Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Photography is Bump'n

A few days ago I decided to make my own photography banner to advertise.  LACasting has been updating my photos for me but sometimes I wonder if I put them to work too much by switching out photos and telling them what I wanted.

That was Friday.  Since then I have booked 7 appointments in 2 days (all wanting to get in as soon as possible).  And this is November which is normally my slow month.

I know it is too early to say but if this keeps up I will need to get a bigger studio.... and an assistant.  Seriously though, I am very happy with the calls coming in but I am even happier with their reactions when they leave.  They all say that they can't believe how patient I was and how I made them feel very at ease to get a natural smile or look from them.  Not to mention how great I was working with their kids.  Those kind of things make me feel very good about what I do.

As of today November 14th, I have surpassed my total from all of last year.  Hopefully the trend will continue for 2012.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

My Left Foot

Shortly after returning from China about 5 weeks ago I woke up to a sharp pain in my left big toe.  Initially I thought I twisted it somehow in my sleep and started to ice it down.  But over the course of the next few days it got progressively worse with swelling.  I started to do some research on the internet and came up with gout as the possible cause. 

Immediately I started watching my caffeine intake and drink baking soda water and Apple Cidar vinegar.  I also had to take ibuprofen every night before I went to bed otherwise I would wake up to a rude awakening.  Two weeks go by and no change for the better.  However I did start feeling lower back pain that eventually went to my neck.  Okay now I am getting really frustrated.  Not only can I not walk very well but I can't bend over or turn my head.  Solution: more ibprofen.  Not to mention my mom worried me about having diabeties.  Thanks mom for that one.  Also, I kept getting conflicting information from the internet as well from it being a nerve disorder to a sprain toe and even HIV.  DUDE!!!!!

Finally I had enough.  Last friday I checked around for a cheap doctor to go to (since I do not have insurance) and stumbled upon a practice for media, television and the arts.  They asked if I had a SAG card and low and behold I did.  They got me in immediately and ran tests with my blood and took xrays... all for only $25.  I know!!!!!

Yesterday I get the news that everything is normal.  Good to know that I do not have any life threatening disease but not good in the fact that I am back to square one.  I did do some more research and found that even though it may not show up on an xray or blood sample that gout could still be present.  So the past 2 days I have tried to drink as much water as possible in hopes of flushing this thing out.

I think I feel better but I won't know for sure until I am able to wake up in the morning without having to take ibuprofen the night before.  I plan on waiting a few days before I try that again.

I am just hoping this thing gets resolved before Hawaii at the end of the month.