In the last few weeks I:

Demolished and reconstructed my closet
Attended a weekend martial arts seminar AND the optional shotgun class
Subbed a few classes
Went to the fair with Autumn
Went to a party
Had dinner with a friend
Had lunch with a different friend
Powerlifted for the first time in a year
AND MORE

Ok, a couple of those aren’t big deals for most people. But for me? Getting that much done outside of work and school is miracle-adjacent. I’ve put a lot of work into recovering from my autoimmune flare up: supplements, prescriptions, diet change, proper rest, workout changes, etc. All of those things helped but an unexpected new player jumped in during my last blood panel: iron overload.

Who knew that was a thing? I didn’t, at least not until the beginning of August when a youtuber Mike and I watch sometimes mentioned having hemochromatosis, a condition causing the body to absorb and retain too much iron. He found out when he stopped giving blood for a while and started developing chronic fatigue issues. Imagine my surprise when I got my August blood work and my iron and ferritin levels were higher than the highest recommendation for men.

The doctor and I bounced a few theories around and, if it comes to it, we’ll do the genetic testing for hemochromatosis but right now we think the switch to Mirena (because of the whole you’ll die if you have more kids thing) caused the issue. Regular cycles is the main way women get rid of excess iron and the Mirena interrupts that process. We’re going to start with quarterly blood donation and see what my blood work looks like from there.

I ended up going to LifeBlood and donating for the first time. Before, I either didn’t weigh enough, had too many health problems or just had a tattoo–although I found out there’s no longer a waiting period after a tattoo in Tennessee because tattoo studios are regulated. The process went smoothly and they were really great. I felt weird the rest of the day but by about 3 days later, I felt better than I have felt in AGES. The effect has worn off a bit so I may have some more blood work done to see where my iron levels are to fine tune how often I need to give blood.

I’m pretty excited to be giving blood even though the catalyst isn’t ideal. I’ve had a total of 10 units of other people’s blood so now I’m only 9 donations in the hole!

 

Well, here’s something new! It seems appropriate to start over with a new tattoo and on Garrett’s birthday here at Pocketninja Fitness. Some of you guys may know me or might have read a little about me and my family over at Passing Pinwheels. I really tapered off writing there because it seemed like that blog was for a particular time and stage. I have wanted to write and blog for some time but it simply didn’t feel right to do it on the old blog. So, here we are.

If you don’t know me and have landed here randomly, my name is Sharaze (rhymes with maze) and 6 years ago today, I almost died. Our son Garrett did die, a full term still birth. No one really knew what happened but recently I found a doctor who tested past diabetes and basic thyroid markers and diagnosed me with Mixed Connective Tissue Disease. I’m not sure how much that had to do with it but it seems like a possibility considering the high risk doctor said I probably had an undiagnosed autoimmune disease.

Anyway, one stillbirth, 8 units of someone else’s blood, 2 major surgeries, 2 failed adoptions, and six years later, here we are. I am on year 4 of a career in fitness. I’m still going strong in martial arts. I have a TEN YEAR OLD WHAT THE HECK. I’m back in school for a degree in exercise science.

I also got a new tattoo last Wednesday. Last year I finally got one after years and years and years of talking about it. It was a memorial for Garrett with some nods to our daughter Autumn who is pretty awesome. This time around I got a water dragon. I didn’t really plan on doing it this soon but I really wanted Vanessa to do the work. She’s going to teach in the fall so this was my last absolutely certain chance to work with her.

I’ve wanted a dragon for a long time, probably since high school, but it’s only recently that I decided on what kind of dragon. I definitely wanted watercolor. My first martial arts school was Black Serpent Kung Fu. I also thought it might be fun to have a water tattoo along side my wind one (fire and earth next maybe??). And, well, we all know the Bruce Lee move like water quote, right? Well. The martial arts and martial arts movie nerds do at least, ha! Anyway, after telling Vanessa all that and showing her some pictures I like, including some awesome Haku from Spirited Away tattoos, she made something really fantastic.

This one didn’t hurt quite as much except around the elbow crease where OH MY GOSH IT WAS BAD. In general, recovery has been easy. I taught a weight lifting class the next day and the itching is fairly minimal. We’ll see if the trend continues.

In the meantime, we’ll see if I can keep this blog up. I’m sure you are so excited, right? Right…