Off Topic: The battle of Psoriasis

Allow me to venture into a personal health post. I do these every once in a while, well, because I can. 

I've been working up the nerve to write a post about this very private battle, that many many of us don't talk about often. It's psoriasis. The ugly, auto immune disease that leaves small flaky circles on your body.

Over the span of 8 years, I'd get a couple of spots here and there. Mostly on my scalp and occasionally on my arms and legs. Nothing really to fret about, and usually sunshine would really help. They were hardly noticeable.

In October, I had an extreme flare up. I panicked. I've always been fortunate enough to have pretty nice skin, so this was a total bash to me. It started out with many spots but when I'd scratch them, they'd become one big monster, a cluster of psoriasis  . Not the little manageable spots.

All brought on by stress. But the stress wasnt going anywhere, so I went into holy crap I need to stop this now, mode. Which, stressed me out even more. The spots I was used to were always small ( pencil eraser tip small ) flakey, and didnt have much color. THIS was a whole new ballgame. I felt like I had burns all over my body, they itched, burned and were red.

I was humiliated. It took a toll on my confidence and for the first time ever, I was insecure of my skin.

I tried:

Epsom Salt Soaks 

Lavendar

Oatmeal

All suggested Oils

Dr. Teals Aloe/Lavendar Oil ( helped relieve itch and pain, big time. 3x a day I applied )

Neem Extract ( only helped bring color down )

ItWorks lotion

Psoriasin

Taclonex

Nerium

2 of the strongest steriods on the market 

Coal Tars

Light Therapy 3x a week for 3 months ( did decrease the spread, but didnt take away spots )

Methotrexate ( I do NOT recommend this. I had to do it for insurance purposes to get on my current regimen, it's a wicked drug. )

None of these methods came close to aiding my problem.

It was time to consider shots. However, these shots were to the tune of $12,000 PER SHOT. Bring on more stress, panic and loss of hope. My insurance said no way.

My dermatologist fought on my behalf, and the insurance( Regence ) agreed to a deal, where I'd have to "fail" a treatment ( methotrexate ) in order to move to injectables. She also fought  to get every possible discount and after going through the motions with insurance, I paid a whopping $24 for the YEAR. 

I cried. The ugly cry.

This miracle drug, is called Stelara. You guys. I could be the poster child for this drug. I am beyond thrilled with how this treated me. After ONE shot, I was 100% cured within 2 weeks. I had psoriasis on 90% of my body before Stelara, and put up with it for 6 miserable months. Not wearing anything short sleeved, lots of concealing makeup to cover my face, and really no skin showing anywhere.

I wanted to tell the world about my experience because all the information I had ever looked up were old forums and just old school information.

So here, my friends, is the before and after. I'm telling you, Poster Child.

Left is a few months ago, Right is today.

Pretty crazy ugly right? Now you understand my ugly cry, and then my clicking of the heels when stelara actually worked.

You can see I AM scarred from the spots, and from all the steroid creams that took the pigment out of my skin, but they've faded drastically with time in the sun.

I get a shot 3 times a year, I can do it at home now, and have absolutely no side effects.

I know this is a weird post, to be talking about a drug, but I'm hoping that I'll encourage the hopeless.

If your insurance denies you the first time, try try again. Its WORTH fighting for.

I dont have any scars on my face, praise Jesus.

Its such an embarrassing battle, that I'm so thrilled that I've conquered with this miracle drug.
There is still no cure for psoriasis, and without these shots I would continue to have flare ups.

Feel free to email me and chat about it!

Update on my Hydrangea Experiment!

Two things to follow up on:

1. HERE I talked about getting your hydrangea to bloom, by using coffee grounds. I'm happy to report that 2 out of 3 of them are bursting with glorious blooms. It really does work! The problem with the one, was it only put out 2 blooms, but, its also a species I'm not fond of (Lacecap) so I'm not crying over it.

2. Changing the PH of your soil, in most cases, can change your hydrangea color. ( like I said before though, white hydrangeas usually do not change color, and consider yourself lucky if you have a white mophead hydrangea )

2 years ago I dumped wood ash over 2 of my hydrangeas. They were the classic blue that is very common, but I was looking to see if I could get a change out of them. So THAT next spring, it changed to purple and then burgundy in the fall. I was in love. Then THIS year, they are PINK. I am completely thrown. I plan on trying to neutralize the soil this winter to get back to purple, OR I'll dump MORE ash on it, to see if it'll give me dark dark pink. Reguardless, it's a fun experiment.

Here are a few unedited pics I took today of all the different colors and species I have in my yard today. 

My Mopheads:

( This first one was bright blue 2 years ago )

One of my Lacecaps:

Marshalls Mega Clearance Lanterns

I. Just. Can't. Stop. Buying lanterns, that is. But I refuse to pay over $20 for one, because, I hoard them and it'd get expensive if I allowed myself to buy any one I'd lay my eyes on. I had been looking for ones for my porch but wanted them big, so I was stoked to find these 2  bad boys on clearance. Mega clearance. The original prices were $110 // then Marshalls marked at $59 // and I paid $12. TWELVE a piece. I was thrilled.

Here it is at Wysada..( $245 originally? ya right. )

And I gotta say, I love LED candles with Timers on them. They turn on at twilight!

Target Summer Clearance. Run!

I got the thrill of going to Target tonight, without my kids. *singing the Hallelujah Chorus*

I took my sweet time. I went down every. stinking. aisle. Ok, except the kids clothes because I'm forcing myself to stop spending on kids clothes this month. I digress. 

My Target is famous for mispricing things to my benefit. The sign will say 30% but the items will be 50-70% off. So people may glance down the aisle and see 30, and keep on walkin, but I know better, and you should too! Stop and look at the magical red clearance sticker, dont depend on the signs.

At my Targets, they are clearancing their nautical line, so all the roped lanterns, faux sea life, nautical mirrors and baskets are 70% off. ( everything is still full price online ) Here's the proof

The white is fun, but you could also just spraypaint them whatever color. Gold? ( that big one is only $11)

I had my eye on this giant tray for awhile, but wasnt about to pay $34.99. It was marked down to $10, so I grabbed it. I thought I could hang it on the wall somewhere if I got sick of it on the table.

And here it is in play

Not too shabby eh? Better than paying $69 for the Pottery Barn Beachcomber basket!

Other clearance included ALL of the Threshold Outdoor Furniture, Outdoor upholstery and Planters.

I feel I need to apologize // Lets get real.

I did a post like this a couple of years ago, and cannot find it!

Lets get real here folks. I'm a mom of 2 little ones, with a lot goin on usually, and my house, is far from tidy 7 days a week. Far. From. It. Us bloggers are guilty of staging the room, making sure the lighting is fair, the floors are vaccuumed/dusted, sometimes fresh flowers are even in a shot and everything is in it's place.

I want to apologize for misleading you. My home is not pristine on a daily basis. Oh no.

So welcome to my reality. Left is what I've blogged...Right is, well, real life.

This one is my favorite. ( left is an old pic ) but literally, MOST of the time, my clean laundry has piled up. On top of the dryer is usually randoms. Toys. Sunscreen. A random chicken feed bucket..wtf!

Scarf on the lamp. Rug pushed aside, slippers out, cords not taped properly ( gasp! )And I make my bed, at best, twice a week. True story.

I'm a mom. I'm busy. I don't have the ability to join people in "one room challenges" because I dont have endless funds to drop on any one room at any moment. And quite frankly if I did, I'd be going on vacations a lot more.

To my credit, my house is clean. It's not tidy 100% of the the time, but it's clean. 

There is always a space in my house that I want to bomb. I'm ever changing it seems :)

Pinterest has ruined it for us, in many ways. ( dont get me wrong, it's a great resource, and I use it ) It's got us aiming for perfection, and guess what? We will never get there. Even if you did, I promise, it will not fulfill you. You should know that by now. Someone is always going to have a brand new kitchen. Someone is always going to spend that $3,000 Restoration Hardware Chandelier. There are plenty of "one uppers" out there to make you feel lesser than you are.

I try to be as real as I can and will continue to strive to be relatable! So just remember when you see me ( or most bloggers ) posting a pristine picture, they had to work to get it to look magazine worthy, I guarantee it aint like that on the regular. If you find yourself struggling because you feel your house isnt magazine worthy or whatever, remember, I feel ya. And know I'm likely scrubbing my blankety blank microfiber sofas from a milk spill or mopping the mudroom floor because someone tracked in chicken shit.

Thank you to the sweet recent emails and feedback on my lil blog, I appreciate my readers and love hearing of your finds and just encouraging compliments!