Alabama Storms

 On Good Friday, I loaded up my Giant Schnauzer and the two of us headed south to Alabama where my brother lives.  It is a 6-hour drive in the best traffic minus potty stops for the dog. Because I work from home, I can pack up my computer and go somewhere else to work.  This makes visiting with family much easier.

Elsie and I arrived safely with little trouble and enjoyed the afternoon and evening getting caught up on their lives.  Then last night, a thunderstorm occurred.  WOW! I am used to the Indiana thunderstorms, not the Alabama ones that light up the sky nonstop with lightning that is like someone using an old Kodak camera with a flash on it.  It was not the kind of storm one sleeps through, which I often do in Indiana.  The storm reminded me of a storm I witnessed once in Florida. We were driving A1A highway along the ocean when a storm came up and the waves leaped up over the end of a pier and escaped the beach and traveled towards the road.  The lightning was intense, and the thunder vibrated the windows of the car while the wind buffeted and shook the car.  That storm has left an imprint in my mind of the ferocity of the ocean when it is angry.  

Today the sky is overcast and the winds are slight.  But it sure beats a nighttime storm I got to experience first-hand in Alabama.

BEING GLUTEN-FREE DOESN'T ALWAYS MEAN SOMEONE HAS CELIAC'S DISEASE

Periodically, five years ago, I began waking up with severe dizziness and nausea. To even bat an eye made the nausea worse.  I had to lay extremely still with my eyes shut and barely breathe to keep from being sick all over again.  After the first episode, I put my friend, Joyce, on speed dial in my cell as each episode resulted in a trip to the E.R. for treatment.  Joyce would hold me up with one arm while keeping my small wastebasket beneath my head as the movement made me violently ill.  I was so sick that at one point, I quit breathing.  It was easier not to breathe than to be so very sick.  I was in a beautiful place ascending into a very bright light, when I heard, "Mrs. Phillips! You have to breathe!" I did not feel the slap, but Joyce was there and said they slapped me very hard because they were not getting a response from me. 

As the episodes and trips to the emergency room became more frequent, I became more worried about falling asleep as it seemed each episode came while I was sleeping.  Then the summer of 2018, I got to spend a week with some friends, Ray and Sandra, in Salt Lake City.  Their son and daughter-in-law are like my own kids.  Sandra asked me one day to share the symptoms I experienced when I got sick.  I told her of the extreme dizziness and nausea and how just batting an eye would make me even sicker.  

Sandra then shared that she went through pretty much the same thing and after much testing, her doctors determined she was allergic to wheat.  She then said, "Why don't you try giving up wheat for a week or two?  What do you have to lose?"

I thought about it but didn't commit that day to becoming wheat free, but avoided wheat anyway.  Once I returned home to Indiana, I also returned to eating the same foods and within less than two weeks got to go to the E.R. At that point, I scrutinized the last few weeks of my life and what I was eating and not eating.  Yep, I had eaten wheat the day I got sick.  I had not eaten anything breaded or a sandwich until that day.  So I kicked the wheat habit.  

I am now very careful about the ingredients in my food.  I prefer not to get sick again. I have noticed that when I eat dark chocolate salted caramels from a certain store, I get beautiful holographic rainbows in front of my eyes. After some research, I found out this is called an optical migraine. The episodes with violet nausea, dizziness, and sensitivity to light are silent migraines. I found this on my medical chart. Why didn't they tell me so that I wouldn't think I was going crazy?

At any rate, wheat is absent from my diet for the past 4 years, unless by accident I ingest some when eating out.  I always know because I get nauseated and dizzy. Staying away from wheat is the best option for me as I stay healthy and don't make trips to the E.R. 

If you experience what I have experienced, take a look at what you are eating and weed out the offensive food.  It works for me and I am very thankful to Sandra for her input and guiding me in the right direction.  My doctor was not very helpful.

 Do you ever get tired of getting up every morning and driving to work then at the end of the workday turning around and driving back home? About 18 months ago, I was tired of the whole shebang and called my baby sister, Leanna, to share with her the emotions I was going through.  She is 19 years younger than I am. 

Leanna listened calmly and then said, "How would you like to work from home?" 

"How is that possible?" I replied.

She then asked for my email address, my phone number, and a couple other pieces of information and told me I would get an email and to respond to it.  Yeah, sure.  Right?

Well, sure enough, I did get an email and it had an application to apply to a company that has a large work-base of work-at-home (known as WAH jobs) employees. I filled out the application and a few days later went through a group interview. Then I received an offer of employment in my email a day or two later.  Once I accepted the offer, I had to pass some security humps and gained employment..

It has been an interesting 18 months with this company. I learn something new every day I work. They hire by referrals and without my sister knowing about them, I would not be working from home.  I enjoy working from home as I don't have to dress any special way for the office nor do I have to figure in travel time as part of my workday.  I also get 30 minutes to eat lunch at home and don't have the added expense of eating with the workgroup and spending $10 for lunch every day.  In reality, with the current cost of fuel for the car, I am probably making $1-$2 more an hour than I am being paid since I live rurally.

One of the biggest advantages of working at home is being here with my dogs. Elsie, the Giant with immune-mediated polyarthritis, now gets her pills on a regular schedule. Michaela, the Corgi, Elsie, and Max, the 9-month-old German Shepherd pup all know my schedule and take advantage of breaks and lunch to be let in and out.  They know exactly what time I get off work, and are ready to eat as soon as I log off the computer and take the headset off.  

Life is good now that I am home surrounded by the pets that love me! They give me so much love. I am happy that I decided to work from home and reached out to my sister.  Life is very good!