Hello again

So much has happened in the past few weeks that I've barely had time to just sit and write down my thoughts let alone do my blog post. In July my brother, Billy, went into the hospital. At first it was for congestive heart failure but soon discovered that his kidneys weren't functioning as they should have been. He underwent dialysis and it seemed that things would be getting better. That was until his kidneys decided they didn't want to filter the toxins out of his system as they're supposed to be doing. Therefore he's had to have a semi-permanent port put into his chest so that he can still have dialysis three times a week. Thankfully he's home now and is doing the dialysis on an outpatient basis. His lungs and everything is fine. We're just now focusing on his kidneys. The kidney doctors are waiting a couple more weeks to see if his kidneys will start to function properly and to let his immune system beef itself up before they attempt a biopsy on his kidneys to see what's going on. I'm not completely sure if he will make it through something like the biopsy but we'll just keep praying and staying strong in our faith.

Chris went to my rheumy yesterday to see what we can do about the pain and swelling in his hands. The rheumy was a bit troubled because sometimes the treatment of Lymphomas and a few other types of cancers can bring out an underlying condition such as Lupus or certain types of arthritis. So our first step was to get some xrays, bloodwork and a bone density scan done to see where we stand. The results will probably be in sometime in the next few days. The doctor also gave him a low dose anti-inflammatory to see if it would help him with some of the pain and swelling or stiffness. That way he can see if he's feeling up to going back to work on Monday or not. When we get the test results back, we'll have a clearer picture of what we're up against and we can plan accordingly. If this medicine he's taking works and he feels up to trying it, Chris is going to go back to work on Monday. But if he's still not feeling well enough to even try, the rheumy will let him take off the time until the next appointment Chris has with the rheumy. I'll admit that it was very odd to be on the other side of examination room.

As for me, I'm doing as well as can be expected. I'm still doing my stretches and taking walks around the house for 5 minutes instead of doing it outside with the way the weather's been. It's been too muggy and humid for me to really breathe when I'm outside. But I still get that small bit of exercise in. Because I have to take blood thinners and my blood pressure medication, there's a very limited amount of medications I can take for my arthritis. For now I'm going to be on Salsalate to try and ease the arthritis portion. I have a prescription strength cream for the psorasis spots so I'm hoping that I won't have to do anything drastic. Unfortunately I will have to relearn how to go through the day with the stiffness and pain that I had a long time ago. I had really hoped that I could stay on my Enbrel because it was really making a difference. My psorasis went away and there were some days when I felt like I could do anything. Now I'm back to square one. But it's just a new beginning point. At least that's what I'm telling myself to keep me going through the days and through the pain. I'll be doing my regular postings for awhile unless something else comes up that keeps me away from the computer. Hope all of you are doing well out there.

Love and blessings,
Kim