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