The Izzys

21/03/2024

Y’all know how much I LOVE scavenger hunts?!? Enough to start making them on Etsy!

My first one is a cute numbers hunt for younger kids. Next up is one for Easter and then I’m working on train themed hunts for younger and older kids! Hopefully I’ll have hunts for every occasion! Got any ideas for hunts? Shout them out!

This Learning & School item is sold by TheIzzys. Ships from United States. Listed on Mar 21, 2024

01/02/2024

Well this was a mess but I pulled off and best prank on the boys with some fake bangs 😂. The quesadillas were legit good btw!

Chaos in the Kitchen: Cheeseburger Quesadillas & A Bangs Prank!

Join us on this wild episode of "Cooking with Stridor" where cheeseburger meets quesadilla in a culinary mashup you didn't know you needed! Amidst the laught...

23/01/2024

This one was fun and ridiculous as always 😂

Welcome back to another episode of "Cooking with Stridor"! 🍳 Today, we're on a culinary quest to find the ultimate ingredient for the perfect tortilla. Will...

11/01/2024

My mom made this book pre-internet. So many good recipes in here! Decided to leave it on its own, see a recipe you like, pause and screenshot that sucker! Next vid will be finding out what ingredient makes the best flour tortillas.

Well this was an amazing find! My mom made these little books decades ago, before dial up was even a thing. Some really great recipes in here and some funn...

08/11/2023

Cooking again! Doing things again! Okay this recipe is a legit must try and of course, I Stridorized it to make it more delicious!

Ohhhh this one is a good one! I have made it twice now and have Stridorized it to maximize the creaminess and cajun-ness. Give it a shot yourself!https://ww...

28/06/2023

Getting back to normalcy over here, feeling like my old self again, woo! Getting back to a regular upload schedule with Izzy’s Game Time, The Izzy’s and Cooking With Stridorrrrrr. (Low carb dinner ideas coming up to help me lose that steroid weight I gained!)

It's cook a quick dinner time! So when I was in my 20s, I had a wonderful opportunity to go to Italy with my best friend and we went on a hunt for the best ...

26/03/2023

My ENT said that I was probably the middle group of paralysis which would show movement at the three to four month mark. He was shocked at how on the dot the movement happened. I noticed a tiny bit of movement next to my lip crease a week before three months and now I’m at a week past three months and holy moly my lip and cheek are moving on command and it’s happening fast! They aren’t quite talking to each other just yet but I’m feeling good about it all.

I just finished my last bit of my steroid taper yesterday (this taper has been a wild and horrible ride, hopeful that was the last of the mental stuff and super intense fatigue that lasted days). My eye is having some issues with constant watering (seeing my ophthalmologist tomorrow) and I felt vertigo and nausea for the first time since the first couple of days of RHS the night before my last pill. That was fun! We were like “ok RHS, what else do you have in store, lemme go get my gloves”. Turns out periods can trigger vertigo. Weeeeeeee!

Honestly though, this has been the longest three months of my life but I’m looking forward to month four and what changes will come!

15/03/2023

There is a bird in the Death Star!!! New vid up!

02/03/2023

Experimenting with Striiiii-dorrrrrr! New experimental recipe up! And this one came out surprisingly amazing!

Okay, truth be told, I saw someone making rice tostadas while flipping through instagram late at night. I remembered what I remembered and went from there a...

13/02/2023

Cooking With Stridor has been accepted into the YT Partner program!! Wooo! Thank you all so much for supporting me!

It so good! I totally stridorized like four recipes. Is that how people do this?! The best part of this is that is good warm and cold and makes tons of left...

12/02/2023

Finally got my week 5 update finished! im going to take a break from these longer updates since it’s now a straight up waiting game and the prednisone taper is a big sack of sleep but only two more weeks of that thankfully. I’m also moving new vids to the new YT channel . I’ll start posting smaller helpful videos and updates. Thanks for checking in and following!!

Burying my head in backyard ideas and birdhouse hotel ideas for our newly barren front yard tree and wishlist ideas for the kind of tree to watch grow next to it for the next 20 years!

It's week 5! Here's what I ramble on about...3 types of paralysis, postherpetic neuralgia, anti-inflammatory diet, how to advocate for yourself to get the ri...

09/02/2023

I made this today! It’s my progress from day 1 to week 5. When I take myself out of my situation, it’s so incredibly fascinating. I’m trying to take weekly videos doing all the ENT tests to see my progress through it all. The 6 month mark should be interesting if my nerve damage is where we think it is.

05/02/2023

Chester the Fish on Cooking With Stridor! This one went sideways.

04/02/2023

I'm on week 6 now but finally got around to getting that new YouTube channel up and week 3 update. I'm thankful to have this as a focus and to keep my butt parked because my mind wants to cut down every last one of those branches from Austin’s Treeemaggedon 2023 myself and haul them to the curb but this prednisone taper on top of RHS has other plans for me. Neighborhood teens to the rescue for that one, whew!! Overall mental health is fantastic, win! Now it's just a waiting game.

Hopeful for movement by month 3 or 4 is what is somewhat typical if the nerve damage is where I think it is. Interesting nerve fact, it takes a month per inch for nerve regeneration. Imagine the nerve got popped around my eardrum and start mapping an inch towards my nose. If there is minimal damage, they will start to wake up so to speak by the 3rd or 4th month. Slowly, like a tickle here and a twitch of an eyebrow there and last might be my smile moving upward. My eye might be able to blink by itself by month 6. Slow is fine by me! Just get there little buddies! I've never been so aware of the workings of a face before. It's incredibly fascinating.

It's week 3! Here's what I ramble on about...Mental health care, how to ask for help from family and friends, what it means to have a stress free environment...

01/02/2023

Our treeeeeees! Gahhhhh! adding cool awesome privacy fence/tree house without a tree to my google image searches for my inspo folder for the summer. Anyone have any cool fun things you did to your backyard or seen some cool stuff?

More like a winter wonderland of HORROR for our poor Texas trees!! We don't quite have the infrastructure for this kind of weather in Austin, so everything s...

30/01/2023

I finally finished the first video with a bit more updated info to go on this new channel for peeps to have easier access to learn and share and move off of The Izzys after week 4/5. I’ll post updates to the channel as time goes and share the links as well. I’m also going to be posting quick tips and tricks that I have learned, a lot of these will also be helpful for Bell’s Palsy. This has all been so helpful in my own recovery to have this positive thing to focus on. And I’m on the slow taper train for the steroids! Wooooo! (Eddie, brace yourself 😂)
Shout out to Eddie for coming up with the YT name "My Face Is Broken", it's fitting and kind of rolls with how I'm approaching this syndrome. And shout out to him for being an overall awesome person through this whole thing. ❤

❤❤❤ This is for educational purposes, all negative or nonhelpful comments will be filtered, blocked and deleted ❤❤❤ I personally know my limits and my mental...

22/01/2023

Is shopping for kitchen gadgets therapeutic? AB-SO-LUTE-LY! It is has been a wonderful distraction to set up my kitchen for my new cooking style to help out my newly acquired RHS. Just make sure to set a budget for your therapy sessions so no big surprises like my own. he he owwwwwwch. I’m 400 watch hours from being able to monetize Cooking With “Stridor, press play and let that sucker runnnnnnn! Thank you!!! I also put in links to all of my therapy shopping gadgets because seriously on those magnetic measuring spoons. Genius.

(Shoutout to Eddie for rockin out this thumbnail 😂)

Is shopping for kitchen gadgets therapeutic? AB-SO-LUTE-LY! It is has been a wonderful distraction to set up my kitchen for my new cooking style to help out ...

13/01/2023

It took a couple of days but i was able to put together a more informative RHS - week 1! More details on the YT video description. I’m hopeful to start a new channel with just my RHS journey soon and put out not only updates but shorter helpful videos for other people to It took a couple of days but i was able to put together a more informative week 1! More details on the YT video description. I’m hopeful to start a new channel with just my RHS journey soon and put out not only updates but shorter helpful videos for other people to stumble on in the future.

After realizing how rare this is and how hard it was for me to find information on what had happened to me, I wanted to share my story for others to find and...

10/01/2023

RHS - Week 2! and a half-ish. So much info! So much learning and understanding. The human body is so fascinating, mysterious and weird all the same.

Current meds and other things:
Prednisone 100mg -(steroid)
Valtrex 1000g 3/day (anti-viral)
Gabapentin 300mg 3/day (nerve pain)
Escitalopram 10mg (previously on)

Supplements:
L-lisine - 1000 3/day (nerve pain)
B12, C, Zinc, St John’s wort
Atomy Hemohim - 2 packs - immune
Atomy probiotics
Chinese herb “long Dan xie gan tang” - good for shingles virus
Digestive enzyme for the times i buckle and eat a Detroit style jet’s pizza because “i’m feeling good today”. Learned a good one on that last night.
Anti-inflammatory smoothies

Before bed:
Olly extra strength sleep gummies
Magnesium glycinate 400mg (helps with sleep and anxiety)

Acupuncture x 3 right now. Can’t stress how the right acupuncturist makes all the difference. She’s progressive and knows this syndrome well. She uses several different techniques for whatever ailment i throw at her. She explains everything and how it works. I feel included and I feel an improvement. It also allows me to relax my brain and focus on mending my body and staying positive. Because i caught it early, research told me it wouldn’t hurt to spam the appointment button during the “golden hour” as she calls it. My plan is to drop down to twice a week then once a week as things start to settle. I also massage my face daily.

I find it is helpful to note my meds and all things I’m doing for others to get a better context of what is in my system and what worked for me personally. It’s helped me immensely when others have done it too.
I have also learned that it has been helpful for every specialist I meet to describe in detail my findings and reactions. In turn, i ask what everything does and how it works so I have a better understanding. I’m grateful and appreciative for every convo and idea entertained. I never felt rushed or that i was asking dumb questions. They all seemed to really like that I wanted to know.

Todays big idea was a sclera contact. It fits the whole eye and is actually fitted to your eye. The idea is since I can’t blink, i need a shield from air, dust and injury. The doc explained that i didn’t need a $200 contact fitted to my eye, I needed to protect the cornea from drying out and a regular contact will do the trick. I was right with constant drops, periodic manual eye blinking, nighttime gel drop with a taped eye shut. He dilated my eyes and my cornea looks exactly like the other one. I’m good! Whew! He sent me with contact wetting drops but at the end of the hall was a glasses store. I dropped in and asked him if there was a normal contact with no script, he said no but gifted me two -.50 contacts to give a shot. Said it was so low that it wouldn’t mess with my glasses prescription. Got home AND IT WORKS! I’m so thrilled! I can use the computer again. I have blue light blocking shades coming too because i was getting major eye fatigue. A lot of my work is on the computer and my phone, gotta make this work with breaks.

It’s week two and a half and I feel great! Body and mind. I have been pain free for 10 days! I’m learning to slow down and I’m so very grateful for every drawing, text, email, call, message, picture, like, heart, heart hug, doorstep surprise, physical hug, air hug, shared stories, kindness from strangers. It’s a wonderful feeling of love for one another and I am soaking it all in. Thank you!! It gives me strength to keep charging forward with my sparkle stick!

08/01/2023

You can tell a lot about a man by how his cat feels about him! Eddie is seriously the best cat dad on the planet. He's been like this since I've known him and it's truly touching how big his paw heart is.

Today on Izzy's Pet Time: MEW MEW GETS A TINY DOOR We're on Cameo! Expect these vids to be fun! And/or weird and uncomfortable. 🤩https://www.cameo.com/the...

05/01/2023

Eddie wanted to make a video for the channel about my RHS. He was nervous to show me, I thought it was perfect. It’s thoughtful and informative yet short and sweet. So sweet. He’s been so wonderful.

Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. Shingles except insane. The prognosis is good. SEND US HAPPY VIBES AS WE BATTLE THIS CRAZINESS! Our email is [email protected] ❤️W...

30/12/2022

Ramsay Hunt Syndrome - week 1 update! When i was in the ER, i was thankful that Justin Bieber had talked about his case over the summer. There was a lot of literature about RHS because of that and i was able to learn a lot and even book an appointment with an accupuncturist while in the ER during the holidays. One thing I didn’t find was a log along the way. So far I’m showing textbook Ramsay Hunt Syndrome so I have kind of a guideline to follow. I wanted to document my journey for the next person who came looking. And it’s just all so fascinating.

Week one down and I’m feeling optimistic. I mean don’t get me wrong, this nerve pain is something else but it is what it is. I’m doing all the things. One foot in front of the other, always looking forward.

24/12/2022

Taking a little Izzy’s hiatus to have some time to heal. One day I had a huge headache while making carnival games for my son’s Christmas party, a few days later I woke up with half of my face paralyzed and in excruciating pain. I’ve been to two emergency rooms and thankfully we found out the cause so we now have a plan.

It’s called Ramsey Hunt Syndrome. I had chicken pox as a kid, that lays dormant and one day it decided to come back but as an adult, they are shingles and are incredibly painful. I have a rare case called Zoster sine herpete. I got the pain without the rashes. Mine are on the inside. One landed on my ear canal, another on a nerve that controls half of my face. I’m home with antivirals, steroids, anti nausea… Tylenol for the most part hits the pain for me. Because my face caught it early (silver lining), i will hopefully have a near 100% recovery. It will just take several months.

I’m thankful for Eddie, bubs and my family and extended family and friends for laughing with me and keeping my spirits up. And the amazing people I ran into along the way who kept questioning and discussing with a whole slew of people to find an answer as quick as they could for me. Everyone was very kind and made me feel comforted. I’m home now and pain free at the moment. Christmas lives!!! I’m so very thankful.

16/12/2022

Goodbye peace castle! Helloooo secret hideout cave! I built his castle in 2019, my small boy isn’t so small anymore and grew out of it! Not to mention silverfish so we had to burn it down. I made him this reading nook under the stairs instead so he can grow into it. I think I may love taking naps in there! https://youtu.be/_FpXFw9D-sA

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03/12/2022

Goodbye Christmas tree, hello Christmas forest! It truly is the most magical time of year.