It's January 2012

Seriously, I can't believe how quickly time has gone by! My last blog was last summer!

I hope you are all well! I hope you are all taking your Tylenol and exercising! (inside joke)

To catch you all up a bit, I will be graduating with my Doctorate's Degree in Educational Leadership, K-12, in 149 days!

I have been so busy typing my chapters and making revisions that I really have not had the time required to blog! I am going to work harder at it this year!

My girls are all in college now! Two are seniors and the youngest one is a freshman! Wow! My baby boy is a sophomore in high school and taller than I am!

Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis has and always will be a challenge!

I find myself with days that are extremely amazing with no pain or difficulty moving around...and then there are days like today which were extremely painful and lots of exertion on my part to just get off the bed this morning.

I find that my skin is changing and it is severely dry. My face feels as if it is burning and my cheeks are bright red and itchy. I try not to scratch but I see my face is well having issues with a spot turning brown...idk kind of like the spot on my stomach from over the summer...which by the way has still not gone away! Don't know what to make of that yet...well eventually I will see my doctor when he makes an appointment or I actually care enough to make the time to schedule an appointment in order to see what is going on.

Medicine has not quite changed much...I was placed back on Enbrel this summer and well had a few allergic reactions that occurred around the site of the injection...pretty gross! But not taking it any longer and back on the injectable methotrexate and sulfur salazine.

Have not done Zumba in quite a while because I really do not have time and even if I did I just do not have the energy! It's like the old days when I would get home from work and I would just sit there because my mind and my body were not in sync with each other...which means my mind says I could do this or that and my body just laughs!

I have also found that you should not take water pills and shortly there after take alleve! Allergic reaction yet again! Make sure you have benadryl readily available or and epi-pen! I believe that I will wait and take them with over two hours of time prior to each other! Yeah! Not the greatest of experiences.

I got really ill prior to Thanksgiving...and that turned into Bronchitis...well after taking the Z-pack which by the way is a great antibiotic! I had a relapse the week after and I am still trying to recover and it has been over 6 weeks! Not as bad but I have my inhaler with me wherever I go.

My sixth year Smober anniversary was on New Year's Eve! Yeah! Six years and no smoking!

I have maintained my regimen of a hot bath daily...this seems to assist with stiffness prior to going to bed and in the morning if I have time I will use the paraffin wax for my hands and elbows to give me some relief prior to going to work.

Well I know this has been a lot of writing after taking a break but I am trying to get a little better at this and use it as a release from writing my dissertation! Which by the way we are having a love hate relationship at the moment! I do not know who or what I have ever spent so much time with over the years but this dissertation has to be in the top 10! Some days I am writing/researching/rewriting for 12 to 15 hours a day! I have become best friends with some members of my cohort because they spend the same amount of time with me in a library or in my home. We are on the home stretch!


So until the next time...I will pray for you and if you will continue to pray for me.

T