While many of you are thrilled that Friday is finally here, I must admit this week went by a bit too quickly for me. You see, back in April, I sent in an extension for my 2012 taxes. Guess what? October 15th is the new deadline and I haven't finished them yet. I was going to dedicate this entire week to doing taxes, but then a big voice-over project landed in my inbox and it sucked up most of my time. Now it's Friday and I still haven't pulled out the paperwork I started in April. Yikes.
But the real problem arose when I became so darn sick about a month ago. Honestly, I was never so sick in my entire life. It was diagnosed as a kidney infection at the time, and I hope they were right. But it was an infection that was resistant to antibiotics, so I ended up on three different rounds of them -- 5 days, 7 days, and 14 days. And I HATE being on antibiotics! But I was too sick to resist. I just wanted to be well.
While I no longer have the high fever, chills, shaking, headache, lack of appetite, and extreme fatigue, I must admit that I still feel pretty lousy, especially at night. I do pretty well throughout the day, but when 8:00 rolls around, I start going downhill pretty darned fast. I've come to dread nighttime. Sleeping isn't a respite from it, either, as I'm not sleeping well at all. I wake up three to four times each night to go to the bathroom.
So I was surprised yesterday when I went back to the urologist for a follow-up appointment and she told me my urine was clear of any infection. I thought for sure I was going to be treated to a fourth round of antibiotics. And the x-ray showed that the kidney stone I had three weeks ago is no longer there. Phew. It either dissolved or I passed it without any knowledge of it.
But then, why do I still feel so lousy? She didn't have an answer for me. Instead, she referred me to a gastroenterologist. Great. More tests. More doctors. Her main concern was my elevated liver enzymes. I must admit, that has me concerned. So I went home and Googled all things related to liver problems. While some things were worthy of concern, I'm leaning more toward the conclusion that all that blasted medication raised my numbers and that I just need to cleanse my liver of all the toxins. Of course, I want a quick solution because I happen to love wine and alcohol is obviously a no-no right now.
Maybe I'm still feeling lousy because the antibiotics simply did a number on my digestive system and it will take awhile for me to rebound. What do you think?
I'm going to skip seeing another specialist right now and I'm going to try something I should have tried before now. I'm going to try to cleanse my liver of toxins by taking more raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar. You wouldn't believe how many sites recommend this. Here I am, having written a book about vinegar, and I didn't think to do this!
Truth be told, I hate taking ACV. I hate the taste of it and I really have to force myself to do it. So I skip a day or two here and there. And then I skip three days. Or four. When my ulcer pain starts flaring, I go back to taking it again so I don't have to go back on Nexium. But when I was so sick and not eating, the last thing I wanted was yucky-tasting ACV, so I didn't take any for a couple of weeks. All that changes today. Now that I've read what I've read about how apple cider vinegar detoxifies the liver, I'd be a fool not to try it.
Eventually, I'll go back to the doctor and have my blood work repeated. And then I'll let you know what my enzyme levels are. I'm counting on the ACV to bring them back to normal. And that, my friends, is what this particular Vinegar Friday is all about.
Here's to our health -- yours and mine,
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