AH I am SO Sorry!

Ack! I feel like a crummy person! I totally left my last post saying I have a surgery coming up, but I've been busy and feeling cruddy and just way too busy to find time to post and explain the surgery! I am so sorry to leave everyone hanging like that - a few people have messaged me to ask about it, so some of y'all know, but here's the scoop for everyone else.

(Here's the abridged version)
It's really not a big deal at all! I have a little tumor on my right index finger. The hand doctor/surgeon can't figure out for the life of him what the heck it is, so they are gonna take the whole dang thing out on May 3rd. They are taking very wide margins to make sure they get it all, so they will be grafting skin from the side of my hand. They'll first check if it's cancer, and then they'll send the tumor all over the country to different pathologists to see if anyone knows what it is. Once diagnosed, they'll go from there! (Oh and the doc definitely doesn't think it has anything to do with my EDS or other health stuff)
Crazy, huh? It's pretty bizarre looking. Very irregular edges, more looks like several lumps smooshed together - that's how abnormal edged it is. Kinda looks like Africa facing the opposite direction. And more short and fat. Haha now I'm getting all abstract with my description. (Oh- it's up by the surface of the skin and visible - that's how I know all this). It's not red or anything. It's not a rash or skin blemish. It's definitely a mass underneath the skin and all that jazz. And it hurts! So I can't wait to get it out and done and over with!

The only little teeny bummer thing is that I'll have to be in an ugly cast for as little as 3 weeks or as many as 6. And then a splint after that for who knows how long. The cast will definitely be on for my senior prom, and possibly be on for my graduation ceremony. But whatevs, right? I can bedazzle it or something for prom! hah :P

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Speakin of which, I might as well mention, prom is coming up! I'm going to two, possibly three proms! (1) the Starlight Prom (2) my Senior Prom, and (possibly 3) a church prom. (The Starlight Prom is held by the Starlight Children's Foundation, and is just for "medically eligible" teens, with chronic or terminal illnesses.)

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There was another whole shabang I was going to have to explain... but my brainpower is just about run out, and I'm exhausted. I'll have to write again tomorrow, and explain what happened yesterday. I want really badly to get some advice from the dysautonomia/POTS community, but I'm just too exhausted all of a sudden and the brain fog is setting in :( bleh. So sorry to run out of energy so fast, and I didn't even get to talk about the happy stuff yet either...

I'll come back to chat tomorrow, and I promise to explain my crazy day/emergency doc appt/stuff that happened yesterday!

-Jessica <3

To my friends and family who are here following me on this crazy part of my life, thank you for the support <3
To my zebra friends - stay strong, we'll get through this together, one day at a time!

Oh, It's Been MUCH Too Long!

I feel absolutely terrible for waiting so long to write! I kept having more and more to write about over time, yet I just haven't been able to find the time, energy, or brainpower.

Even this is going to be pretty short, and possibly a bit scattered (I'm sorry... but my fatigue has been x10 lately and with that, my brain is foggier than ever). But I do have a lot to talk about, so I must at least briefly hit everything! Sorry to do this... it's very un-blogger-like of me, but I'm gonna have to do a list, because if I don't, it'll just be all over the place - I literally can't think straight with all the pain and fatigue!

So here are some updates/things I've been meaning to chat about....

• P90X arrived in the mail - started it and am officially 5(?) days in now? Gotta say, it's extremely hard (but not as hard as when I did PT all day, every day, for 4 weeks!) I'm taking it slow though, at my own pace, and just trying my best and taking a lot of breaks. I've had some joint dislocations and subluxations while doing it, but mostly I'm doing a really good job of not pushing past my limits. Can't wait to see results.
• I've been meaning to talk about Smart Water - I've been hearing a lot of people with dysautonomia talk about how drinking gatorade helps them a lot because of the added electrolytes. Well I tried that for a while, but didn't like how sugary Gatorade was - so I've started drinking Smart Water religiously. It has those added electrolytes and stuff, but it just tastes like plain water! I'll drink at least 33.8 oz. a day (usually more). And I've been upping my salt intake a lot more - and it's been great. I've been getting dizzy a lot less - and my blood pressure is actually coming up above 100! (top #)
• Last week I had a bit of a heart scare, the paramedics were called to my school and everything...went to the ER...they did an EKG, and even a CT of my chest with IV contrast, because the doctor was of course concerned about the possible aortic rupture that can happen with EDS. But it looked okay, they didn't really know what happened, so I'm gonna follow up with my cardiologist about that.
• Went to the asthma doctor again...who once again says I probably don't have asthma but he still doesn't know what it is, so we are going to do a 2 hour test where they try to trigger really bad lung symptoms and then run more tests. That should be fun. (Oh and MICHELLE - I brought up the sweat test and the doctor refused! Sorry! I tried)
• I got a new job! I'm sad to be leaving my old job at the preschool, but it'll be a really good opportunity working my new job at Exchange Press! http://www.childcareexchange.com/

Alright, I'm too tired to finish - remind me to write about the biggest thing tomorrow...too much to explain tonight. In short, I'll be having surgery on May 3rd - details tomorrow! And more life-related and less health-related stuff to come tomorrow as well.

So sorry for my foggy brain - goodnight y'all

<3

-Jessica