Izzy’s Battle with an Aggressive Brain Tumor

I’ve known Izzy and her mother for a long time now. I first met them when I was working retail, her mother (Elly) was my manager. We quickly became really good friends. Periodically, Elly’s daughters would come visit (Izzy and AW) at the store, so I had met them several times. I babysat a few times, because Izzy was only about 7 and AW was only about 4 years older. Then, when Izzy was 9, they asked me to be a nanny. I nannied her for about year before my wedding. We spent a ton of time together, and it was fun watching her grow up.

We lost touch for a bit (well, we followed each other on social media, but hadn’t talked in person in a long time) due to a series of moves which included her moving out of state.

Then, at the beginning of this month, we got a chance to have lunch (Dan and I met up with Elly and Izzy, AW was still out of state). I found out that Izzy had been struggling with atrocious migraines that would last for a week or longer and had been severely impacting school, and had required several ER visits. Since Elly was having a hard time taking all the time off to take her to all the doctors and ER trips, I offered to help (since I work for myself).

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Izzy

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A Rough Start to the Year

Hello everyone!

I’m currently working on a different post that will be a little more fun, but it’s taking quite some time. I’ve been having an extremely rough start to this year, and it’s showing in literally everything I try to do. I’ve even started to appear sick, which is worrisome because normally I don’t look sick or tired (except facial expressions) on a regular basis – but now there are dark circles forming under my eyes, and my eyelids are always a little too pink and puffy.

It’s easiest to post on Instagram regularly, since I don’t need a computer and computers can cause me migraines. I would recommend following me on Instagram to get updates the fastest: findinglifessilversun on Instagram.

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A Look Back at 2017 – part 2

2017 was an extremely busy year for both of us (Dan and me). I was writing my “Look Back” post and it got extremely long, so I needed to divide the year in half! You can find the first half of the year here: “Look Back part 1.” This post covers July through December 2017!

July

Lizz

I followed up with my cardiologist, but had to see the nurse practitioner because his schedule was too full. I don’t like seeing NP’s for cardio because they can’t ever do anything for me. At least she talked to my doctor and then called me with how to change my medications.

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A Look Back at 2017 – part 1

2017 has been a chaotic year for both Dan and me. Honestly, it’s hard for me to even wrap my head around because it flashed past so quickly – I feel like I haven’t gotten to take a break since last Christmas!

I wanted to write up a little summary of our year, both so you can know what we have been up to, and so that I can have something to look back on myself. Since this is a summary, I will include links back to any relevant posts so you can read more detail. All links are either to my personal blog posts or Instagram posts.

January

Lizz

My pelvis and back started causing a lot of problems in October 2016 (read more here and here). By January, I was in excruciating pain 24/7 and having to spend most of my time on the couch. Thankfully, I saw a new doctor (a physiatrist) and at the end of January, I got a cortisone injection into my right SI joint.

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Happy Holidays from The Bulfers!

I hope you were all able to find some joy in this holiday season in whatever circumstances you found yourself in – I know the holidays can be very difficult for some people.

Personally, I extremely overdid it and my body crashed hard on Christmas day. Thankfully, our Christmas day is very relaxed and so I kept from overdoing it even more. Unfortunately, on the 26th, I woke up in extreme pain because I had managed to dislocate my L5 vertebra and my sacrum (again). My vertebrae dislocate rotationally, meaning they rotate like they’re supposed to, but get stuck rotated and won’t go back into place properly without manual manipulation. I was at a “chronic illness ten” meaning that I would have gone to the ER had I not known exactly what it was and instead just kept doing what little I could to keep my brain distracted. Experiencing “chronic illness ten” pain is frustrating, because unless someone knows you extremely well they have no idea how badly you are truly suffering.

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Feeling Sad During the Holidays

Please watch this video by Jessica, she’s amazing and this video really hit home. Warning: you may cry during the video!

Originally, I was going to do a different post, but this video just struck me.

Being sad at Christmas can really feel like you’re breaking some sort of unspoken rule. But, honestly, I’m pretty sure it’s relatively normal. Christmas (and this season in general) has such a focus on happiness and blessings and family, that if any of those areas aren’t “perfect” it stands out like a neon sign.

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Gluten Free Spritz Cookies – Recipe

Growing up, the holiday dessert I always looked forward to the most were the cookies we called “Christmas Tree Cookies” – the cookies were Spritz cookies that we made in a Christmas tree shape and topped with sprinkles! They’ve been my absolute favorite Christmas cookie for as long as I can remember, and I was worried about how I could make them with my new diet! I’m 100% corn free, and as gluten free as possible. Thankfully, they turned out great! Continue reading →

DIY Diffuser Ornaments (or buy one! – details inside)

Essential oils have so many uses – helping with aches and discomfort, soothing skin irritations, and soothing digestive discomfort to name a few – on top of adding a pleasant scent to the air and setting the mood. Because essential oils are volatile organic compounds, sensitivities/allergies to them are uncommon. This time of year, a lot of people rush to get trees of all kinds (real, fake but look real, very fake, and then the wire with lights to show off ornaments) to decorate for the holidays. A lot of people I know adore the scent of a real tree, but are allergic to them! However, since allergies to essential oils are rare, you can use a diffuser ornament (or several) on a fake tree to get the best of both worlds! I also use a diffuser ornament on my real tree to add extra holiday scent.

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The finished products!

Making diffuser ornaments is surprisingly easy to do, and requires very few tools. If you don’t want to make your own ornament, then I am offering 10 ornaments for sale (see below for details). Just make sure you order an ornament before December 11th if you want it before Christmas because I need time to make them and have them dry before the USPS shipping deadline of the 14th! (These are only for purchase in the United States, sorry for any inconvenience.) Continue reading →

Five Awesome Gifts for the Chronic Illness Warriors on Your List

People with multiple chronic illnesses (like myself) have slightly different wishlists than “normal” people (or those without chronic conditions). They’ll still have normal wishlists, but these are some things that most of them would absolutely love but may not want to actually ask for because they may seem “odd.” Even if one of these isn’t on the wishlist they gave you, getting one of these gifts will likely light up their entire day and become a most used item!

For this list, I will try to put the types of conditions that may benefit from these presents with each item. Also, if these is an asterisk (*) next to any link, I will get a small commission/referral/affiliate payment if you purchase – however, these links will never cost you any more money to use, you’ll just be helping me out a little (almost like giving two gifts for the price of one). Anything from FindingTheSilverSun on Zazzle comes directly from my own Zazzle shop and they are my designs (so I get paid when you buy them, thank you)! This list is not in any particular order. Continue reading →

My Christmas Traditions

While not everyone celebrates Christmas, most religions and spiritualities celebrate a winter holiday right around Christmas (which is right after the winter solstice). Everyone celebrates this time of year differently. Because of that, I wanted to outline my Christmas traditions a bit more so you will know better what to expect from my Blogmas posts – but first, I want to share some traditions I’ve heard about through the years. (Check out my Blogmas Kickoff so you know a bit more of what to expect from me.)

For anyone not familiar: Christmas Day is December 25th, and the winter solstice is right around December 21st (it’s the shortest day of the year so it changes a little).

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Christmas 2015 pictures

 

Traditions I Know About

Two of my friends celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. Their mom is Christian, their dad is Jewish, so they do both! I thought it was really cool that they were able to come to that agreement and that it worked out so well for them. I also love how unique their holiday season is!

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