Sickos

Seriously, everyone is sick around me! There are a bunch of people who have been sick from work lately, Nolan came home from daycare with pink eye today, and now Ian has a fever! I hope everyone can get better before Thanksgiving and I can steer clear from it!

I started running again since my knees haven't been in pain and that seems to be going pretty good. I am really hoping that I can run a half marathon next summer...that is my goal!

I'm starting to get sad thinking about this Saturday. This Saturday would be the day that Ross and I leave for Mexico for our anniversary! I can't believe that we would be packing our bags this week and heading somewhere warm:( it just makes me look forward to a future trip that much more.

Other than that...no new news... which is good news. I am feeling better every day and am really excited that 2009 will be a great & healthy year for us.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure have a lot to be thankful for this year!

Bittersweet

Today was bittersweet for me. My Nephrologist confirmed that I am in partial remission!!!! Basically my lupus is not flared up anymore (hence why I'm feeling better lately) but my kidneys are so once my kidneys are in check I will be in remission and as the labs showed today...I should be well on my way!

The bitter part..the doctor was not happy I have tapered to 2.5mgs of steroids. He wanted me to stop the taper at 10mgs and stay at that dose for awhile. SO...I am back up to 10mgs for another month before they taper me off them again. He said I tapered way too fast and that can cause me to flare up again and I would have go back to the beginning and start this over. Obviously I don't want that to happen so I'm back on 10. Arg! I was really hoping to be off steroids for the holidays as I want to be able to take pictures with me in them again!

As my baby is getting older...9 months already...I am starting to get sad that we won't have anymore kids, at least biologically. I am finding myself jealous of all my friends and strangers that are pregnant and wish I could experience that once more. I talked again with my doctor about this today and I know it would be life threatening for me to be pregnant again, however it's still sad. I really thought I had accepted this, but now I am starting to doubt it. I'm sure as Nolan gets older and older it is going to be harder for me to accept it. See how big he is getting....He's got a little owie on the nose...Daddy put him on the couch and walked away for a second and Nolan took a tumble. (I have lectured him since about not leaving a baby on a couch alone!!!!)

I can't believe I am actually posting these pictures below but I want to show you the effects of steroids. The picture to the left is me at my highest dose of steroids. You can see my super puffy cheeks and my double chin!!! The picture to the way right is me today on a low dose (2.5mg). There definitely is way more puffing that has to go down but it's starting to look better..right??? The picture below them is me in July (Only 4 months ago!!!!!!!!) right before I started on steroids. Big difference eh? Crazy how a drug can do that to your body. I hate steroids!!!

Never enough sleep!

The lack of energy is hitting me hard this week. Last night I was in bed by 7:30! I just want to sleep all day. I have also been nauseated every morning after I take my medications and it lasts a few hours. I hate this feeling and hope it goes away soon! I am also starting to notice my face puffiness go down which is a great relief and makes me feel better.

I have a few appts tomorrow and lab work so hopefully everything is still going in the right direction.

I would also like to send out a prayer request for my sister. She got laid off at her job yesterday. She is pretty upset about it and worried about what the future holds for her next. I know everything will be ok and she will find something, but your prayers for her are greatly appreciated!

Feelin' Good!

I don't have much to update this week, however I am feeling so good lately. I feel like I am stronger and have more energy. I'm not sure if it is because I am tapering off steroids, of if I am actually getting healthier!!! I have labs again next week and am very anxious to see the results. Also..my knee pain is completely gone. It is so weird, but so awesome! I woke up one day and it was gone. God has been answering my prayers!!!

Ross is also feeling good, which is nice to have him back to normal. We are thankful that Nolan & I never got sick and daddy got well fast! Thank you for the prayers for him too!

Now I am just waiting for the puffiness in my face to go down...every morning I wake up and hope to look in the mirror and have it all be gone but I haven't been that lucky yet!!!

It wasn't me this time....

oh my husband would kill me if he knew I posted this picture!!! This is where we spent a majority of our afternoon today...The ER! Ross was having chest pains and chills since midnight the night before and the clinic would not take him, they said go immediately to the ER. Thank God it was nothing too serious, but he does have pneumonia. Hopefully Nolan and I can stay healthy and not get it, but in the meantime we are focusing on getting daddy back to good health!!!! So in your prayers, if you could add to get Ross back to good health and fast!!!

Also, on a side note, the nurse called me today and told me that my urine labs from yesterday looked awesome...I had only .5 protein in my urine and no blood. (I usually always have +2) so this was super good news and hopefully yet another sign I am getting into remission quicker than we thought!!!

U of MN

The appointment at the U went really well today. (Besides trying to find the darn clinic) Dr. Rosenberg spent a lot of time looking over my records before hand and seemed really knowledgeable and aware of what was going on with me and my disease.
After our discussion he said that he really thinks we are doing the right thing with treatments and that he would treat me the same way my current doctor is treating me. He also said...and I hold my breath while saying this...but according to my last creatinne lab I am well on my way to remission....My creatinne level was 1.1 which is NORMAL! How wonderful is that?? There are still other tests that I am not normal in, but the creatinne is huge! He does think that this will be a whole year of treatment though and that I might not be in full remission for a year so to be patient. (something I am not....)
The only thing that concerned him really was my biopsy. He said he didn't like that I had so much scarring on my kidneys and wonders how long this was going on and I didn't know. He also talked to Ross & I about "future pregnancies". This seems like a main topic the doctors have been bringing up with me lately!! He has the same thought about this as our other doctors which is that we would be crazy to have anymore. He said that our chances of having multiple things go wrong with the baby or with me are extremely high. We agreed and told him that we were blessed with one healthy, beautiful baby and have accepted that we will not be able to have anymore.
Both Ross and I feel really good after this appointment. We feel really confident that we are on the right road and that things are going to keep getting better. We are really glad we went there today to get confirmation that we are doing the right thing!