Please No!

I'm a little nervous as the last few days I have developed joint pain in my knees again. I am assuming my body is not handling being off the steroids like i thought it would be. I'm going to give it a few more days of hobbling around and then I might have to get back on them, hopefully just a low dose. If you could please say a little prayer about this, I really thought I was doing good and would be for a long time and hope this is nothing. I have such an active lifestyle so joint pain really frusterates me!! Thank You!!!

My Good Luck Charm

My appointment today went awesome! I even had Nolan with me, he is my new good luck charm I think:) Labs look stable, which is great. He has taken me off 3 more medications, one being the steroids!!!!! we are hoping that my body will handle this and not go crazy without them. He was super amazed how fast I made progress!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!Praise the Lord I am healed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess I'm stronger than I thought?

I have been reflecting lately on what I have gone through the last 6 months and I realized I was a lot stronger of a person than I thought I was. I worked 10 hour days, without breaks or lunch, went to get 8 hours of chemo and then went to work at 6am the next day. I came home and took care of my family, cooked meals, cleaned, played with Nolan. I was tired, sick and weak but I never stopped. I think I just knew I had to keep working and not feeling sorry for myself or something but now that I look back I don't know how I got through it. I'm back to working 8 hour days with a lunch break in between and I'm tired and complaining that I'm tired. I really should not be complaining though!!! I guess it is true that God doesn't give you more than you can handle.....

Well our trip to Mexico is postponed until April now. (they were trying to charge us more to go in March because it's spring break prime time) I'm trying to not be upset about it, I know April will be here before we know it. I'm just so ready for a trip!!

I had my first hair cut this week since way before treatment. It felt so good and it feels so much thicker and healthier now. I'm getting another strip treatment in a few weeks. I guess this will stripe all the chemicals, medications, etc that has been in my hair over the last months.

Here is a video of Nolan walking around the house. I had to walk backwards fast to try to keep up with him. He is basically walking 80% of the time now. (Except when we are outside, we still carry him to the car)

my face is still getting slimmer:)

11 months & 1 week old....Getting so big!

Happy & Healthy!

Not too much news to report. Still feeling good and as far as I'm concerned I'm in remission (though I will find out 100% in 1.5 weeks!) I feel pretty normal again. I have energy, can sleep good at night, and can stay up past 10pm again! Yeah! My hair is getting thicker and my face slimming down. Things are definetly looking up:)

If you are interested in attending the Lupus benefit 2-28-09, please email me at anneburau@hotmail.com so I can make sure we send you an invite. It is coming up fast! Which also reminds me what is coming up fast........Nolan's first birthday!!!

I can't believe he's going to be 1 in 4 weeks! Where did my baby go??? He has started clapping, waving, and taking our cell phones and putting it to his ear and "talking". Something new with him everyday it seems. He got a kitchen for Christmas and he likes to "make soup" and have mommy taste it:) I will post some pictures and video on the next post...being too lazy tonight!

New Years Resolutions....

In order to have a better year, I have created some New Years Resolutions for myself ...here are my top ones:

1. Get to church more often..Nolan is getting to the age where we want to start instilling him with Jesus Christ in his heart..I started singing him "Jesus loves me" every night and he just stops everything he is doing and stares at me. It's very precious.

2. Not get so stressed out about things that have to get done around the house. To help reach this goal, we have decided to hire a housekeeper twice a month to help with some of our cleaning duties that I tend to spend my whole weekends doing. I hope this lets me spend more time with the family and not get so stressed out about cleaning all weekend! Stress is a huge trigger in lupus flares so I need to make sure I keep my stress level as low as possible.

3. Take out "false sweeteners" in my diet. Mostly Aspartame as this is a possible known cause for certain cancers and also triggers of lupus. This ingredient is in things like diet soda, light yogurts, Crystal light, sugar free gum and other "light" or "sugar free" foods/drinks. I am going to replace these with more cups of water. I have yet to hear of any negative effects of too much water:)

4. My final resolution is to take a step back and enjoy life. Not worry about the small stuff. Take time to enjoy every second I have with my family and friends and not have any regrets!!!

Some big resolutions to complete this year, but I'm already on to a great start!

New Year, New Beginnings

2008 brought my husband and I so much joy(birth of Nolan), yet it has also brought us much pain and scarring. We are rejoicing 2008 is over and we can start a new year, yet we will also always remember it. I have high hopes that this will be a great and healthy year for us. I am excited to see what God has in his plan for us this year and ready to face it all head on.

To celebrate the new year and me feeling better, we are trying to plan a trip for March already to Rivera Maya!!! I need to get final approval from my doctor before we officially book the dates, but I'm confident he will give me the "ok." We are also preparing for Nolan's first birthday, which is coming way too fast for me to fully accept! I'm creating a dvd sideshow put together of pictures and clips of video throughout his first year. I'm about 3/4 way done and can't wait to see the final result! I will post if after everyone sees it at the party. The final thing coming up is the Lupus Benefit the last day of February. Celeste is working hard at getting final details squared up and getting donations from companies for the silent auction. I am so excited for this and hope we can raise a lot of money for the Lupus Foundation of MN. I would love to be alive to see a cure for this disease and by giving money to them they can continue doing research to to find a cure.

Thank you again everyone for helping us get through 2008, we hope you continue to stand behind us during 2009!!!