Welcome To My New Life Fighting A Disease I've Never Heard Of Before....... Ankylosing Spondylitis

    How does a mother face the fact that she has unknowingly passed a chronic condition on to her child? I've been asking myself that for some time now. I have guilt because my children are my heart. I would do anything to protect my children. Yet I have no doubt that at least two of my children have spine problems just like me. It weighs on me daily. Let me share a bit about my sons.    My oldest son is 26 years old. He started complaining of back pain at a young age, approximately 7 or 8 years old. I wasn't diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis at that time. I believed my spine issues were all scoliosis related. We went through years of taking him from one specialist to another. He would cry from the back pain. I remembered when I was young crying with my back pain also. It was heartbreaking. I feared he would need a back brace like I wore through my teenage years for scoliosis. However, he only had a slight curvature in his spine, not enough to need bracing. I did...

Today has been a disappointing day. I had an appointment with an oral surgeon this morning. It didn't go as expected. I guess I should start at the beginning. Several years ago, the roof of my mouth would wake me up itching. I know that sounds weird, but what about our bodies isn't weird? Anyway, I would have to rub the roof of my mouth with my tongue to relieve the itching. I assumed it was an allergy issue. I tried monitoring what I ate to see if there was a correlation, but it had no rhyme or reason. This intense itching in the roof of my mouth continued off and on for a year or two.  One day, while my family doctor was checking my tonsils because of a sore throat, he discovered a bony growth. My physician said he had seen these bony growths before, but he couldn't recall what they were called. Of course, I was curious as to what was growing in the roof of my mouth. Finally, thanks to Google, I discovered it's called torus  palatinus. Apparently, it is a benign g...

WOW! So much has happened since I last posted. I apologize for disappearing for such a long time. Life happens and I guess we all let things fall by the wayside, but I promise to try to update more regularly. First, I want to let everyone know my most exciting news..... I talked about opening an Ebay store in some of my last posts. I'm happy to tell you I've been selling on Ebay since March 2019. I'm not at a point where I can say it's helping our finances, but that's because I've been reinvesting my earnings into the business itself. It takes a lot of time and effort, much more than I realized. However, I'm enjoying the journey. I'm constantly learning about brands and what sells best on the Ebay platform. Yes, I have made many mistakes and bought things I should've left behind. I'm still a newbie and expect it'll always be a challenge to keep up with the latest trends and sell thru rates. I'm not pushing myself to expand too ...