Time to be thankful

This week has been pretty nice. I really can not complain. I have been reading other blogs about life with RA and feel pretty fortunate. My life of chaos and extreme discomfort is slowing moving to a more normal functional realm. After a long year, some much needed time off from life, drastic changes in my medical care, and a lot of faith, I am finally feeling better. I feel like I am normal. Or as normal as any of us really are. I can do the everyday mundane things and the not so mundane things.

I think the hardest part of this disease is that it blindly strikes, hard, quick, out of nowhere; with periods of peace which trick you. They trick you into forgetting what the disease is like, the constant pain, the inability to do simple tasks. The way in which your body can go from normal to completely broken in 0 to 60 in a blink of an eye... And for me it was only 2 short months ago, where I was struggling with just about everything. Trying to cope with it all. Trying hard not to depend on others too much. Never wanting to be a burden and always wanting...

It is good to remember what it was like. It is good to know that all the changes and hard decisions made over the last few months were worth it. That my body has responded amazingly well. And that is definitely something to celebrate and be thankful for!

And this is not only noticed by me, by how I feel each day and perceive myself. But by others. YAY! This weekend a friend told me how it was nice to see me so much more animated. It is not the first time that I had heard that, but each time I hear a comment like that, it makes me stop and think about the toll this disease takes on a person as a whole and how much I have to be grateful for. I definitely enjoy being more active and positive. It just feels good!

The highlights of the week

• wonderful comments from friends about positive attitude ~ which is great since I feel I can be quite a downer and have tend to view the glass as half empty
  
• increase in energy
  
• making time to workout ~ walking at work 3.5 miles 3 times this week and dance class (but I still gained weight)
• pills decreasing in number ~ I am down to 20 mg prednisone a day!!! WoOT!!!
• seeing the squash and tomatoes on the plants grow + building the trellis for the peas with the bf
• making time for and having a great date night
• success at work ~ smoothly accomplishing something (that had to do with a someone) that I was dreading... but hey, it was smooth as butter
• and possibilities at work ... keeping fingers (and toes) crossed on this

My life seems to have a balance or as close to one, that I have not seen in years. The body works. I feel good. I have more energy than I have in a long while. Right now the key to keeping things running smoothly seems to be structure - planned diets, sleep schedule, medication schedule, lists for just about everything under the sun... I am a little tired of the schedule and plans. But when I do not get enough sleep or eat the wrong thing, I start to feel bad again.

I guess it is all about balance.

I do miss some of the chaos. May have to run amok a bit.

Less is Better

Almost done with my second week of work since my return to the real world. Not quite two full weeks, but it is close enough. Each day is a little bit better. Each day is less.

Less weird at work ~

• less comments/questions about where I have been
• less discussions about my health

Less in life ~

• definitely less high fat foods
• puffy cheeks are starting to lose some of that puff
• the bf weighed in after week 1 of WW and is doing awesome! Less 6 pounds without cutting the hair! YAY!!! Way to go! (I do not weigh in until tonight, but hoping to also report a little less poundage)
• I am wearing rings today! No swelling of the fingers and I have been at work all day, typing away. What an improvement!
• Also, my feet are wearing fancy schmancy shoes (ok, fancy for me) and those feet are still in the shoes. No tap dancing around the office barefoot today.

These small changes of less are HUGE!

Every day is a little bit better than the last. Hope this trend stays for a while.

Stronger Than Before

My 12 day adventure came to an end. And what an adventure it was!

Texas was amazing! The weather was perfect Texas weather ~ nice and warm with a tad humidity and a chance of thunderstorms. It was a great chance for a good flare. But nada nothing zilch happened. YAY!!!

My twin nephews are adorable. I managed to gobble them up every chance I could get. They were both a bit sick and unhappy in the beginning of my trip, but by the end of the trip, they were smiling, playing and just so happy. The twins even wanted to show us how to play with the Wii. Running around, pretending to throw the controllers and growling at the TV. It was pretty silly.

Walking around stores in Texas with the twins was quite interesting. People will just walk up to the boys and touch them or try to pick them up. I was not use to that at all!!! My brother says that this is just normal. And NO he has not gotten use to it! WOW!!! Not sure how I would feel about that if it happened all the time. Everyone was real nice. I had no problems with anyone. It is just a weird feeling when someone approaches you and makes a bee-line to the child.

I managed to catch the twins cold. Which amazingly was great for travel. With the swine flu scare, I managed to get the whole row to myself. No one wanted to sit next to a coughing, nose blowing chica. Oh well. I flew home nice and comfortably into SFO. Caught the dance recital by Peck Peck Dance Ensemble while in SF. And had a really good time seeing the performance and catching up with my folks.

With my cold full blown, I caught a plane ride to Reno and tried to party it up. Ok. I went to bed early every night, but I still gambled my little tushy up and had a great time with the girls. I need to do these little mini trips more often. It is just so nice to get away and be with your girlfriends.

After this amazing, hectic 12 days, I feel surprisingly good (with a little tired and a nose that wishes to be on someone else's face). I really expected either the weather or the travel to cause some sort of physical ailment in my body, some sort of random flare moment. But really nothing. Maybe the Rituxan is working... Wouldn't that be awesome! I am tapering down the prednisone and am currently down to 30 mg a day. Half of where I started with no ill side effects.

Yes, I can not wait to be completely off the prednisone and able to lose the sunken in eye, chubby cheek look. I want my body and face back! But I really should not complain. I am a million times better than I was 3 months ago. My recovery is going well.

I am even going back to work next week. The true stress test... but will discuss after I start back...