Every 10 years something bigger than the other years in between occurs, and not always a good thing. I listed them in another blog I subscribed to, but I cancelled it awhile ago and I'm too lazy to list them again even thought it's not that many. I mean. I'm not 100.

Aanywaay...2008 was my '10th'. It was a year of self-discovery, apparently. Here's what I found out:

1. I have what is known as a 'chirpy' in an eye, which is like a mole. I was born with it, but is was not seen before now. It's on the very edge or peripheral of my eye so it's very hard to see. I have to get checked once a year to be sure it doesn't turn cancerous, which is rare. After three more years I can't quite with the annual check ups.

2. I have keratoconus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keratoconus] in both eyes, discovered when I was checked to see if I could have lazik surgery. It's a sloughing of or steepening of the shape of the eye. It's hereditary, but I don't know from whom. Ten years ago there was no test for this and I would have had a lot of problems with my eyes if I would have had this done.

3. I asked my dermatologist a question about a surgery. It wasn't a surgery I wanted for myself, but I was curious what his thoughts were on it. He suddenly asked me to bend my thumb back to my wrist as far as I could. Well. I can just about touch my wrist with my thumb. He told me I was double jointed and any surgery would leave a slight scar. [I have noticed this in past surgeries but thought it was normal.] He said I have a very mild condition where the collagen in my skin and connective tissues is set further apart than normal skin. It's called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehlers-Danlos_Syndrome] I guess if I had the full blown syndrome I'd be like those people in the circus that can stretch their body like a rubber band.

4. I have adrenal fatigue. Your adrenal gland kicks in whenever your body is under stress; negative stress or positive stress. Guess it came in handy during the hunter/gatherer times. It means I have a diminished 'backup' in these situations. I become super stressed physically and overly tired. If I had adrenal failure, I'd be hospitalized with a nervous breakdown. What causes this is either ongoing stresses with no relief, or one big stressor. You have to nurse your strength back both mentally and physically but making the right decisions and reducing the stress around you. Of course that means the people around you need to to their part to help. Yeah. Right. The symptoms are not apparent to those around you. You appear as if you are behaving normal. I'd like to invite you in my head for a day..

5. My cortisol is flipped. It should be low and night so I can sleep and high in the morning so I am awake and alert. I'm backwards. Between this and the adrenal fatigue, you can feel 100 years old.

6. I have osteopenia, a precursor to osteoporosis. I had no idea 51% of all women get osteoporosis! How come we're not hearing about this so that we can get our young women on a healthy regimen at an early age to prevent this? Is it possible there's money to be made on this in the health care industry? Say it isn't so! Cod liver oil is gross I'm told, but it will prevent bone loss taken throughout the years. Take it with a teaspoon of sugar. Better than risking your skeletal structure.

7. I have random breakouts that are a result of being resistant to food. Which food...I dunno. Do I want to go through all that fool allergy testing nonsense to find out? No.

You know, all my life I've been healthy as a horse. Dang DNA.