Down to 30 mg. of prednisone!!!!

Well... I'm officially on DAY 3 of tappering my prednisone down to 30 mg.  So far... not too bad.  I keep waiting for the extreme muscle pain to hit or the fevers, but so far just some slight muscle pain and itchniness of the skin seems to be the only withdrawal symptoms I have been experiencing... knock on wood.  I'm extremely tired, but that is something I plan on always expecting when I go down on the drugs.  So all in all... it hasn't been too bad.  I'm going to the bathroom a lot though, due to flushing the liquids out... pretty pumped about this.  Maybe by the time Spring time rolls around I'll be able to distinguish my cheek bones! :)

My doctor's appointmen on Friday went fairly well.  My doctor went to a conference where they talked about the releasing of a new drug, Actemra.  It just got approved by the FDA.  It sounds like I might be a really good match for it as it focus on lowering your white blood count and CRP rate... which is the only two things left we have yet to control.  It would replace the rituxin infusion.  She hasn't administered it to anybody so we'll see at my next doctor's appointment which route we're going to take.  The medicine consists of an infusion every month for about 45 minutes to an hour... not too bad considering.

Thanks for all the prayers.  Chris and I are extremely excited as it looks like since the going down on prednisone is going somewhat smoothly we'll be able to venture down South  in two weeks to spend the weekend celebrating Mia's 1st birthday... I can hardly wait to have our family together... they have truly been the moral support Chris and I have needed this past year.  Plus, my brother and his family always provide quite the entertainment and positive atmosphere... whether its Brants one liners, Keegan singing baa baa black sheep, Mia crawling doing the "worm," or just hearing Kelly laugh... Can you tell I love my sister-in-law and brother???? :)  Anyways... can hardly wait! :)