Plushies and such

So here is another project I've been working on. I absolutely love the game angry birds and I wanted a plushie of them but they are like $25 a piece so I decided to make my own. I actually made this one a while back but now I am working on the pig from angry birds and the other birds. I used Obsessively Stitching's tutorial and it was so easy to follow. And personally I think mine turned out really well:) Even though my picture quality is pretty bad and I think I made the feather on the top of his head backwards. :/

So that was about the plushies, now the such. I am doing very badly. My ankle is being such a pain and my RSD is worse, I can't put any weight on my ankle because it hurts too much so I am using crutches or staying sitting. Calmare isn't really working anymore and I don't know what to do. We are looking into ketamine but it really scares me because it is so risky. Please pray for me to feel better and be able to walk properly in time for my graduation ceremony on the 17th of June. I really want to be able to walk under my own power. I am going to sew a skirt for my graduation and I really hope it turns out good. I will post pictures when I am finished.
With lots of love,
Taylor

Highs and Lows

So I guess I'll do the lows first. My pain has been extremely bad and it doesn't seem like the new treatments I am trying are going to help my pain, it has helped my other symptoms of RSD like digestion but my pain is still at an 8 - 10 all day everyday. I am going to continue with the NRC treatments to see if it will start helping but I'm not very optimistic. I am having a lot harder time walking too, my knee just freezes up and burns insanely whenever I try to put weight on it so I've been using crutches at home and when I have to go out somewhere I walk as little as possible and sit whenever I can. Because of this I am looking into getting a service dog to help me. Ok, now on to the highs. So I've really been working hard on getting my school work done and I am happy to day that I am ready to graduate. I finished my last class and have signed the papers so I am officially a graduate:) It's a year early but I am so glad I am done. School work = stress and stress = more pain. I have also been sewing a lot and made a lot of things. Here's pictures of some things and I will post again soon with more.

This is me and a dress I made at a church event Dress a Girl Around the World. We made them out of pillowcases and t-shirts. This one is a pillowcase and bias tape made into a sundress. This was such an awesome experience, I made 2 dresses in 3 hours and I sat by the most lovely people. The women next to me, Linda, taught me how to use both elastic and bias tape, which I had never used before. She was so awesome:) The dresses we made are going to girls in Uganda with our pastor's wife and their son.

 These are of a puppy plushie that I made for my teacher. I gave it to her on my last day and she really liked it. She helped me so much this year when I couldn't make it in because of my pain and she is just such an awesome women overall. It was also exciting because I used new safety eyes and a safety nose that is more detailed like a real dog nose that I got from my new favorite store Hobby Lobby:) The fabric is super soft as well and has little poofed up bubbles. I had so much fun making it:)

Me with the puppy plushie:)

 This is a cactus in a parking lot that I was in. I love cactus, they are so beautiful, and I just had to snag a pic. Below is a close up of one of the flowers.

With lots of love and pain free hugs,
Taylor<3

The Neurologic Relief Center- New Treatment

On Monday I went to a new Dr. and actually had a good experience for once:) I went to see Dr. Rob DeMartino who is a chiropractor and a head trainer for The Neurologic Relief Center which is nation wide. He is an amazing dr who really cares and is super nice. I've been in twice and had testing done and have already had some results/relief:) I am so excited!:D The experience is so strange, because so many different things happen in your body, which is good because changes means it is working. I was having extra tingling, weird hot and cold feelings and as though my right leg, my rsd leg, was floating. The treatments have to deal with meningeal decompression and some other things that sort of confuse me but I think it's working. I will update more later when I have more treatments done. Please keep me in your prayers as I begin this adventure.
Here is a picture of the flowchart the dr made me explaining everything, If anyone has questions I will be happy to answer them:)

With lots of love,
Taylor

Idiotic doctors:/

So yesterday I went to a rare disease dr and it was an absolute disaster. We, my family and I, were so excited to hear about this man who apparently is educated on RSD, has a passion for rare diseases, and works with kids but he ended up being a jerkface to the max. He was rude, didn't listen, and didn't care that my allodynia was really bad and even though i asked him to touch my foot as little as possible when he did the examination he just starts grabbing and squeezing! Plus, he blamed it on me that I didn't have my plantar fascia treated properly in the beginning and that is why I have RSD! It is NOT my fault the 15 other numskull drs I saw in the beginning couldn't diagnose me with something as simple as plantar fascia. I'm not a dr, I went to the drs who are supposed to help you and they didn't, don't try and blame it on me. uhg! I can see now too that he is a complete fake, the patient before me, a little girl, when she left the dr gave her a kiss on the cheek and was super sweet, but when he came to me, noooo, he has to be a completely mean jerkface. and I found out afterward too that he misdiagnosed a girl with leukemia. She went through radiation and everything before he realized, oh wait, you don't have it. Her body was damaged from the radiation. Such an idiot. Sorry for the rant but I'm just so mad that there is no one who knows about RSD let alone has ever even heard about it and the one person I find doesn't even care. Please never ever ever go to a DR. Bernstein who does a cure for kids. You will be worse off for it.:( Now I need to put it behind me and pray for the man because he obviously needs some serious help and it is his ignorance that he doesn't want to help me or to learn about my disease.

On a happy note, I am getting really close to being done with school. I can't wait to be done with it because it is so hard to focus on when I am in so much pain. And when I am done with it I can focus on my sewing which I really enjoy and helps me keep my mind off the pain. Plus I can start earning money through selling things to try and get the embroidery machine that I want so much:)
My pain has been really bad lately at a 6-8 level, mostly 8, and the burning is worse. I can hardly go anywhere because the vibrations from the car and road are just unbearably painful. Plus it has been windy and the wind blowing on my leg is painful. sigh..... I really hope things get better soon.
With lots of love,
Taylor

Stupid leg :(

So life has been pretty hard lately. I've pretty much been bed ridden because I can no longer bear weight on my right leg( my RSD leg) without being in tremendous excruciating pain in my knee and shin. I'm using crutches to get around the house and I really hate them. We are probably going to go get a wheelchair from a friend until I get better, at least enough to walk. This is hard for me because I've never been this bad to where I would have to use a wheelchair, it seriously sucks. I have an appointment with a neurologist today but I don't know how much good it will do. I hope you all are doing better than me.
With lots of love,
Taylor

"Pain pain go away, don't ever come back another day"- Quote by me

Flare and a Robot

I haven't update in like forever and it is because I have been in a really bad flare. I am having a really hard time doing anything and now my pain has spread all the way up my right side and into my chest. The pain is so bad it feels like when I look at my leg it should have knifes sticking out of it, cuts all over it, and its engulfed in flames. I haven't been sewing as much as I would like to either because I am trying to work on my school stuff . I only have one more class to complete to graduate but it's government and the pain makes it hard to focus. I did however make a robot plushie before I got  really bad. It took me a total of 14 hours to make because I made my own pattern from a drawing of mine and there are so many pieces to it, 43 to be exact. I will be selling them for $45 I think and even though they are part of my Hug Mes for RSD kids I won't be giving them away for free yet because of the time and money it takes to create them. I am extremely proud of this little fellah and would love to make him in other colors when I have the time again. Here are some pictures:)

 

The last one is for measuring purposes so you can see how big he really is:)

With lots of love,

Taylor

Quick Update

I am in Saint George again having more Calmare treatments done. I am praying that I start felling better soon. Last week I finished some Hug Me Pillows, here are some pictures.

This is the front of one I haven't finished completely yet.

The last two are for a friend with RSD and her little sister. I hope to eventually be able to customize each face to look like the person who orders them.
With lots of love,
Taylor

In the nightmarish land of a flare

For this last week I have been in an extreme flair. I spent last Friday and then this Monday and Tuesday in Saint George getting Calmare treatments done but for the first time it really hasn't helped. I can barely focus on anything and it was so excruciating to ride in the car on the way there and the way home . The roads are very bumpy and the vibrations were killing. I am also getting behind in school because I'm in too much pain to focus on it. I have managed to create another Hug Me Pillow though because it's one of the only things that keeps my mind off the pain.

 

This  is the front and back of it.

I apologize if this ended up being a pitty party post.

With lots of love and a hope for a pain free tomorrow,

Taylor

Hug Me Pillows Part 2 and update

The last two weeks have been very up and down in relation to my pain. I did experience some good days around the middle of last week which was really awesome because I was able to get some school work done and finish a subject. School work is one of the hardest things for me to focus on because of my pain and my pain is the reason I now have to do school from home. It's not so bad though, I can graduate a year early now:)

I've also been working on my Hug Me Pillows. I've gotten lots of orders which is fabulous:) I'm working through them slowly. My work goes slower because I only have a simple sewing machine that does not do embroidery letters so I have to either hand stitch the words "Hug Me" or use a super tiny zigzag stitch and form the letters the best I can. I've looked into getting an embroidery machine but would have to sell about 60 or more pillows to be able to buy one. I've come up with two new designs for them. A heart and one with a mustache. I was going to make every pillow have a smile but I just really loved the idea of a mustache. The mustache itself makes me laugh so I think it still counts:)
With lots of love,
Taylor

P.S. I don't know what happened to the color when I took the picture but with the one with the mustache the face is a deep red orange and the heart is red.

"I try to be so tough
But I'm just not strong enough
I can't do this alone, God I need You to hold on to me
I try to be good enough
But I'm nothing without Your love
Savior, please keep saving me"

                 - Song "Savior, Please"

Hug Me Pillows

All of those who have RSD/CRPS know that there really is no relief to our daily excruciating pain. The only way I know how to live with my pain is to do things to keep my mind off of it. One of these things is sewing. I really enjoy it and love being able to create things. I decided that I want to share this with others who have RSD/CRPS. This is where I came up with Hug Me Pillows. They are 16 inch round pillows that are of my own design completely. Each one has a smile and a heart that says hug me. I have only made one so far but I have many ideas for more. I will post pictures of the pillow at the end. I chose these pillows, and the Hug Me, because at least for me when I'm in extreme pain sometimes you just need to hug/squeeze something. I actually went around Joann's craft store hugging pillows to see which one was the best for the purpose:) I chose the 16inch pillow but made my own because it didn't seem to have enough stuffing to squeeze. For all kids, and adults, with RSD/CRPS I will make one of these for them for free. I am currently doing this as a non-profit because I feel that I really need too. Because of that I am limited in what I can make and how many I can make and mail for free. If you want one and you do not have RSD/CRPS then I am selling them for $15. I would also accept donations from anyone who would like to help me out in giving these to people who are going through something as horrible as this disease and who just might need a smile. If you are interested or know someone who would like one please let me know. I would be happy to make them one. I can do them in lots of different colors. Currently I am working on one with three smiles, and one that looks like a ninja:)
With love,
Taylor

.

-"After the rain
You can look to the sky again
The clouds will give way
To the light of the sun
After the rain
You know that you've made it through
And you'll finally see the joy from the pain
After the rain"
        -song After the Rain