Looks like it has been a month since I posted last. I need to stay on top of this. Oh well. My life has been insanely busy. Taught a class in Newport, RI two weekends ago. Been teaching a lot at work. Planning a trip to Provincetown. Going to New York and DC for work in April. Had an endoscopy recently. They said everything looked good. There was a little bit of redness in my esophogus, but they didn't seem too worried. Off the presnisone. Up on the imuran. Liver enzymes are down. My sprained ankle is feeling better. We got our car back....FINALLY. Mom is done with school and looking for a job. She spends a lot of her time volunteering at the local hospital and looking for work. Celebrating my Step-Fathers birthday this weekend. Excited about Easter. Done with the snow. Looking forward to spring. Exercising at Curves. Have a bone density test in April. Guess they want to find out if I'm dense or not. Most people would say I am. Ha Ha!

So..my life....lets see.....

My ankle is feeling better. I'm not sure if I still need physical therapy. I went to Curves three times this week and experienced mild discomfort...but thats it. I think I'll be back to normal soon.

My insurance company is still being scummy. They keep blaiming the car dealer saying that it is his fault that they sent me a check for $320 less than they should have. They say he should have notified them if they were going to do extra work.....and if it were going to more expensive. I know for a fact that the dealer had notified them of any changes. The insurance adjuster was at the dealer's last week and said they could only find and extra $118 worth of work. Well.....last night I did my own math and what I found is that.....the insurance company did their math wrong. The numbers they gave me do not add up. Argh! I left them a nasty message last night...and I called the adjuster today. They probably hate me.......but they clearly keep %$^&ing up. We'll see if I hear back.

I heard from my hepatologist that my bloodwork looks good. My enzymes are normal...my IgG is low. So...she is taking me off the Prednisone and increasing my Imuran to 100 mg QD. This is very good news. I'm a little concerned about being on the higher dose of Imuran. Will I have cold sores left and right.....will I get colds more often? Will I have to be more concerned about being around sick people? I'm also a little nervous about not being on the Prednisone. Yeah I complain about the Prednisone all the time...it makes me hungry.....it weakens my bones.......it gives me facial hair.....BUT.......it's also a great anti-inflammatory. It saved my life when my liver was really sick. The small 5 mg dose appeared to take away the inflammation in my left ankle last year after I was recuperating from the broken leg. I currently have a sprained right ankle and am a little nervous that not being on the Prednisone will cause more discomfort in that area. Argh......I can never win.

Hmm...what else is new.....I'm going in for an endoscopy in a couple of weeks. I'm starting pt for my right ankle soon........I'm also having a bone densitometry in a couple of months.

Well...well...whats new with me. We still don't have our Honda back. It is at the dealer still. We are waiting for the check from the insurance company. I sprained my ankle recently. I went a little bit nuts at Curves. I'm icing and elevating it these days. I was in New York for a couple of nights this week. Guess who was behind me on the airplane to New York! Ming Tsai! Cool huh? Had a nice dinner with Christine while I was in New York. It was good to see her. Well I should run along. I have a lot of work to do.

We still don't have our car back. It is at the dealer.......and we are waiting to get the information from the insurance company.

We probably won't have it back until the end of the week.

I'm so angry at the people who took our tires. I'm also annoyed with the police department who have been close to useless.

I'm also sick of hearing people say things like...."yeah.....those criminals really love those Honda Civics"...or "Where do you live? Oh thats why." I know people are trying to be helpful...and they aren't blaming me for the situation, but it is hard to not interpret that as "well if you didn't drive a civic and live in that neighborhood then this wouldn't have happened to you."

On top of all of this I have been having lots of ankle pain recently. I think I overdid it at Curves. I am seeing my doctor this afternoon.

I'm also seeing my hepatologist this afternoon.

I have a fun-filled day of doctors appointments...yee haw!

This week has been pretty bad.

It started to look bad when I came home from work the other night and noticed that someone had hit the driver side mirror on our Saturn. Of course they left no note. I brought it in had had it fixed. I picked it up on Wednesday afternoon.

Bad right? Well the following takes the cake.

I left my apartment yesterday morning at 7:00 a.m. and walked towards our new car to drive it to work. I noticed that the car looked funny from a distance. Then....I noticed that the wheels and tires were missing...the back was jacked up...the front of the car was on the pavement. Yup....stolen. Soo....to the people who stole my four wheels and tires.....you can %$^& OFF!!

I'm waiting to hear back from the dealer about whether there was any other damage or not. I sure hope not.

I hope things start to look better soon.

It s snowing outside....what a surprise. I'm a little sick of the snow at this point. I am tired of being afraid to drive.....or that I'll slip on the snow and break my leg again. I'm tired of fighting for parking and digging out my car. I wish they would send us home early because of the snow. No such luck.

My ALF meeting was cancelled tonight. I met with the local public library Director last night. She was very nice. I'm supposed to be doing an inventory of their public history room. I hope I will have some time to get to that in the next week. I went to Curves last night. It was a lot of fun.

My mother is doing well. She is going to ask her surgeon if he thinks she is ready to start an exercise program. She is enjoying her volunteer work at the hospital and her classes.

Gotta run.......

Nothing much to report on. My mother is feeling well. I have felt like I am on the verge of getting a cold for weeks now. I'm busy as usual. Work is busy. Next week I have a meeting at ALF. I am also meeting with folks at the local public library. I might be volunteering in their public history room. I am preparing for a class I am teaching in March. I have an interview next week to get ready for. I just joined curves this week. I know it was started by a right wing fundamentalist...but aside from that it works for me. They have heavy people in their commercials...most of the people there seem to be regular folks...not gymheads...and it works into my schedule. I don't have time to go to the gym for hours at a time. Curves is just a half hour...a few times a week. I have only gone once this week, but am planning on going after work today. This weekend we are expecting snow. We also have a friend coming into town. I see my new hepatologist next month. My tibial plateau aches sometimes. It was 3 degrees when I left my apartment this morning. I need to get some coffee. I can taste prednisone in the back of my throat from when I took it this morning. It is an awful taste.

So.....I've been in Yardley, PA for the past few nights. I'm looking forward to going back to Boston tomorrow. Nothing against my colleagues.....I like them....this has been a productive meeting........I just miss home. Since I have been here I have only eaten brown foods. This is not good. I need to eat some vegetables or I'm going to get scurvy. Ha...ha. Thats all I need. Since I have been here I have eaten.....pork tenderloin.........an italian sub (aka hoagie in these parts).......a cheese steak.....a patty melt....and a falafel sandwich with fries. See my problem? Ok so.....I had potatoes and green beans with the pork tenderloin....and every morning I have had a bagel and a piece of fruit.....but still.....I can feel my arteries clogging....glug.....glug.

I forgot to mention that I fell on the ice last week...yup....right on the spot where I broke it a year and a half ago. I'm sure its ok......I was more scared than anything else. At first it stung really bad....then it hurt when I touched it. It sort of feels like it did when it was healing. I'm sure its fine....I would know if it were broken right?

I am sad about the tsunami in southern Asia. The devastaion there is beyond my understanding. I'm happy to hear that the world is coming together to help out.

Having dinner with Elke tonight....looking forward to seeing her.

I don't have a lot to report on.

My Christmas was nice. I spent some quiet time at home with my family. I also got to hang out with my aunt, uncle, and younger cousins. On Christmas I opened gifts with my family, watched The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, ate a yummy roast dinner, and got beat by my mother in a few hands of poker. Its not fair....she had never played before. Its ok...really...we weren't playing for money....and we had fun.

The rest of my weekend was spent catching up with friends and avoiding the snow that was accumulating outside my window. Fortunately we had enough snow that I didn't need to go into work on Monday. I love that I get snow days as an adult. Yee haw...and extended holiday.

It was back to work yesterday, but honestly it has been slow. I feel that I cannot get work done even if I want to because everyone else seems to be on vacation. I have tried to contact three colleagues this morning....to get my work done...and they all appear to be out of the office until Monday, January 3rd.

Lets see.....hmmm...what else is new. I went to see
House of Flying Daggers the other night. I liked it and it was beautiful, but....I think I'm getting a little sick of the genre....and it was too melodramatic for me. Went to dinner at a friend's recently. The soup she made was yummy. Also got dinner with another friend last night. Braved the storm on Sunday and had a late lunch with some other folks. Watched the movie Monster on Monday. Although sad...and disturbing.....I did enjoy it. I would recommend this film to anyone.

I should run along. Happy New Year!

We finally bought a new car. We got a 2005 blue Honda Civic EX. We love it so far. Although I already managed to drive into a shopping cart. It shouldn't have been in the road anyway. Good it wasn't a person or another car. I'm still getting used to the visibility. Of course I had a freak out the other day because the cd player was crackling. I think it happened because it was a homemade cd. I tried a store bought cd and it worked fine. There was a lot of squeeking going on in the back seat this morning. I'm wondering if it is the basketball in the trunk. Oh and the window cleaner sprayer doesn't seem to be working on the left side. I'm hoping it is just frozen and not broken. We are currently getting ice...and snow afterall. I guess I just feel that a brand new car should have no quirks. No such luck. I'll try to window cleaner again later.

I haven't written in an age. Sorry. I have been consumed by the process of buying a new vehicle. I think about it all the time. I have been worrying about the fact that other than my friend Joe...all car sales people are creeps. I am always wondering..."what are they trying to pull over on me?"......"do they think I'm stupid because I'm a woman?"...."can I get this cheaper somewhere else?" This is all very stressful for me. We went to test drive cars on Friday. We are going to test drive another one tonight. I went yesterday...and spent another weekend day a few weeks ago doing this. I just want this whole process to be over. Right now it is between the Toyota Corolla....the Honda Civic...and the Ford Focus. Two weeks ago the Focus wasn't even part of the equation. Today I was thinking about a Volkswagen. Argh....we just want an automatic four door vehicle with air conditioning, a cd player, anti-lock brakes, and cruise control...that is reliable, will hold up in a crash, and will last us for a while. What is so difficult about that?

It's 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning and I can't sleep. I have been up since 5:15 a.m. I didn't get to bed until almost midnight last night...which is late for me. Hmm.......I'm not sure why this is happening to me.

I finally got my flu shot yesterday. Thanks to Laurie Williams at the BIDMC and the City of Somerville for enabling me to do so. Ahh.....to be in a high risk group. I feel ready to fight any flu that comes my way.

Happy gay marriage anniversary to folks in Massachusetts. Unfortunately the debate isn't over in this country. Our President is determined to allow...even encourage legalized discrimination. Lets keep fighting.

I'm not sure if I already reported on this or not....but my liver enzyme tests are back to normal. They want me to stay on my maintenance dose of Imuran and Prednisone until I see my doctor in February. I have a new Hepatologist. I haven't met her yet, but I hear she is very nice. The last docotr I had moved to Washington.

I was in Hartford, CT recently and went for a tour of the Mark Twain House and Museum. I suggest stopping by if you are ever in the area. The building is quite beautiful.

My mother is doing well. She is in a medical office manager certificate program and seems to be enjoying it. Her health has improved and she appears to be enjoying life.

I went to get on the bus the other day and I had some bad pain in the part of my tibia I broke a year and a half ago. This always scares me. I am going to have to work on exercising that leg more.

Speaking of broken legs. My friend Theresa recently fell 20 feet from a ladder and broke her tibia. They put her back together with one screw and a washer. I know from experience that the next year isn't going to be fun for her or her leg. I wish her the best of luck and a quick recovery. Remember to do your exercises Theresa. That makes three people in my book group who have broken their legs in the past four years. This is not a good statistic.

I went to my poker group recently and won three hands. I started the night with $5.00 and went home with $6.20. I was very proud of my playing. I never win at poker. I'm getting good...my fellow poker players....you better look out....World Series....here I come.

My hepatologists office got some flu shots...and I was on the list, but it appears that some other patients took higher priority over me. I still haven't gotten my shot.

The City of Somerville called to say theyw ere having a flu clinic next week. I cannot make it on that day. I am going to try to make it on the other day of their flu clinic. I need to get a letter from my dictor explaining why I am at "high risk."

I am having one of those days where I am annoyed with the lack of care we get from the medical community. My eye doctor's office said that they did not take my medical insurance card. They say I need to file a claim on my own. I find out I have an eye discount program. My doctors office doesn't believe me....I'm not in their system they say. I call the vision discount program again. They say to call the doctors office again. My health insurance has this "better than nothing" policy with paying dental bills. Maybe my beef is really with the insurance company. I feel that I spend more money for healthcare now than I ever have before.

I am really upset about the recent election. Democrats don't have the House...or the Senate....or the Supreme Court........or the Presidency. 11 States voted against gay marriage. I am convinced that this country is made up of backwards folks who do not understand the concepts of democracy, freedom or acceptance.

Aside from all this craziness I am very happy about the recent World Series win by the Boston Red Sox. Yee haw! Finally. I am planning on heading to Landsdowne Street on Saturday to buy some World Series gear. I hope it's not too busy.

I am having bloodwork tomorrow. I wasn't able to get a flu shot this week. Maybe the next time around. I am currently taking 75 mg of imuran and 5 mg of prednisone.

I have both good and bad news.

My hepatologist's office called today. The hospital will be having a flu clinic. They offered to get me a voucher so I could get a shot. I am supposed to call next week to get the voucher.

They also called to tell me that my enzymes are slightly elevated. Back in August my ALT was 20....and my AST was 34. Now my ALT is 44 and my AST is 54. Keep in mind that 40 is normal for these....and my slight elevation isn't a big deal. Its only a sign that things are sort of going in the wrong direction. So.......here's the deal. I will be taking 5 mg of Prednisone starting tomorrow. I will have blood work in two weeks. Some possible solutions...stay on 50 mg of Imuran and a small dose of Prednisone for a while....OR.......increase my Imuran. We'll see what happens. I shouldn't fret.....it's not lke my enzymes are where they were ten years ago.........in the thousands. What's 14 points anyway? Practically normal! I never professed to be normal.

I have been a busy lady. I performed Mary and Jen's wedding this weekend. It felt cool to be the one marrying them....and to sign the official marriage certificate. I also felt honored to have been asked by them. Congratulations Mary and Jen.

I went to New York for one night this week. Did a ton of work during the day. Had a lovely dinner with Christine.

I have been trying to get a flu shot. It's tough. No one has them. I have called my primary care physician...my hepatologist........and the Somerville Board of health. The Somerville Board of Health said they would put me on their "at risk" list. They plan on calling people when and if they get vaccines. At that point I will need to provide proof of my illness.

I called my doctor's office today and made my case for why I should have bloodwork. I am feeling fine...but I only had it checked once...three weeks after I went off the Prednisone....and not once since then. Better to be safe. They agreed it would be a good idea. They reassured me that I was not being a "crazy" patient.

Support Liver Research

The leaves are changing and the air is getting brisker. Fall is upon us,and so is Moakley's Run for Research. Now in its fourth year, the 5-mile road race will be held on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24, and we expect to draw 600+ runners, walkers, race walkers and wheelchair entrants. Attendees will enjoy free refreshments, T-shirts, awards, live entertainment and music.

We need volunteers to help with duties such as registration, selling raffle tickets, handing out T-shirts and removing timing chips at the finish line. Most volunteers will be needed from 8:00 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. In return for your help, we can offer you free T-shirts, refreshments and parking, as well as a great feeling of helping out a good cause and a fun and special event.

If interested, please email or call Beth Roche (617.527.5600) at the American Liver Foundation's New England Chapter. Thank you for your time and consideration.

I was listening to my favorite radio station WUMB this morning and I heard a lyric that I found somewhat amusing.

It went something like this: "...he moves his body like a cannonball..."

What does this mean? I don't get it. Why would ones body want to move like a cannonball?