Emily M. DeArdo's Blog, page 34

Book Updates: My Podcast with Lindsay Schlegel Is Up and Book Signing This Weekend!

So, some updates!

Above, you can see the quote that I discussed on Lindsay Schlegel’s Quote Me podcast! I loved talking to Lindsay (she’s a fellow Ave Author!) and we had such a good time talking about my book, St. Thomas More, and all sorts of other things! Take a listen!

Also, a reminder that I will be signing my book at the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference on SATURDAY! You can still get tickets or you can get them at the door! I am signing during the breakfast break (and I’ll stay at the table as long as people want me to sign, lol.)

And FINALLY, my book is 25% off on Ave Maria Press’s site through THURSDAY!

Enter MEMENTO at check out to save 25%!

Seven Quick Takes--My baby is two weeks old, upcoming events, knitting, and common sense

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It’s Seven Quick Takes time, YAYYYY!

Posts from this week:

Know Your Body, Meds Have Side Effects, and Being Your Own Health Care Advocate

Yarn Along

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The first post is important, I think. Yes, it’s long. But people need to know that you have to be your own medical advocate—you can’t depend on other people all the time, sadly!—and, yes, medicines have side effects that you may or may not get. I think a lot of people freak out at the idea that meds can cause bad things to happen to you, and yes, that is true. I lost my hearing because of meds. But, um, also, alive. It’s a trade off.

Anyway, it’s a long post but I think it’s worth reading as just a general part of adulting. Know your body!

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My book is two weeks old! Yayyyyy!

I’ve been doing a lot of interviews, getting lots of good reviews, and I’m really happy about all of that. If you want to get a copy, go here for all the options.

Also, if you buy it at Ave Maria Press, you can get 25% off! Yay! Enter MEMENTO at check out!

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I still haven’t checked out bookstores to see if my book is there, so hopefully I’ll see it “in the wild” soon. :) If you do, take a picture and tag me on Instagram!

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It’s actually going to snow tonight. We’ve had a pretty mild winter so the idea of snow is like, oh, cold? Snow? Winter? What is this madness? Oh well.

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I’m going to be at the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference next weekend signing my book! Come join me!

If you want to read articles or listen to podcasts and interviews, I’m linking them on the “media” page under Living Memento Mori at the top of the site. So you won’t miss anything. If the story or interview can be linked, I will link it, and I’ll also post on social media (and here, of course) about interviews as they air!

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If you’ve read the book, you know about Rita, one of the best nurses at The Resort and a great friend. She and I are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate the publication, so yay!!!!

Have a good weekend!

Yarn Along #94--completed WIPs and more WIPs!

It’s time for the FEBRUARY YARN ALONG! Yay!

Linking up with Ginny, who is also talking about my book, so thank you Ginny! :)

It’s a mega yarn along today, which is perfect because it’s cold outside (It’s actually like, winter-y here! We’ve had a really mild winter!) and windy, so let’s get hot drinks and talk about yarn and warm things!

Here we go!

Finished Projects

Oh boy oh boy!

First up is the Isla scarf, where I used Quince and Co Lark in lupine:

Second, the Sully blanket, for a friend who’s having a baby. The photo is of it off the needles but not finished (ends aren’t woven in and it’s not blocked). I didn’t add the border, because reading the instructions sort of freaked me out!

The yarn is Knit Picks Shine Sport in (L-R) Sky, French Blue, Clarity (a really pale blue), and Robot.

In Progress

The November Blanket, from Quince, made with their Puffin yarn in twig (a lovely milk chocolate/hot cocoa color). The yarn was a Christmas gift.

It’s a really lovely project to work on because it’s on big needles so it goes quickly and the blanket grows as you knit it, so your lap gets progressively warmer! A nice winter knit.

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The Elementary Wrap, from Purl Soho, a shop in New York City, that I just discovered (I’m heading to NYC in April!). I’m in love with their free patterns and their gorgeous yarn! They have several versions of this wrap (all of them free), and I’m doing the one that uses their linen quill yarn.

This project fills a gap in my knitting wardrobe—sometimes I don’t want a shawl or a scarf, I want a wrap, you know? This is basic stockinette stitch with a pretty little border. The only problem, of course, is that the knitting doesn’t lay flat when you put it down, so it’s hard to photograph well. Here’s a look at in with me holding down the edges:

Isn’t that gorgeous yarn? I love the heathered quality of it. It’s their Linen Quill (alpaca, linen, and wool) in fresh nutmeg. Gorgeous! And I like that it’s neutral, but it’s not the usual suspects—black, white, gray, navy. It’ll go with a lot of what I wear.

And finally, a teapot cozy…

This is made with Malabrigo Metcha yarn in anniversario. I got the pattern from the 2018 Love Knitting. It’s a one skein project but it involves cable needles! So I’m going to get a chance to try that technique out here.

I’m re-reading Little Women, not because of the movie (which I haven’t seen), but because I generally read it a lot. It’s one of my favorite books. And it was the Well-Read Mom Book Club choice for January. I belong to the club, even though I’m not a mom, and January got so away from me in terms of everything that I didn’t read it then. So I’ll read it now, and then move to the February selection!

How to be your own health care advocate

Today I’m going to share some hard won wisdom with you!

A friend of mine who also has CF said that we’re the “marines of health care.” And that’s true. We’ve had decades of experience working closely with doctors, hospitals, and medication regimens. And what we think of as obvious is not so obvious to the rest of humanity.

So I’m going to share some tips with you today to help you have better health!

I’m going to start with what is probably the most important tip:

Know your baseline.

What I mean by that is know yourself. How do you normally feel? What’s your general energy level? How much sleep do you normally need—and get—and what do you feel best with? (For me, it’s about nine hours.) How does caffeine affect you? (Or doesn’t it?)

All these things are your baseline—how you normally feel when you’re healthy and everything is chugging along just fine. This even includes stuff like how many times you normally go to the bathroom. (I’m not kidding. For a diabetic, this is important to know—and same with CF.)

You might not have thought about this before, but when you feel “off”, it’s because you’re unconsciously comparing your state to how you normally feel—aka, your baseline.

For example, my right hip tends to bother me on and off. It’s not a big deal, I’m aware of it, it’s been checked out. But if it suddenly became really painful, that would be an anomaly.

I knew that my blood glucose was really high, without even testing it, when I was dropping weight really easily and going to the bathroom more often, and carrying water around with me. Those are all not normal feelings for me.

Knowing how you feel—both physically and emotionally and mentally-is key to judging if something is wrong with you.

I knew that the type of insulin I was on over the summer was wrong for me—on a lot of levels—because I became a really awful person! I was snappy and lost my temper at everything and just hated everything, and this is not me!

So you have to know how you feel normally, so you know how you feel when you’re sick, or when something is off.

All drugs have side effects

The questions are: will you get side effects, and if you do, how bad are they?

People are generally shocked to hear that meds can cause problems. Yes, they can. Heck, water can cause problems if you drink too much of it. If you take too much Tylenol, your kidneys are not gonna be happy with you!

Every medication has side effects. Not every person will experience any, or all, of them.

But a side effect alone is not enough to not take the med.

For example: I used to take cipro for infections. People were always shocked. “Don’t you know that class of meds can cause tendon issues?!” they would cry.

Well, yes, I did (do) know that. But the thing is, I didn’t have a choice. This was what I had to take so, to be honest, I didn’t die.

I lost my hearing because of ototoxic meds. That was a choice we made, so I would not die.

Now, I can’t take cipro or any drugs in its class anymore, because my tendons are starting to get weird with it. I can’t tolerate it anymore. So that means I have fewer options for when I get sick.

I take prednisone daily. I have taken it for 15 years and I will take it until I die. It’s what’s causing all my blood glucose issues. But I can’t not take the pred. I tried to go off it. My body hated it. My joints, in particular, were not really happy. I take nexium, a proton pump inhibitor, even though I know it might cause bone issues and all sorts of other things, but reflux can lead to cancer and rejection, so, again—balancing act. I take immunosuppression meds, because I have to to stay alive, even though it ups my cancer risk by about a factor of ten, especially skin cancer.

Sometimes you start a med, have a rough few days, and then your body adjusts. Pre-transplant, I was on bactrim and cipro and a million other meds every day. At first, this was rough. Eventually, I got used to it.

The lesson here is, if you’re having side effect from a med, and it’s severe, then you need to talk to your doctor about it—especially if you’re having any sort of depression, anxiety, or suicidal ideation. Then, you must call your doctor IMMEDIATELY. This isn’t something to mess around with. Stop the med, talk to the doctor, figure out another plan! There are lots of meds out there! Find what works for you!

You have to be aware of how a med affects you. That goes back to knowing your baseline.

But yes, when you are taking a medication, your body might not like it. That doesn’t mean that it’s a bad drug. It just isn’t working for you, and that’s fine.

If you want to know the side effects of a med, they are easily google-able, or you can ask your pharmacist or your doctor. Every time I go to pick up meds, I get asked if I want to talk to the pharmacist about it. EVERY TIME. So, if you want to know, do that!

You have to know your medical history

You—as in, you yourself—must know your medical history. You must know what drugs you take and why. You must know the dosages. You must know what drugs you cannot take (if any). You have to know what is contraindicated for you.

For example: I can’t have MRIs. I can’t have PICC lines (it’s PICC, not PIC. Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter, folks.), because there aren’t any more spots for them! I can’t have zofran because it makes me vomit. These are all things I have learned and I often have to tell medical professionals these things. Because, they don’t know. Or they haven’t read my chart. (grumble grumble.)

My parents know these things as well. I have my med list and issue list on my phone so I can just whip it out in an ER or a new doctor’s office. It is a good idea to have someone else know your medical history so if you have to go somewhere in an emergency, that person can either say, yes, here’s the deal, or, “here it is on her phone.” (Now, for me, anyone who has read the book knows basically all of my medical history, ha!) I don’t expect people to be able to spout off all of it—except my parents, and they can do it—but I do have friends who know, OK, this is the deal. Especially when I travel with people, I have to tell them things that are relevant, like, me and the sun are not friends. I might have to stay inside for certain hours. I have to check my blood sugar. I might need you to get me juice. Etc.

But you have to be your own advocate. You have to say, I’m sorry, I can’t do that—and why. You have to say, I cannot take that med, or have that procedure, or whatever. (For Catholics, this also includes why you’re not taking birth control pills for contraceptive purposes! Not that you need to go all Humane Vitae on the doctor!)

Sometimes you have to talk doctors off ledges. Sometimes I get a new doctor who doesn’t realize I’m genetically anemic (I have thalassemia minor.) He’ll freak out when he sees my iron counts. But I’ve always been anemic, and we don’t do anything about it. It just is. I’m used to it!

And finally….

Be aware of change

Sometimes you’ll be on a med for awhile and you’ll be fine, and then you’ll notice…issues. That can happen. Sometimes a med builds up in your system and then it causes issues that were not apparent in the beginning. (Ototoxic meds, looking at you!) So if you have a chronic condition, you do need to evaluate. Again, know your baseline. Know what you’re being treated for. Sometimes I have to say, guys, this med isn’t working anymore. And we figure out something else.

Essentially, we all have to be aware of how we normally feel, what we’re taking, why we’re taking it, and our own health history. This enables you to be your own best advocate, which is vitally important.

Book Doings!

OK, I promise I won’t become That Person who only writes about her literary triumphs, but, it’s my first book, so you know, I might be a little over the top. Sorry. :)

OK so first of all, Ave Maria Press is having a sale!

If you go to Ave Maria Press’s page for my book, add it to your cart, and enter MEMENTO at check out— you’ll get 25% off the cover price! Yay! So go get it! The offer is good through 2/13/20.

Second, my book is in the Columbus Library System!

The Columbus Library system is one of the largest libraries (by circulation) in the country—as well as being a top-ranked library—and I am thrilled that they ordered six copies! Six! I would’ve been happy if they got one, but six!

So as you can see, they are on order, meaning: Not in the stacks yet (but you can see where it will be, once they’re in!). If you’re in the Columbus area, be on the look out! (If you’re not, you can probably get it through inter library loan? I think?)

Obviously I’m very excited about all this. :) I’ve been doing interviews, too, which are added to the media page as they are published or go live, in the case of podcasts. Reviews for the book are there too.

And if you’re coming to the Columbus Catholic Women’s Conference, I’ll be doing a signing there during the breakfast break! (at the Ave Maria Press table, which is usually right by the eating area.) I’d love to see you!

I think that’s it for this edition of Book Doings. :) Have a good weekend!

A Little Retrospective: A Decade Past

After reading Erin Napier’s journal post on a decade in the rearview, I felt inspired to do my own, and honestly, these last ten years of my life have been pretty nuts, and thus worthy of a retrospective!

Here we go….

2010: Five Years Into It

In 2010, I hit my five year transplant anniversary, which I celebrated by doing the show Oliver! I went to Duck for the second time with my parents and my sister and enjoyed it just as much as I had the first time I went with Tiffany and her family in 2008. I was blogging but I didn’t have this site yet. I knew I wanted to write a book , but at the time it was sort of an ephemeral idea with me writing a few things here and there.

2011: Unbreak my heart

The year began with The Importance of Being earnest, and heart issues. I had Afib/SVT—we never really figured out which—which led to an admit in January and a second ablation at OSU in April, but I was released before my birthday, continuing my streak of not being in the hospital for my birthday. I did Ragtime that summer, we went to Williamsburg, VA, for family vacation and I loved it. I also moved into Barton Cottage (the townhouse) that year.

2012: New Job

I moved to the Clerk’s office after the 2012 elections, was in The House of Bernarda Alba, and was still writing. I turned 30! :)

2013: So much travel

I went to NYC for my first Jeopardy! audition and saw Once with my cousin Jack. We had a lot of fun that trip. I went to Disney World with my dad and was in Les Miserables that summer and And Then There Were None in the fall.

2014: The last working year

I began the process of taking disability retirement from the Senate, because working full-time was just not working with what my body needed. March 14 was my last day, and I saw The Phantom of the Opera that night with my friend Mary. I went back to Disney World with Dad , was in The Music Man and Hello, Dolly! and made life promises as a Lay Dominican.

2015: Getting it all on paper

I began the process of writing The Book by getting my entire story on paper, thus creating the very first complete draft. Edel 2015 was awesome—I spent my 10th anniversary there and was interviewed by Hallie Lord and Jen Fulwiler for Jen’s radio show. It was a great experience! I had my second Jeopardy! audition in Boston. Dad and I ate at Legal Seafood, Cheers, and a great Italian Restaurant in the North End. I also set up this website! So it’s five years old this year!

2016: Jeopardy!

I was in the hospital in January with pneumonia (booo!) but went to SoCal in April (yay!) to be on Jeopardy!

2017: Digging into my writing

I attended the Making Things Happen Conference and made great progress in my writing from that. I started writing and editing for Take Up & Read. We went to Williamsburg and Duck for vacation!

2018: Working

I started sending out book proposals….and more proposals….and more proposals…..My brother got married!

2019: Gold, Jerry, Gold!

I got my contact with Ave Maria Press, wrote the book in about three months, and my sister got married in Colorado. I was in the hospital when my book cover was revealed and pre-orders opened! And I moved to Orchard House! Oh, and Dad and I went to a Blue Jackets playoff game—another thing I could check off my bucket list! :)

2020: The book!!

The book was published. I’m going to New York in April. And it’s my 15 year anniversary in July.

Also coming up: Seeing My Fair Lady with Dad in March!

Woooooo!

Publication Day

It’s here.

Publication Day.

Books that were pre-ordered should be arriving in mailboxes all over the place, and now you can walk into a store and request my book.

Wow. That’s a really weird, and yet amazing, feeling.

I mean, my book is on the Target website! (and part of a 3 for 2 deal….)

Pub day flowers from Farmgirl Flowers

I spent five years shopping the proposal for what became my book. I was sad, frustrated, I never thought anyone would want my story—was my story no good? Was it just bad?

I am so thankful that Ave Maria Press accepted it and they have been a fabulous team to work with!

I am so thankful for all of you readers—without you this would not have happened! (really. It’s true!)

I hope that you love the book. I hope it helps you in your own life.

Today, I am just really, really, really thankful.

It's Publication Week! Instagram LIVE Tomorrow!

It’s PUBLICATION WEEK!!!!!!

via GIPHY

I can’t believe it—Friday is the big day!

(If you haven’t pre-ordered yet….do it! )

I wanted to let you know about a few things that are happening:

First, tomorrow at 2:00 PM EST, I’m doing an Instagram Live!


My account is @emily_deardo, so come on over! I will be going through the book, showing you all the features and talking a little bit about the genesis of the book and some behind-the-scenes things of an “easter egg” nature.

If you can’t come at 2, a live is available on IG for 24 hours, and I’ll try to cross-post it here and also on Facebook.

Second, I have a Media page now on the blog

This page is where I’ll post reviews, media pieces, interviews, and things of that nature, so if you miss something, it’s all there for you to read!

Third, I’m recording a podcast episode!

I’ll be talking with the lovely Lindsay Schlegel on her podcast, “Quote Me” . The episode date is TBD, but I will let you know when it happens!

So that’s what’s on the docket for this week….I’m so excited!

SQT--ONE WEEK until pub date!!!!!!!

Linking up with Kelly!

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GUYS.

NEXT WEEK IS PUB DATE. (Preorder here!)

I really can’t even handle it right now, I am so excited. I know I’ve shared this GIF a lot, but it really sums up all my feelings:

via GIPHY

It’s just….weird. I mean, great, and weird, and surreal to have the thing you’ve always wanted actually happen.

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It’s also surreal to have a cardinal want to interview you—-in April I’m going to NYC to be on Cardinal Dolan’s radio show! Since I love NYC, this is a real treat for me and I can’t wait to do this. I hope the weather cooperates and it’s nice because I’d like to visit Central Park, which I’ve never actually done. I’ve driven through it in a cab, but I’ve never properly been in it.

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Yesterday I had a call with the marketing department and we talked about all sorts of ideas and fun things. There are going to be book plates! And other fun things! Some of these things are just for email subscribers though, so if you want all the goodies, then be sure to subscribe! (Mail chimp is being silly right now, so I might have to manually add you if your email doesn’t go through. I’m working on it. But if that happens I’ll add you manually so you won’t miss anything!)

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In health news: I’ve got insulin now and my blood glucose levels (BGLs) are doing better, YAY.

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I want to share some of the great endorsement graphics that AMP did for me. If you follow me on social media, you’ve seen these, but they’re too good not to share here, too.

I’m so honored by these endorsements (and the others I’ll be sharing in the coming weeks!)

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I had my first radio interview this week, so that was scary, because I wasn’t sure how the CI would do, but it was fabulous. So yay! I have a few more in the coming weeks. When these things go live, I’ll post them on the book page and share them on social media!

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Finally—movies. I used to be really into the Oscar race, and it’s been a few years since I have been. But I’m jumping back in this year. I saw Joker yesterday.

The score is superb, and Joaquin Phoenix does a fabulous job as Arthur. It’s definitely a different take on the Joker than anything I’ve seen before in cinema—the arch mastermind cleverness really isn’t there. This is a rawness, a desire to hurt people who have hurt him, and I think it works for the character and the storyline of this particular film.

There is violence, and it is jarring. I don’t understand where people were getting the idea that this is an anti-woman film—it’s not. I do think that it springboards into discussions of: what do we tell kids about themselves? Do we lie to make them feel better? Or do we tell them the truth, even if it’s painful? How do our small actions impact other people? So I think it’s valuable from that aspect. It definitely made me think about these things, and at one point I was talking to the screen, telling characters to just behave! Don’t be so mean! Etc.

I tried to watch The Irishman and I lasted about 15 minutes. I am just not a Scorcese fan. I can’t tolerate his movies. They’re just too long and too rambling for me. The only one of his movies I was able to watch completely was Silence. And even that one is…..rambling.

I’m hoping to watch Ford v. Ferrari next, and then Judy and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood for the acting nominations.

SQT--A reaaaaaallly interesting week!

Linking up with Kelly!

And it’s gonna be fast quick takes today!

OK, so my body does weird things before big events. Jeopardy taping? Pneumonia. I guess for the book release month, my blood sugars will go nuts! But it’s OK, we’ve got them under control now.

But to get them under control, Dad and I spent 25 hours at OSU, in the ER/observation, so that was….fun. Best not discussed.

So I’m taking two types of insulin right now—a rapid acting one before I eat, and an “intermediate” acting one. These have both made my body much happier! There is sleep! There is energy! My cells rejoice in insulin!

But……sigh. OK, doctors’ offices. You must have a system for the hearing impaired to contact you. MyChart doesn’t always work. You must have ways of contact that a patient can do independently! I couldn’t directly contact my doctor’s office last Friday and that led to a really crappy weekend! Today, I can’t select my doctor on MyChart, so I had to contact my FABULOUS transplant coordinator, who will send them numbers that I emailed her! Guys, you can’t think that your lovely “secure system” is going to be the best way for people to get care if they’re hearing impaired! I RAGE ABOUT THIS.

STATE OF THE BOOK WICKET is here!

Maybe this is the time to show everyone the handy chart about emergency room vs urgent care usage…..

OK, that’s it for this week, go read the link at point 5! YAY BOOK! Two weeks to PUB DAY!!!!!!