Sorry it has been a while. Work has been WAY busy.....my life outside of work has been totally crazy. My life has been liver disease....summer vacation planning etc....planning to not plan. Argh! I do have some good news. I had bloodwork on Wednesday and the results came in today. My enzymes look great....and they are cutting ym prednisone down to 10 mg once a day. Yee Haw! I will have bloodwork done in a month from now. We'll see what happens then. I saw my podiatrist this week.....he said not to come back until I am off the Prednisone. We are hoping that my foot and ankle are actually better...and not being masked by the Prednisone.

I have some good news. My mother is going back to work part time the first week in May.

I went to see my physical therapist Jen today. This is probably my last appointment with her. My knee is better and my ankle and arch are probably 90% better. I will only go back to see her if things don't continue to get better with the exercises.....or if they get bad as I am weaned off the Prednisone. Speaking of my physical therapist Jen. She is going to be in the Boston Globe this Sunday. She will be featured in a piece on college debt. Glad to know I'm not the only one who owes a lot of cash to Sallie Mae. Look for Jen this Sunday.

My friend Mary and her partner Jen started a political action committee called Pennies4Politics to support legislators that are supporting gay marriage in a special way. Click on the above link to learn more about this group or make a donation. Mary and Jen are getting married in October of 2004.

Went to see Patty Griffin at Tower Records last night. I really her music a lot.

I am so tired. Work has been insanely busy. I feel like I have hardly had time to breathe. Between the recent trainings...and open houses...and pilot projects.....and visitors...argh. I'm tired. I am VERY happy that tomorrow is Friday.

Going to see my physical therapist tomorrow. I need to talk to her about my tibial plateau. It started hurting when I was driving my bicycle up hill the other night. Hmm.......maybe it will just hurt forever...or will get better.....or will take a while. I'm not sure.

Looking forward to this weekend. I'm tabling for the Walk for Research at the Living Well With PBC event on Saturday morning. That afternoon I have plans to get coffee with my friend Mary P. Sunday I am going to see Sleater Kinney. We also have plans to go to the movies with folks on Saturday night and maybe have coffee with a friend on Friday after work.

I fixed the flat on my bicycle tire last night. I was proud of myself for being so handy. Glad I took that bicycle repair class last spring. It felt really empowering to fix it all by myself. I will admin that B gave me some pointers along the way. So thank you to her. Ate dinner at Wok N Roll in Cambridge last night....and took a long walk. I am loving this warm weather. Watched the season premier of The Restaurant last night. I think Rocco DiSpirito is kind of a jerk. No offense to "Mama."

Not much to report on. Seeing my physical therapist on Friday. Have an appointment with my podiatrist next week. Scheduled to have bloodwork early next week. Spent quite a bit of time yesterday hanging upWalk for Research signs in Somerville and Cambridge. My bicycle has a flat tire. I am going to try to use the skills I acquired in the bicycle repair class I took at Broadway Bicycle last spring. We'll see how far I get. It is a beautiful day in Boston today. Work is insanely busy. My parents came to an Open House at work today. It was nice to introduce them to my co-workers. If you haven't yet sponsored my Walk for Research you can do so by clicking HERE. The Boston Marathon is today. I wish I could have gone...but no.....here I am at work. Went for a nice long walk on Saturday. Did my Pilates tape this morning. Got ice cream with Brenda, Cyn, Mike, Dave, Lisa, and Chris the other night. It was nice to see them..especially Chris...it had been about five years since we saw each other last. Waiting for my IRS refund. I hope it come soon. I should run along.

Has anyone ever taken Prednisone before? Prednisone has the most awful taste in the world....like medicine. Have you ever licked a plastic swatch watch band from the mid to late 1980's? That is what Prednisone tastes like.

My Easter with John Kerry

I had a wonderful Easter yesterday. I got up early and went to church. I arrived at church to find a plethera of news people outside my church. I asked the usher what was going on. He informed me that Senator John Kerry was celebrating Mass with us. I ended up having to sit in the very last row......in the balcony of the chapel and hardly got to see what was going on downstairs. I did notice the two Secret Service guys lurking around. I eventually did see the Senator with his wife Theresa sitting downstairs. I learned that some conservative Catholics were trying to discourage my church from giving Communion to the Senator because of his liberal political views. The press was making a big deal about it. Fortunately the Senator did receive Communion yesterday. Heck....if the Senator shouldn't be receiving Communion.......I guess I shouldn't either. I'm just as bad as he is. I have liberal views too. Hmmm...what do I believe? That taking Communion is a decision between me and my God. So...who are they to tell me...or the Senator that he shouldn't receive Communion?

On another front...I heard from my doctors office today. Looks like my enzymes are almost down to normal. I'm cutting my Prednisone in half starting tomorrow. I will have bloodwork done in two weeks.

Had dinner with Nora and Bill last night. It was nice to see them. I should see more of them.

Still no word on my bloodwork. Looks like the Nurse Practitioner is out of the office today. Hopefully I will have more information on Monday.

I had bloodwork this morning. Just one tube this time. I asked for the butterfly needle....I'm such a baby when it comes to needles...they were good to honor my request. I'm going to call tomorrow and see if the results are in.

I celebrated Passover with some friends last night...it was a lot of fun. The food was yummy...the company interesting.......I found the hidden matzo...and won a prize (a plastic lavender lei)...Yee Haw.....and the Haggadah was a wonderful mix of childrens activities, adult prayers...and song.....it was all good. I really liked the addition of Myriam's Cup to the meal as well. Lisa and Dave did a great job...and were very good to buy me non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice.

I'm having bloodwork tomorrow. Hopefully the results will be good. I haven't noticed any real prednisone symptoms yet. Although yesterday after work I was starving. I ate a bowl and a half of cereal......some chocolate covered almonds....a few jelly bellys....and consumed a bunch of water. This was all before the Seder. I need to watch what I eat.

I'm down to having physical therapy once a week now. My ankle is feeling a gazillion times better.

I have been walking the half hour to the T lately...when I can. On the other days I am trying to do my Pilates tape. My favorite Pilates exercise is the Seal.

Support the Hep Cats. Thanks for your help.

I heard from the Nurse Practitioner in my Hepatologist's office on Wednesday. She said the dirty "P" word. I started on 40 mg of Prednisone yesterday. I haven't been on Prednisone since 1996. I'm not happy to be taking it again. I will need to have bloodwork done at the end of next week to see if the meds are working. If everything goes well they will work on tapering me off the meds as soon as possible.