steroids

Mmm k.  Dropped down to 10 mg of prednisone a day last Friday.  I'll be on this dose until I see Dr. Bensadoun again on Friday, Nov 13.  Then we will be cutting down to 5 mg.  I assume I'll be on that for 2 to 3 weeks and then I will be DONE with this madness.  I will be able to eat food and not instantly gain six million fat cells on my ribs, hips, face and stomach.  I will be able to sleep at night.  I will not have 'roid rage (although that has subsided significantly as my dosage has decreased).  I will not have chipmunk-fat-face.  I will not be worried about calcium loss in my bones anymore.  And I will not have to keep buying prescriptions at the pharmacy.  Getting rid of all these problems is very exciting.

I see the GI doc tomorrow (Dr. de Villiers).  I have decided that I will not be getting on medication just yet since my options suck at this point.  Instead, I will be adhering to an anti-inflammatory (and Biblical-type) diet.  I'm going to combine the principles from The Maker's Diet and Inflammation Nation to hopefully stop my disease from spreading any further and help heal the disease that is already present.  I did not get good news from my colonoscopy last month, so Lord help me, we are going to fix this.  I decided that it is unfair to ask the Lord for divine healing, then stuff my face with chicken fingers, french fries and ice cream.  I do love my veggies, but I also love my hamburgers from Five Guys.  But I gotta be healthier.  The Lord needs me healthy so that I am more useful for His kingdom work.

I plan to start my new and glorious life on Sunday Nov 1!  Please pray.  I am ready to be healed.

Psalm 103:2-4

2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.

James 5:15-16

15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

UT plate

Painted this plate at The Mad Potter.  Took forever because I am NOT an artist and that's a ton of tiny little squares with three coats of paint, but I really like the final product.  Looks great in my kitchen ;-)

GO VOLS

new dining room table

We finally got our new table in and Christopher put it together for me.  We have eight chairs, but don't have them all assembled yet.  And the table is actually square, but the leaf is out at the moment.  :)  I love it!

The rug is new too.  Got a great deal at JCPenney. (Thanks momma!)

cute little fall decorations

topher's birthday

Christopher's birthday was Monday October 12, but we celebrated the whole weekend...

Pile of presents from me, his mom and grandma

He opened one or two each day over the weekend :)

GO VOLS!  (Thanks, Ma!)

GO TITANS (Thanks, mom)

Avery anxiously waiting to play with the wrapping paper

New Kentucky-blue shirt and tie (thanks, wife)

Cake!

Dinner out at Carrabba's

Happy Birthday, hubby! 

the Holy Spirit speaks

I was sitting eating lunch by myself the other day and out of nowhere, Colossians 3:2 popped in my head:

"Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things."

Ok, Lord, I hear you.

Then I get in the car and I hear the Air1 Radio verse of the day for the first time.

Yep, Colossians 3:2.

"Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things."

Ok, Lord, I hear you.

I go to Bible Study the next morning and part of the introduction paragraph randomly includes Colossians 3:2.

"Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things."

OK, LORD, I HEAR YOU.

Now I have to figure out what 'earthly' things I'm focusing my thoughts on and get rid of them.  Immediately.

shave and a haircut- two pence!

Did I spell "pence" right?  I dunno. Who cares.

Anyway, Avery got groomed today for the first time in a long time.  He was shakin' like a leaf when I dropped him off, but as always, the groomer said he behaved perfectly.  I have such a sweet child.  ;)

Admittedly, I thought the cheap little PetSmart-logo bandana they tied around his freshly shorn neck was adorable, so I took pictures.

Hello, look at me, I'm cute.

The stately pose

Close-up

Ok, that's enough, please stop taking my picture.

monday, monday...

I am participating in an observational clinical trial with my new GI doc.  I get a bunch of diagnostic testing done for my IBD for free and get a little bit of compensation to boot.  Yesterday I had a colonoscopy and CT enterography done.  The bowel prep on Sunday was torture... I did ok with the clear liquid diet part and the going-to-the-bathroom part.  The two liters of Half-Lytely was another story- it tastes like pure salt water... probably because that's what it actually is.  Ingredients: sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, and potassium chloride.  You don't have to be a chemist to know that all of those are salts.  You add a flavor pack, but whoopdeedoo.  Cherry-flavored salt water tastes equally as bad as flavorless salt water.

Christopher had to literally cheer me on as I drank:  "SA-RA, SA-RA, SA-RA!"  He's so sweet...

So we had to be at the hospital at 6 am for the scope.  The CT was scheduled for 11:30, but they got me in two hours early, thank the Lord.  I had to drink 1500 mL of barium solution and 500 mL of water for that test.  On an empty stomach.  However, it didn't taste bad, so I drank it like a champ.

Anyway, I made it through all that.  My terminal ileum (where my Crohn's disease is) is inflamed and ulcerated.  That basically means I'm not in remission- not really a surprise, except that I'm on high-dose steroids currently.  They also found ulcers in the large intestines, but we're waiting to hear back from the biopsy to see what those are from.  Could be a bacterial infection (c.diff.)  Don't know yet.

After the violating activities were done, Chris and I went to get food.  I was starving.  I hadn't "eaten" since Saturday night and it was now noon on Monday. 

Yes, dad, I ate Chick-Fil-A.  I know, I know... could have picked anything, but man, I hadn't had any in a long time.  And it was gooooood.

Then we took Chris to get his eyes checked and get new glasses.  It had been about four years, so we thought it was time.  Haha. 

He is quite the stud in his new frames.  :)  I don't have a picture of him in them yet- sorry.

We came home and napped.  That was the highlight of the day.  Other than eating.

So all is well.  Chris and I are not sick with the piggy-flu anymore.  And I'm on my way to getting the best treatment for my Crohn's.  I trust that I'm in good hands with Dr. De Villiers.

I start my new job on Monday- say a little prayer that I don't catch any other random illness before then.

stay-cation

Chris had four days off in a row this past weekend, so we had a "Staycation" here in Lexington.

Saturday- PAINTING & FOOTBALL

I went painting at the Mad Potter with my friend Julie and her mom and sis.  The girl at the counter threatened not to put my platter in the kiln!  Tennessee-haters up here in Kentucky.

We got some Butt Rub BBQ (real place, I swear- and it was actually quite good), then watched UK get demolished by Florida.  And watched poor Tim Tebow get banged around and sent to the UK emergency room.  No, Chris was not working that evening, so he didn't get to see him.

Chris had a friend over to our house and they watched the UT game online since *lame* it was not on TV.  GO VOLS!

Sunday- CHURCH and NAP!

Chris and I are getting plugged into a church here, slowly but surely.  We went to the Pathfinders sunday school class for the first time.  This is a group of young married couples, but Chris and I were clearly the youngest in there.  Perhaps some of the mid-twenties folks were absent last week??

We grabbed lunch at Five Guys burger joint, which was absolutely delicious, as always.

Stuffed and happy, we napped Sunday afternoon.

Later that evening, Mark and Donya came up and we went to Jalapenos, which is our favorite Mexican restaurant in Lexington that we have so far discovered.

Monday- SHAKER VILLAGE

We spent most of the day touring the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, KY.  I don't think it could have been any more beautiful outside all day long.  GORGEOUS fall weather.  The Shakers were a strange religious group that died out in the early 1900s because they were celibate.  (um, duh...)  Anyway, it was neat to hear about their way of life and walk through the homes and meeting houses that were built in the 1800s.  Plus I got to pet a goat.  The highlight of my day.  The only bummer was that I coughed up a lung all day.  Little did I know, I had the swine flu... hope I didn't give it to anyone.

Standing outside the main Centre Home- HUGE house with 14 bedrooms

Christopher and Donya waiting to peer inside one of the bedrooms

Room where they preserved and packaged up seeds from the harvest

Me and Topher out in the beautiful fields near the barn

Playing on the tree swing

Don't mess with this guy. 2500 lbs of pure meanness.

Feedin' the sheep

Goats.  I pet the crazy one trying to climb over her momma.

Giant bizarre twisted up tree in downtown Harrodsburg

Tuesday- RUINED... sick with the pig flu

We did nothing because I woke up feeling worse than I did on Monday and I had a fever.  So Donya took me to the doctor and then we all just sat at home all day and felt sorry for ourselves because our last staycation day was in shambles.  I had plans for us to go horseback riding, ride in the horse-drawn carriage downtown and go out to eat some place nice for dinner.  Oh well.  Oh, Mark and Chris installed a new kitchen faucet- hurray!

We had a really great 3-day weekend and it was probably a good thing to have rested on Tuesday.  I still got quality time with hub, so all was well.  =)

oink oink

I've got the swine flu.  H1N1.  Type A flu.  Whatever you want to call it.

Yes, that's right.  I cannot catch a break.  I have been ill since the beginning of July and I think it is time that Jesus and I had a chat about my health.  I would really like to go outside and ride my bike and play.  I would like to be around my friends and not infect them with disease.

I do not know the Lord's will in all this madness, but I pray that I can get well... at least for a little while!  :)

p.s.  Chris caught the piggy flu from me, so he's sick too.

super-speedy scarf

I actually finished a crochet project in less than a week.  It's a miracle.  Six hours in the car on the way to Nashville and back this past weekend facilitated the quickness of completion.  Anyway, it's a scarf for Natalie.  Her last-year's Christmas gift that I never even started.  Sorry, Nat.

It's dark purple (Caron brand).  A very easy 14 rows of single crochets (over 6' long)- I used a size H crochet hook.  Nice and warm for the winter and for my poor little sister who seems to always be freezing cold.