Friday, July 29, 2005

Update on the frustration

Good news, sorta, on the frustration I had last week. I went to see Dr. G. and my hand pain was due to a irritated tendon that was flaring up. So I have to take it easy on that hand and make sure I rest it at night in my special flipper. I was just so glad to know that nothing had torn or ripped in there. I have found the past week that if i rest my hand at night and wear good enough supports during work hours, my hand feels tired, but ok and i can still use it. So for now we have a system that will work. Dr. G. also looked over the pain med program I've been using and we revised it a bit. I have to admit I'm wary of it still a little bit, but in the near week that I've been doing it I have to admit that it is a much better way to keep the pain under control and steady out the day. They put me on oxyxontin twice a day. It seems so hardcore to be on that everyday as a prescription, but it is working better than the vicodin as needed for pain. The vicodin and perocet only last for about 4 hours before the pain returns and it seems like it's always in the back of your mind that soon I'm going to need some more meds. So far with the new stuff, i don't have to think about that at all, it lasts for so long. Dr. G. said it is a slow release pain medication, and so it's better in that way and I can still take the vicodin when I get a ache that needs to go away, like at work sometimes with my hands, if i do a lot of folding or ironing. It just gives me another option for pain control.
I'm also continuing to drop the dosage of prednisone. I'm down to 18mg, and I'm going to be dropping to 17 in a few days. The Humira is starting to really do it's thing again. I gave myself a shot of it on Tuesday and wednesday I could feel the difference! It was a great feeling knowing that I'm back on track with these drug programs again! I'm so tempted to skip the 17mg of prednisone and go to 16mg. I'll have to mull that over a little bit. I do run the risk of having to go back up to 18 if i feel the effects of dropping too quickly.

Must sleep, gotta be up in a few hours for workie workie.

Many happy and loving thoughts,

Anne Let the sun shine on you and wrap you in warmth.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005


This is classic Jason. He has his coffee and is very annoyed with me and my camera (he's thinking "honey, i don't wanna be in the picture, i just want to drink my coffee!!")
Posted by Anne

Michelle, Anthony, Brunie, and Jason after a nice breakfast and a few days in Seattle. We spent the day Monday seeing the sights of Seattle. We saw a baseball game, went to the top of the space needle, rode the monorail and had a pre-game dinner at FX McCroreys.

Saturday, July 23, 2005


One setting up close. I was taking pictures to put together a DR set up manual with pictures for the new employee service guide.

A fully set table for 9.

A little flower arrangment I put together from the prior week at the restuarant. My favorite job on prep days is to get everything that is still good from the arrangements and do something with them for the office and one for the cellar for the open house each night before service.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Uh-Oh!

Very Frustrating!!!
I have to say this is one of the more frustrating days in quite a while for me. Yesterday at about 5 or 6 pm my right hand started hurting and by the time I went to pick up Jason from work I could barely lift my hand. As of now it does feel better than it did last night. I was one handed at work today with was extreamly frustrating. I got so used to having two usable hands again. Good luck for me though I had a helper that was willing to be a gentleman and do all of the things that really use two hands. Thanks Gary.

I called my doc when I was at work before it was the end of their work day and asked what I should do and Kari asked a few questions and told me I had to come in Thursday. She didn't tell me what it could be, just said "crap, we gotta see ya." I'm guessing at this point that it is a tendon that has snapped that was thin already. But in my little life I get all kinds of ideas in my head that make sense until someone that actually knows what they are talking about looks and tells me something new. Last night when I was hurting Jason suggested that we just amputate. I'm begining to think that it might not be such a bad thing, I would be a lot more predictable with my health. Maybe I could even get a fake hand like Munson in KingPin!

This also comes on the day when I was looking at my prednisone history and decided that I needed to drop another mg down, so down to 18. And the strange thing about this latest episode is that I'm not grossly swollen, it just hurts. When I told Kari that it wasn't swollen and it was my surgical wrist and what level of prednisone I was at, that's when she said crap. I don't know what it means, I just want to get better so I can be the Anne that I used to be. I don't want another stumbling block, I just want to get stronger! I was just getting to the point at work that I was carrying the glasses back out to the tables for the walking, which was so good! I had basically eliminated the need for the cart! I was doing so well.......

I really shouldn't be so negitive, I don't know what it is. All I know is that the pain meds I have aren't doing anything, and it's hurty. I should wait until tomorrow until I make judgment on what it is. Ya wanna know why? Cause today I found out that I wear a "happy filter"! let me elaborate further...

At work today was a team building all employee meeting. I'm the abnoxious person at the meetings. Very talkitive at these things to get people loosened up and get them talking. Anyway, by seeing this, the guy who was our teambuilder said that I'm a persone with a "happy filter" I find the good in things or the positive things and try to make others happy. Jason is also one of these people. I was very interested in this point of view. Not that I was completely surprised, but I thought that I was a more negitive person at work. But from listening to the guy, it makes sense and I agree. I was very surprised to hear that we are very average as team workers, and talking to Scott (the T.B. that was working with us) he said there are things that could change and should so we could be a better team, and so I suggested that we all knew what it was and it was a little odd how the person that organizes these team building events is usually the one who is the least team-player/team-building in attitude. He said he agreed. So if we know what the problem is or the weak link, how do we fix it? well.... another frustrating point in my day, Scott had to leave when I got to that realization. So he didn't elaborate so much, except that he said that things won't change unless people change their habits... Well, I can tell ya that dude, we don't need to stand in a corner and learn what one another does and how long they have worked there if the people who run the day to day operations doesn't change. Oh well, same shit, different day. I did impress people with knowing just about all of the birthdays in the circle. I think there were about 28-30 people there and I know just about all of the birthdays. The new guy I didn't, and I studdered on Sally's birthday, which is Dec 14. And Julies, which is Oct 5. now I know! I like that I have a "thing" At dinner after the meeting a few different people came up and said they were impressed and asked how I did it. Some people just have their thing and that happens to be mine.

Ok, Jason just got home from work, so i gotta go. hope all goes well tomorrow at the doctor. I'll update when I find out more.


Anne

Tuesday, July 19, 2005


Dahilias that are so happy and cheerful on our patio.

Tomatoes, Finally!

We have peppers!

My newest hobby is orchids, this is my first one and I'm learning that they are spectacular in so many ways. I just can't stop looking at it sometimes.

Monday, July 18, 2005

In the Sunshine

I have to say that this is nearly bliss. I'm sitting on my patio surrounded by tomatoes, peppers, squash plants, and flowers. In the sunshine, i think i forgot to mention that part too. My day off has started absolutly wonderfully. I decided to test out the wireless connection outside, and it works! The connection is pretty poor, but good enough to let me type for a while.

Thomas, Mom, Dad, if you are reading this I would really like to thank you again for buying this laptop for me, it is so great! Jason still hasn't set up his system upstairs!!

Things have been pretty good for me lately I suppose. Not really a whole lot to complain about these days. Health is improving still. I've dropped down on the prednisone to 19 mg and have been able to stay without too much pain for over a week now. I think the Humira is really starting to do it's thing again. I was really tired when I got home from work yesterday, I took a walk after the 9th inning was complete and I wore the wrong shoes... my feet are still hurting from that, but it was good to get out and walk a little bit. I just made it down to 55th before i knew my feet would have a rough time getting back to the house. When I returned to my castle, I promptly went upstairs and fell asleep for a good 4 hours. After I got home from the bar at about 1ish I slept until 6 this morning before i felt like updating my mariner page. I took a shower and headed back upstairs to get some laundry to wash and was lured into taking a nap with Jason who was sleeping so peacefully still.... So now that i have broken away from the sleep heaven, I'm now outside in sunshine heaven typing away so blissfully :)

I finally caught up on all of the ironing at work which feels so tremendous! Ever since we closed for the spring break I've been falling behind with either stacks of tablecloths or doilies. But as of Saturday night I was completly caught up. I feel almost free! Now I can get on the servers again to be picky and diligent about changing out the yucky ones for freshly pressed ones. I also went on a tidy binge at work on Friday I think. I took over Carolyns area for about an hour and dusted the glass shelves, and put up new lables... As I'm typing this, I feel as though I have typed it once before.... oh well, I'm proud of my tidy area! It looks good, you should see it!

It's getting too warm for my little computer to be out here too much longer, i don't want to cause sun damage. And if i actually want to post this i think i have to go inside where the connection is better. So I love ya and hope all is well. Enjoy the sunshine and be happy!

Anne

Friday, July 15, 2005

New Mirror finally!

I finally got the correct mirror for my car to replace the one that got knocked off about 2 months ago. Now I just have to get someone a little stronger than I am to push in the little clippy part. I had it part way, but don't really feel comfortable driving too long with it just half on there. Jason said he'll get it on for me in the morning. It's nice to have that mirror again!!

Woke up late for work again today. Luckily for me we were pretty slow yesterday and tonight, so it was easy to go in late and be fine. I had a itch to get things in different work spaces organized, so i dusted in the glassroom and tidied my tea building supply area. I also put up little lables for the new glasses on the wine wall. The old ones were just starting to peel off and were outdated since the change of brands of stemware. Thinking of why I had the urge to tidy things was maybe because when i was stocking the retail hutch out in the salon, the center shelf on one side fell while I was putting out lotions. It was steadied on something below, and that gave me enough time to call the office for a little assistance in my little conundrum. Anna came down and held the shelf while I cleared the shit to find the peg to reinsert and resteady the shelf. Anyways, that gave me the opportunity to reorganize and put some things where i think they look better in my eyes, I wonder if any of it will be changed by the AM....

I've put the idea into my coworker buddies that we should have a cabin party sometime in August. Sounds like a lot of them would be interested in coming. So I'll talk with some people once we get the Aug scheduel out and I just wanted you to know that I am a giant dork. wait, me or you?---- Jason----- says hi and added a comment.

When I got home from work this afternoon I cooked dinner for myself. I got some onions chopped up and in the skillet, then added some meat to cook, then a few bits of carrot and added the sauce. After it got to a simmer i added some chopped mushrooms and added some basil and parsley from the garden on the patio. I let it simmer until the pasta was cooking. It was fun chopping stuff up and tasting and seasoning to try to get a good flavor. I've missed cooking so much. I watched the pre-game show for the M's/O's while I had my bowl of pasta and french bread. I wish I wouldn't have added the carrots to the sauce, it throws it off somehow, they just don't need to be in there and yet, they are.

As I am talking about cooking, when i was on the way home from picking Jason up from work, he told me that he took the kitchen aid to work... I want to make cookies, and i gotta do it at the rest. kitchen now. But I suppose it is HIS and he WILL have more use for it than I will with my 2 cookie craving days a month.

Arthritis UPDATE---
I've tapered down to 19 milligrams as of about 5 days ago. The first few days I was a little down and sleepy, even in a little more noticeable pain in the joints. But I've trying to be causious of my activity levels. I felt good today. The sun felt so great. I wanted to be a lizard and sleep out in the sun when i got home. From the forcast they are saying it will be nice for the next ten days or so. I will have my chances! The humeria I think is starting to make it's impact again too. I like the day after I take the shot and feel so much better, I guess i feel somehow lighter. Since I got up late this morning and was feeling rushed, I forgot the wrist supports that I've been using at work to take a little of the load. I was curious how I would feel this afternoon and I felt ok, I even did 2 and a half hours of ironing when I got done with dinner. I like to get paid to iron during baseball games, isn't life wonderful?!

Anne

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Back to the grind

After a few days off, it was good to get back to work again. I wish I would have fallen asleep a little earlier than I managed to (after 5 i think!) but I wasn't nearly as cranky as I thought I would be. I did sleep through the alarm then reset it with out actually setting the alarm to ring... oopsie. It all turned out though, as it always does. I got to work only 45 minutes early instead of the 2 1/2 that I would have prefered. We are having service for a private party of 22 tonight and so that means that I had to do my prep work with Gary and then on top of that do the setting and getting my part of the restaurant ready for the guests. I was a little stressed out for about 2 hours, but again, we banged out all of the prep stuff and I was out of work about an hour and a half later than I wanted. I really wanted to get out of there early enough to get to the Chevy dealership to pick up the correct replacement glass mirror part for my car, but they close at 5 and I didn't get out of work until after 6... oh well. Tomorrow morning i can stop on my way in.

I got to watch part of the All Star game with Erin and John Payne at Joe's on Roosevelt yesterday. We had dinner and chatted about baseball and what's going on in our little worlds. I forgot how much I missed fighting with someone about baseball. John and I are working on setting a bet on the record of the SF Giants and Seattle Mariners once Barry Bonds gets back from his steriod recovery.. oops , I mean surgery recovery and all those infections....

Fun news from the world of Jasons new place of work. The name of the place once it is complete in the change over will be called "The Jones" of course after my honey! Scott and Michele took Jason and I to El Goucho on 2nd and Wall on Monday night to celebrate "The Jones". El Gaucho is a upscale (to say the least) steak house. They know what they are doing there, and service is part of their thing there as well. I was uncomfortable with some of the tableside service they provided... The dude FLUFFED my potato! Get out of my spuds is all I could think. And they escorted me to the ladies room when I had to visit. Also refolding my napkin, which all I could think of that was ... EWWW, it's a DIRTY napkin, I want a NEW one! Overall is was a lovely dinner and the wine was wonderul, it was so very smooth and delicious. We had a Tomasse (?) some sorta Italian red. I had a the El Gaucho Signature steak with Lobster medallions. It came with grilled asparagas and a baked potato. We started the night with steak tartar and finished with (me, and Scott) burnt cream aka creme brulee, (Jason) pineapple cheesecake, (Michele) granny smith apple pie that was so tall it was amazing! I nearly rolled out of the place nearly 4 and a half hours later and felt sick upon returning home from eating too much. But when food tastes so good, it's too hard to stop shoveling it in!!! I have to say that was the high point of my all star break, aside from the Mariners sweeping the Angels on sunday! That's all for today!

Love, Annie

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Update

I have been meaning to write an update on here for some time and now that I'm awake at a little after 4 am, I thought it would be a good time. I am a little excited today about my health in a way. I've decided that it is time to start the trial taper of prednisone. I've been back on the Humira for a while now and off of the antibiotics for a few weeks as well. Plus I have an extra day off work this week, which is SO needed. I was reading online last night that prednisone contributes to facial swelling, which explains why my cheeks are so unbelivably huge. And the appitite thing is driving me insane. I can't believe how no matter what I try to do to keep the weight off, it just doesn't go away. I have to make an appointment with my RA doc to discuss these issues and tell her that I've started the taper and ask her what I should be expecting and how slow I should taper since it's been at such a steady dose for so long. I am still having quite a bit of pain in my hands and wrists, but it seems like that is the only major place that I'm having problems. I do get a little stiffness in my feeties when I wear the wrong shoes to work. Like today... I wish I could just get some new hands, does anybody just do hand transplants? I'm very interested to see how this experiment goes with going down on the prednisone since it seems that the infections are all gone and I'm back to a steady med program. It still suprises me how down my health can get me sometimes. I'll just be driving home somedays from work and hear a song on the radio and get all down for the rest of the day. No matter what I say sometimes on how being ill doesn't bother me and it's just part of my life, it can come down like a load of bricks. And it makes me so sad that sometimes I take everything I have for granted and just want to sleep the day away. And the days that I want to do things all I can do is sleep to relieve the pain and recharge my body. And then on the otherhand, I look at my life and can't imagine being without my illness. I don't know if that sounds completly backwards or not, but sometimes I think that my purpose in life is to live through this and see how well I can do with it. All of the pain is so easily forgotten though, i often wonder if I go into remission if i will have been changed at all my my 10 years of learning to deal with cronic pain.
Rachael, the new pastry chef at work was asking what I do when I'm not working and what I do for fun, and I was explaining how idle I am most of the time, but I would love to do all of these things (because we are both interested in crafty things) but sometimes I just can't. I was telling her of my love of professional sports and why I think I like it so much. Really I think it is because of the pure talent that people can power into with their bodies, and that is such a far out thought to me to be able to use your body in that way. I think of all these things that i wish i could do with my hands and my body in general and it just makes me want to be healthy! Anyways, Rachael and I decided to have a little craft party to make cards for the upcoming holidays. I'll have to get practice with Nickki and Kaylie too, maybe it could turn into a big craft party! That would be fun. I really need to tap into my art side again, its been too long. Nickki and I were talking about that when we hung out last week, and I got all excited about it and would love to get a little scrapbook together. I've also been longing to bake again. The kitchen here is so small, but I shouldn't use that as an excuse. Man, complaining is so tiring!
Independence Day was fun this year. I had to work in the morning, we had the investors dinner for 45 people that night at the restaurant and set up was pretty easy since part of the dinner was a BBQ held outside. When I got home, Jason and I headed over to Paul and Tara's for Paulies 28th birthday party. We had bbq hamburgers and a cherry pie that was oh so delious, Tara wasn't happy with the consistancy, but i thought it was delightful that the sauce got to soak into the crust. Jason drooled over their tomato plants and kept standing by their garden looking at thier cilantro and tomatoes.... again and again, he's so funny when he gets into something. We didn't stay too long over there because we had another bbq to attend at Wayne and Stacy's house. There was so much food over there and lots of refreshing drinks on ice. I think I had 5 ciders and got reasonably drunk. Wayne made a dessert that was so rich and yummy everyone was so full from it's richness it was comical. He soaked bananas in rum for about 6 hours, them put them on the grill to carmelize them. Them topped them with coffee ice cream and made a mocha sauce that was warm and made the ice cream melt a little. Jason and I shared a banana that was split in half, but I did eat most of it, even though Jason said he ate half, I think he was just trying to not make me feel like such a cow for eating so much :) For the fireworks this year, Laura and Rod bought a large box of fireworks that a bunch of the men set off at the school parking lot across from W&S's house. Then when the sun set we headed down to the Calvery Catholic Cemetary on 55th (which is one of the highest points around our house) to watch the city display of fireworks on Lake Union. It was beautiful, of course. When it was over Jason, Jon and I tried to beat the rest of the BBQers back to the house because we all had to pee so bad. It was so funny because I'm so out of shape that I didn't realize how much of an incline it was back to the house! But we did beat the crowd and it was so nice to be able to drink and stumble 3 blocks to the house around midnight!
When we were arriving back to the house from the bbq on the 4th, there was a cop car investigating a hit and attempt to run driver (hit a car, not a person!) and a tow truck preparing to take the suspects vehicle away. Being the nosy person that I am and loving any sort of crisis isn't mine, I sat out on our deck watching and trying to see what was happening. I was perplexed because at the time i didn't know what had happened because it looked as though there was a collison, but only one car involved. Not thinking of course that maybe they hit a parked car... So after a while I came back inside and decided to let it be. We them headed to bed. The next morning when I went downstairs to use the bathroom our front door was wide open... So I looked outside and saw Jody standing by his new truck (he bought it maybe 6 weeks ago) and the rear end drivers side was smashed. It turns out that the person that hit his truck was the investigation from the night before and it was a drunk under age kid. Jody told me that our neighbor kept the kid from leaving the scene and got another one of our neighbors to call the police. Apparently the kids stepdad showed up and tried to convience the cops that he was driving and not the kid, but no beans. The kid couldn't drive his car away becuase when he hit Jody's truck it broke the axle (I think that is what he told me) So now poor Jody's truck is in the autobody shop getting an ass job. Jody is not having a good week at all, Gary came over tonight and let Jason and I know that someone broke into his house in Shelton and stole his Harley and dual sport motorcycles, his tools and some other stuff. Gary said the idiot that did it was dumb enough to ride the Harley around shelton so they know who it is or at least where to get the stuff back from, as long as it hasn't been pawned off already. Those motorcycles are Jody's heart and soul, I hope he get's them back!
That's all the complaining I can do for one day. I better get some sleep now since it's past 5 am now. I already got 6 hours of napping in after I got home from work, looks like another weekend to crash!

Annie