Grateful for Friends ;)

So this weekend was GREAT!  Chris and I had a nice date night on Friday!  We went and got margaritas and Mexican food... it doesn't get much better than that!  Needless to say my "small" margarita was a FISHBOWL!  Chris and I enjoyed being with each other, as this week was CRAZY for him with work and school and he didn't get home most nights before 9.

Saturday was great relaxing and watching some movies.  I started off my night with an amazing phone call from one of my best friends Liz.  She always knows how to make me smile, and although we don't get to see each other AT ALL, it seems like time never passes by.  We pick up right where we left off.  Liz is one of the most supportive and caring people I know.  I'm so happy, as I've been bumming lately and as Chris put it... you need a dose of Liz.  So hopefully, finger crossed I'm going to go see her in a few weeks!  Please weather cooperate! :)

Anyways... we ended the night in Prior Lake with our dear friends Heather and AJ and Betsy and Chris.  AJ and Chris are my husbands fraternity brothers and AJ has been a dear friend of Chris' since high school.  Heather, Aj's wife, my sorority sister and dear friend and Betsy is Chris' wife and dear friend.  I think I've said "dear friend" enough!  My bad!  Anyways, it was so nice to have a "normal" Saturday night of good friends, games, food, and drinks!  It felt so great to have a relaxing Saturday night with friends.  Chris and I are so grateful to have these two wonderful couples in our life.

So... I'm a little sore today and tired, but hanging in there.  Chris and I are enjoying some Starbucks coffee and the fact that its sunny out!  Overall, we had a very enjoyable weekend.  Life is slowly going back to normal!

I only have one doctor appointment this week, YEAH!  So looking forward to a week of getting some chores done if all goes well!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend filled with happiness and laughter... I know I did! :)

Hanging Tough

The past few days have been not so great in the physical sense.  I've been "okay" but at night, mostly due to the cold weather, I've been extremely sore.  It's never a good sign when it hurts to sit to go to the bathroom.  My knee joints and my hands are especially the problem areas.  Luckily I don't have much going on this week.  So besides doing a few dishes, a load of laundry and working on baby shower invitations.  I've kept it fairly low key this week.  I'm hoping to perk up by this weekend as we have a fun dinner party with old friends.  Something to look forward to is key! :)

I was able to schedule my infusions for March today.  Funny how I was planning to have nothing planned for the month of April in anticipation of my infusions, and then look what happens... they're going to be pushed up to March.  I'm not complaining too much, as most likely the yucky feeling I get between infusions will be lesser.  I'm fortunate my mom is able to come for the second infusion and give Chris a break.  Sometimes I wish I could just go by myself, but I can't drive before or after them due to the relaxation medicine!  Bummer.  I'll be so ready once I get a routine down for these infusions and I can get a constant schedule.  The earliest I can have them is every four months... hopefully we can keep it at 5 months :).

Chris is back at school, and so far so good.  His semester seems to be off to a good start and he's really enjoying his classes.  I'm back to being by myself more, which isn't too bad.  I keep thinking only a few more years! :)  I'm working on my dear friend, Marisa's baby shower, so that has kept me entertained.  It isn't until March, but it takes me longer to do stuff.  Plus, I'm an avid planner. :)

So in a nutshell, I'm feeling a little sore and ickier than usual, but still hanging in there.  I've been battling an infection and I'm on my fourth antibiotic since end of December.  I go back to the doctor Monday and hopefully that will all get straightened out.  Until next time...

The Big "D" Gives Me TWO BIG Thumbs Up

So, went to my doctor yesterday and everything is looking good.  I get my blood test results back probably tomorrow, but there is no reason that something should be abnormal.  My infusions are going to be scheduled from March.  We're going to do it every 5 months, as it seemed 6 months is just a little too long.  So... I be at their office 3 times in March, but all is good.  Hopefully my mom can make it to one of them and give Chris a little break.

My muscles are slowly building up.  I've been able to do 4 minutes on the elliptical everyday this week, so that's definitely progress from the 2 minutes a few weeks ago.  The cold still makes me cough a lot and turn blue, but overall I'm hanging in there.

I've lost a couple of pounds and slowly my face is becoming recognizable.  I'm startingto gain a "little" self-esteem back.  I'm actually enjoying putting make-up on again and wearing something OTHER than sweats.

Chris continues to be my rock and Hannity continues to be my companion.

Hope everyone stays warms.  Its suppose to be -18 tonight... I'm ready for Spring! :)

Snowy Afternoon

It's snowing... AGAIN... in Minnesota. So, I started working on "mock-ups" for a dear friend's baby shower. Not sure what I think of it yet, but I think I'm on the right track. Mailing it to see what my mom thinks of it, as she is one of the other hosts! Love crafting on snowy afternoons, and I was able to use my new emboss machine :) Hope everyone is staying warm!

No punch needed... just printed off a onesie graphic and traced it onto the baby blue paper...

then cut VERY carefully! :)

Direction card slipped into the back... notice the brown embossed band :) so much fun!

Healthy, Yummy Comfort

So I've been bumming around the last two days about some stuff... Went to bed last night hoping for a new day. Well I woke up to a cold and frozen hands from my arthritis. Not my idea of a great start. After I stretched my muscles to get them working for the day, I decided I deserved a treat. Two days ago I made a homemade version of Starbucks pumpkin iced scones. They were really good and tasted almost exactly like Starbucks. So I treated myself to one of those and poured myself a glass of my antibody, boosting Naked juice. I looked at my breakfast/lunch and realized this is NOT going to fill me up.

So I pulled out my Bethenny Frankel Naturally Thin cookbook and decided to make her homemade oatmeal. Its snowing and I needed something warm. You bowl 2 cups of water and then add 1/2 of Steel Cut Oats into the water and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then you add slivered almonds, dried cranberries, real maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, and soy milk (I used lactaid milk). It was WONDERFUL and very filling! It was exactly what my tummy needed on a warm day. This is the fourth recipe I've made from her book and we've loved all of them.

Although I have a stuffy nose, am still bummed, and my muscles keep cramping up. It did brighten my day to have this yummy, healthy meal and watch the snow fall! Hope everyone has a safe, warm and COZY Friday!

Baby Steps

So I officially tried out our new elliptical today... and well I worked out a total of two minutes!!! I keep telling myself, baby steps, but it is rather frustrating for someone that use to be an athlete. So instead of getting down, I decided that this week, each day I'll do it for two minutes and then next week it'll be three minutes, and so on. We'll see how this goes. I was able to get to the grocery store and finish up two loads of laundry AND put a home cooked meal on the table. Rather successful day in the world of Maggie. I'm a little tired, but not terrible. My legs are sore and my hands keep freezing up (due to the cold temperatures) but I've been in worst pain. I took a nice, warm Epsom salt bath and that seemed to help really well. I haven't been sleeping that well, so I'm hoping for a good nights sleep! Here's to a new day and another "two minute work-out!" As Chris said... its better than one minute or one minute and fifty-nine seconds, of which I replied... "touche."

Hannity wants to be the "biggest loser"

So Chris and I had a LONG day... we ended up just putting on the TV tonight and zoning out. Chris had a glass of wine in hand, me a Skinnygirl Margarita... I flipped around the TV and ended up on "The Biggest Loser." Its an interesting show, but I just never think to watch. Well we actually ended up watching the season premiere. Needless to say, we looked like bums with our alcohol, fire, and cat stretched out showing off his belly. The funny part about it is after the show ended we came upstairs to get ready for bed... Hannity got "hyper" and was running around. He then preceded to step on the scale that my mom got me for Christmas. I couldn't resist snapping a picture, and the stinkin' cat had lost two tenths of a pound from the weekend when we weighed him. So... the joke was he wants to be the biggest loser. Thought I'd share. Our cat has quite the personality.

In terms of my personal weight loss struggle from the lovely prednisone, I'm actually feeling pretty good. The fluid is definitely leaving my body and I've lost 35 pounds since this summer without really trying. I know the last twenty pounds I'm going to have to work off, but I'm up to the challenge. We got an elliptical for Christmas and I'm ready to put it to good use.

Why is it though after the new year you're always ready to lose weight and start eating healthy??? I've been fairly good, but I'm even more energized. I'll take it... even Chris is wanting to eat healthier and work out more and he DEFINITELY doesn't need to lose weight! So... here's to a happy, healthy 2011.

You're too young to be that sick...

So many times people tell me, "you're too young to be that sick." Or so many patients with auto-immune disease get the... "well you don't look sick." What most people don't see is the constant battle that goes beneath the surface. The aches and pains that go with doing every day activities. Feeling great one minute, and not so great the next. It is definitely an emotional and physical roller coaster.

I will be honest, as of late one of the most frustrating things, although I know its in good intentions, is the fact that so many people know I'm feeling better, so right away they're like, "Ohh... you're cured!" Woohoo! Unfortunately, I will never be "cured." You can be put in a "remission" if you would like to call it that. But no, I will never be considered "healthy" again.

My "feeling better" is WAY below the normal person's way of feeling. Every day when I get up I still have to give myself the motivational talk to move my muscles, even as I type this my hands are sore and freezing up from the arthritis.

I've been researching around the Internet for "other people" with autoimmune diseases and they constant theme seems to be frustration with people when they say, "hey you don't look sick" or the response of, "well at least you're cured." Unfortunately for our small little community, it doesn't work that way.

I know realistically that I will most likely go back on prednisone at some point, I'm just praying for at least one year off. I know that my lung disease WILL progress again and most likely, even with the best possible medicine, it is still progressing as we speak.

My mom asked me a funny question the other day and it has me pondering it a lot. She wondered when did this all start. I can think back to college being tired all the time... did it start way back then??? Or just a few months before our wedding, when I started to have muscle pain. Who knows. It is fascinating to research autoimmune diseases, as its a new field study that is just know becoming more researched. I'm hoping in 10 years we'll know more answers about how you get them or quite frankly, anything. I read one article that states aspartame can cause autoimmune disease. I was an avid Diet Pepsi drinker, so who knows???

I wish I wasn't this young and sick, but in the end I find that because I'm so young my body can handle more and take more. I will have time to prepare and mold my life to see what it will be like the rest of the time. Chris and I have been having lots of talks about the future this past Christmas. We don't really know what the future holds for us, but we are on the same page in regards to all the "tough" issues. We're both "hoping" that in a year I'll be strong enough to go back to work... it'll most likely be a part-time job and something fun. The only reason is to give me something to do. We're both "hoping" we'll be able to start family, how we go about that we're not sure yet... too many questions!?!?! But I can honestly say that I'm relieved to be even thinking about them. There was a time I didn't know if I would be there next month, let alone a year or five years.

Okay, enough of my 2 am rambling. I should probably go to bed. But wanted to let everyone know that if you know someone with an autoimmune disease, its best to just ask how they're feeling that day!!! Stay warm!