just in the sense of the order found. She was his war bride, married a few days before he enlisted. It's odd, that he never mentioned  having lived in East St. Louis, or having lived in Indiana after the war. But there's so much I didn't know, and he never volunteered much. Jeannie's grandma says he was a bit of a womanizer. We knew that. Maybe not so much. She didn't have a lot of good to say about Dad, but then he had his moments... he could be a real stinker.  


Still not sure if he ever graduated high school, though I know he went to alumni dinners. I have so much more to find, and using ancestry.com has made it easier. Bit by bit, the image of our extended family is forming a more complete picture... not always one to be proud of, but certainly one with some staying power. 


Next up, filling in the grandparents I never knew.


Maddie/maggie out.

Slow warm winter

It's been an unusual winter for the central midwest. In STL, hardly any snow, it's the end of February, and temps are in the 50s and 60s. No complaints here.
Still, despite a rather balmy winter, the Fibromyalgia still has been kicking my butt. Maybe it's related to the lower amounts of available sunlight, but I think it may have to do with diet. I've been less concientious about staying on the foods I know are less inflammatory. When I stay to mostly vegetarian meals with a little cheese and stay off the sweets, I do better. But sweets are my comfort foods, and I've been really stuck on the sugar lately.
 I read recently that, without dietary changes, it takes 350 minutes of sweaty aerobic work to lose 2 pounds. That comes to 50 minutes a day. So my new goal is to use the elliptical while watching one 44 minute show a day. Going to work up to that slowly so I don't kick myself into a flare.
Meanwhile, I'm slowing getting back into the GF meals at work, no more grilled chicken and yummy fries - though I did buy some for here at home, for the craving moments... sweet potato fries. Hope they're as good as people say.
Meanwhile, going to try my hand at General Tsao's chickent today, make enough to last for a few days. I'll probably do some fried rice to go along with that, freeze up some meals and have them ready for work. Need to get off the sodie pop again, but need caffeine in some form. Found some caffeine gum at the gift shop, and have the coffee maker out.
Little here, little there... bit by bit I'm trying to get back to the style that had me losing weight.

Summer heat

It's been an unusually sweltering summer, especially here in St. Louis. So I'm spending most of it indoors. Even that's not great with one ac on the fritz.
Anyway I am trying to get into the habit of posting regularly. Not a lot to post about. Halimah sprained her wrist badly. Three of the grandkids have rashes that are most likely poison ivy, poor things. Zak is in jail once again.
I would like to go see him but at this point, I'm still too angry and disappointed. Besides I have decoded to let him stew a bit; he meeds to understand that he did this go himself with his refusal to face his addiction.
Zain, as always, is my rock. He helps me out, and provides much needed moral support.

Ramadan begins on the evening of july 31, and I'm hesitant about fasting at work. Last year I had issues - hypoglycemia kicked in. I'm going to attempt to circumvent it this year wot high protein suhoors.
And that's all for today.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes... life in a faster lane.

So, I've been away for a while. Took a new job in the Gateway City, and found out I'd taken on a bit more than I thought I could handle. It's eased up now, and I love the job. It's been good for an old gal like me to shake up her life, and gotten me closer to the things I want to do as my years wind down into sloooowww speed.
That's not to say that the job is anything like slow. Working as a tech in a major hospital system [seven local hospitals and all major], is anything but slow. Almost scared me off at first, since I was having a hard time handling the job. Anyone else with FMS knows how hard it can be to adjust to new stresses and new work. It's been good in the long run. So far I've dropped 60 pounds, and am more active and able than I've been since the mid-1990's.
The great things about St. Louis: Always something to do, the public libraries [esp for genealogy research], gluten-free food everywhere - even pizza, and really great water. Apparently the issues my ancestors had in St. Louis are mostly gone, no cholera, and drinking water is not muddy. It's actually very good. [I am so particular about my water.]

So new city, new me, and hopefully new inspiration for blogging. Today's is boring, but a promise of better things to come from me. New books to read... new ancestors to hunt down... and maybe a point or two about those great new places to eat!

Until we meet again...