Health: Happy and Frustrating

First, the happy news.  I weighted in early this week, on Thursday.  I was at 158 lbs!  That was fun to find out.  Basically, taking water weight into consideration, this means I am maintaining fairly well via diet alone.  Hopefully the flare I'm in will go DOWN and I'll be able to start going to the gym regularly next week.

The flare brings me to the frustrating part.  Aside from the flare itself, I had my two month appointment yesterday.  Dr. C decided to up my Remicade dose again--to 600.  My highest possible is 700, so now I'm just one jump away.  Hooray.  (note the sarcasm)  He still doesn't like the way my wrist is responding--or not, to be more precise--to treatment.  I think part of the problem is A) I haven't been able to take my methotrexate regularly due to illness and (now) a fever blister and B) the stress of my job is counteracting the drugs.  Stress is a flare-trigger after all.

I also got an X-Ray on my neck, which came back OK, but now Dr. C wants me to get an MRI.  My neck keeps doing this catch-lock-forced to pop free thing, which hurts.  Hopefully it's not anything other than ligaments being stretched out.  We'll see. 

On a more positive note, Dr. C does not think I need surgery on my wrist--just my elbow.  I'll be seeing a orthopedic surgeon on a consult as soon as I make an appointment.  I also need to make an appointment for my annual physical with Dr. Y--Dr. C wants to make sure my cholesterol and such is OK.  Also, my blood work all came back just fine, and my sedimentation rate is down from 23 to 22.

After my appointment and infusion I came home intending to take a nap BUT the house was in such a sad state I started cleaning instead.  After lunch I cleaned the kitchen top to bottom, and then vacuumed AND Swiffered the tile.  I vacuumed all the downstairs carpet--living room and bedroom--and dusted throughout the downstairs.  I cleaned our bathroom and the downstairs guest bathroom, and kept the laundry going (yay clean sheets!).  I'm so thankful that my left wrist and elbow are still NOT flared up!  After all that was done, I started making my very first lasagna (pepperoni at that!).  It went well, but I'll post about that later.

Bryan and I had a wonderful dinner together--green beans, garlic bread, and lasagna with a beer for him and a wine spritzer for me.  We then relaxed together and went to bed a little early.  I was so tired this morning, and today at school was no picnic stress-wise, so now I'm just about spent.  I fully intend on relaxing this evening and sleeping in tomorrow!  Thank goodness its Friday!