Rainbow!

It's about time.  Time to blog about my very first trip to a little place called Maui in Hawaii.  After living there for two years and visiting many, many times before and after, I finally made it to Maui.

In a Facebook post from a friend we met in Australia, Marisa and I discovered that Pippy would visiting Hawaii and wanted to reunite.  Of course, as soon as I saw this post I immediately interrupted and said I was coming to this reunion as well.  After all, it had been November of 2008 that we'd seen her!  Thank heavens for Facebook and the ability to keep in touch with fantastic friends!

After many emails and several Skype dates, we made up our itinerary and got our dates set!  I flew in a week after Pippy had been there since I was taking unpaid time off from work and was there a total of a little over a week.  

The flight over to Honolulu was just incredible.  I couldn't have asked for a better seat, even though I traded to be in the middle one instead of my aisle.  I sat next to an older gentleman who, come to find out, was a kid on Ford Island during the attack of Pearl Harbor.  I also sat next a Samoan gentleman, who was the one I traded seats with so he could stretch his feet out.  The Pearl Harbor survivor told me many stories on the flight over the Pacific.  He told me how he could remember the sound and vibrations from the first strike.  He was outside playing with his brother.  His father ran outside and grabbed them, securing them in the far back bedroom with their mom.  His father threw a mattress over all of them while they waited for the bombings to stop.  After an hour, he finally came out. I wish I had taken a picture with this man.  Hearing his stories just brought tears to my eyes.

The reunion began when Marisa and Pippy picked me up from the airport.  With a full heart from the stories of the Pearl Harbor survivor, and a full belly form the sandwich the Samoan man shared with me, I hugged my friends and told them about my flight.  We dropped Pippy off at the hotel and I went back to Marisa's house to sleep and prep for our first day day back together.

We ate, we played, we gabbed.  It was so much fun!  One of my favorite days was when we went horseback riding on the beach on North Shore!  This is where I met Marisa's friends, Lindsey and Paulette, two very cool girls.  We still keep in touch, thanks again to Facebook, haha!  We rode horsies on the beach and even got to run them!  I'm not talking trotting, I'm talking full on running.  It was incredible!  So much fun!  We went back to the ranch and got to play with the baby ponies and even feed them carrots.  Afterward, we hit up my all time favorite Thai food place, Haleiwa Eats.  Lindsey and Paulette were very thankful for the introduction. :)

(Beginning of the ride, heading toward the beach.)

(Keo and I.)

(Pippy, Marisa, me and Paulette.)

(Best way to ride a horse!)

(Sweet monk seal being shy.)

 Early, early in the morning, Marisa, Pippy and I got dropped off at the airport to begin our Maui adventure.  As soon as we landed on Maui, we picked up our rental car and drove to our first dive site with Maui Divers.  On our way out, we were presented with marvelous sighting of Humpback Whales, two adults and a baby!  Not a bad way to start my first visit to Maui!  We idled for a bit so everyone could enjoy the splashes of the whales and then we were off to our first dive site, St. Anthony's wreck.  It was freezing!  Our next dive we did was Molokini Crater, which had some gorgeous shallow reefs that reminded me of Australia.  What a blast!  After our dives, Pippy relaxed at the bar while Marisa and I visited Maui Ocean Center.  Just incredible and so much fun!

(Whale!)

(Pippy and Marisa penetrating the wreck.)

(Not sure what I was laughing at.)

(St. Anthony's.)

(Marisa teasing the fish.)

(Triggerfish are of the devil.)

(Not a bad way to ride.)

(Baby Tiger Shark at Maui Ocean Center.)

(Me and the Sandbar Shark.)

(Marisa and I decided to go whale watching while Pippy dove. We didn't see one whale!)

(Gorgeous sunset on our way to meet up with friends for dinner in Kihei.)

Marisa had to fly out of Maui early to make a job interview and so Pippy and I drove around, shopping and eating.  We then went to a tattoo parlor of a man several locals had recommended so Pippy could get her tattoo.  What an amazing experience!  They bonded over their cultures and ancestors and language, it was incredible hearing it all.

(Pippy and I in front of our hotel, The Marriot.)

(Pippy sucking it up during her tattoo.)

(Every piece of the tattoo has meaning.)

(LOVE this picture. Lots of love.)

We got back to Oahu and did more eating, shopping and gabbing.  I took Pippy to Aloha Stadium so we could get our souvenirs and also took her to the Dole Plantation for some Dole Whip!  YUM!  I also took her to Pearl Harbor so she could get some American history.  We did the audio tour and when we got to the USS Arizona memorial, I decided to talk to one of the guides.  I approached him and as I began to ask him the following, I got choked up and began to cry.  I asked him if there was some one I could find out who the man was that took my grandfather's place the day Pearl Harbor was bombed.  My grandfather hadn't been feeling well and stayed home sick while another man took his place.  I want to find out the name of this man and learn about him.  I will figure it out and I will post my thanks and appreciation to him.  My heart is heavy even now as I write this.

(Audio tour, Pearl Harbor.)

(We met up at Honolulu Zoo for Marisa's twilight tour!  So much fun seeing the animals at night!)

I got to meet up with our friend, Kat, who went to Costa Rica with.  She and I immediately bonded when I met her and I just think she is one of the raddest girls I've ever met.  She now works at a yummy cafe in Kailua, so we went to dinner and met up with her there.  All I have to say is the cheese platter was AMAZING!  Haha!

(After eating at Duke's.)

(At Kat's cafe in Kailua.  Yay reunion!)

(Pippy, Lindsey, Marisa, me and Kat.)

My last night there, Pippy decided to get another hotel and party her Pippy way.  She really is great at meeting people and enjoying herself.  Sometimes I wish I had that talent. :)  Instead, Marisa and I chose a reunion of Fat Kids' night.  We went to Foodland and grabbed anything we felt like eating (including 4 Portugese sausages for me to take home, haha!) and went back to her house to watch a couple of our favorite TV shows together -- just like old times.  It was definitely the BEST way to end not only the evening, but my trip back to my second home.

(Like old times!  Fat Kids Club!)

(Hahaha, the spread.  I think we barely put a dent in it.)

The Problem With IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).

As I reached for my morning dose of prescription drugs, I stopped mid-reach.  My medicine cabinet is full of all sorts of drugs.  I can't even remember when I started taking so many pills.  I counted and came out with a total of 19 different labels.  This wasn't even counting the several vials I was waiting to refill.  I sighed and popped the pills in my mouth washing them down with water.

Fast forward to Super Bowl Sunday.  I was talking with a friend of mine and her husband.  She has always been such a great support and friend to me.  It took them 10 years to finally diagnose her with Celiac Disease.  She is one of the reasons I chose to go gluten free, after describing all of my symptoms to her.  I got a blood test and it came back negative.  So did hers.  It took several biopsies for them to discover she was a Celiac.  When I was getting prepped for my endoscopy, I asked them to take biopsies -- they stopped scoping after they discovered I had a hiatal hernia.  Anyway, after sharing my symptoms with them, they suggested I get a gene mapping test to check for Mitochondria Disease.  It was a fairly new discovery that this disease affects the gut , not only the nervous system.

The next day I called my GI Specialist to see if she could test me for this.  They told me this was something I would have to be referred to by my primary physician.  After several phone calls and 4 days later, I was told by my primary doctor (which I am no longer seeing) that he will not refer me to a Genetics Specialist because "he didn't see the point."  I was floored.  I was screaming on the inside.

What was the point?!  How about finding out what exactly is wrong with me instead of just giving me this non-diagnosis of IBS?!


For those of you who do not know, IBS is what they tell us patients with digestive problems we have because they have no clue what's wrong with us.  It's basically so they know how to get money from the insurance companies.  And so they feed us drug after drug, treating the symptoms.  Little do people realize that these medications are causing other problems, which we're prescribed more drugs for.

I was furious.  I immediately texted another friend of mine who saw a Doctor of Naturopath.  She is a doctor who combines modern medicine with natural supplements, etc.  I knew I would be paying out of pocket, but I didn't care at this point.  I was tired of feeling miserable and paying money on all of these procedures and drugs that were just causing other problems because of their side effects.

Today was my first appointment at The Institute of Progressive Medicine.   I liked what I saw.  I liked what I heard.  The doctor listened to me.  He heard what I said.  He read what I wrote down and spent a full hour with me.  When I told him I don't have a PPO, that I'm paying out of pocket, he understood.  He let me know that some of the tests I could do with my HMO and so he got me a prescription for those tests.

I left feeling more satisfied and hopeful than I've ever left the GI doctor's.  More than I ever felt with my primary physician who's seen me for more than just my tummy problems.  In the end, I had them draw blood for 2 full food allergy panels that test for more than they do at my primary doctor's office.  Things like black pepper and yeast, not just dairy, nuts and strawberries.  I also left with 3 supplements, including Melatonin, L-Tryptophan and Homocysteine Factors.  All of these together, every night at bedtime, should be replacing the 4 capsules of Prilosec I take daily.

Here's looking forward to a new treatment of helping my body heal itself!  I'll keep you all posted of my progress.