Month: April 2016

One of the most difficult things about being chronically ill is that you never know when something new could pop up. In my case, that happened last week, when I went to the emergency room with what I thought was a chest infection. To make a long story short, it wasn’t. I was diagnosed with pulmonary emboli in both lungs and an infarction in my right lung. (Yep, the thing that Dr. House had, only mine is in my lung.) So I quickly emerged into a new world of anticoagulants and doctors with specialties I hadn’t even heard of before.

Needless to say, I’m not in a very good place emotionally right now. I was slowly recovering from the last surgery, and now I feel like I’ve been knocked back about fifty yards. I’m also scared that I’ll wind up with something else; if this could happen out of the blue, what else could go wrong? There’s no definitive answer as to why this happened; blood tests have been mostly inconclusive, and would need to be repeated later on to make sure they’re right. It could be ulcerative colitis related, it could be surgery related, it could just be bad luck. No one knows.

I may eventually post about my hospital stay, but I’m honestly not sure I want to think about it. This whole thing is bringing back the memories of being diagnosed with IBD… fear, confusion, disbelief. Having a new diagnosis is like going through everything all over again. I don’t know if writing about it would help or make things worse. For now, I’m just going to leave it at this: I may not be around much in the next few weeks while I navigate this new situation.

This is the third item from NatraCure I’ve tried, and their products never disappoint. I received a pair of arthritis booties free in exchange for an honest review, and am happy to report that I really like them!

These were similar to the arthritis mittens I tried in that they needed to be heated up in the microwave. I have found that the heating times listed in the directions are a little low for my microwave. I had to heat the booties for 20 seconds on each side instead of 10. Still very quick, though, and I had them on my feet in no time.

The booties themselves are very cute. They’re a purple/lavender color (my favorite!) and look just like a pair of traditional slippers. It’s important to note that you aren’t supposed to stand or walk in them, though; they’re meant for relaxing on the couch or in bed. The only issue I had with them is that they were borderline too small for my feet (I typically wear a women’s size 10 or 10.5.) I think they would fit most women just fine, and possibly even men with smaller feet could wear them as well.

As for their intended purposes, I definitely think they would be great for someone with foot pain, whether from arthritis or from being on their feet all day long. I thankfully don’t have any foot pain right now, but I absolutely intend to use them in the future when I do. I also think they would be great to wear in the winter to keep my feet nice and warm.

Thanks, NatraCure! These can be purchased for $49.95 at: http://natracure.com/arthritis-booties.html