Gearing Up For the 4th

The 4th of July is definitely one of my favorite holidays. All the cookouts and seeing family and friends is so much fun. I have three cookouts in three days to go to. I have realized that I can't go to all three, so I am opting out of the one today.

My lupus and exposure to the sun are very linked. It takes all of two minutes outside for me to get a sun rash. I usually get it on my legs, regardless of whether I am wearing shorts or long pants, and more recently on my neck and the underside of my chin. The rash is painful/itchy. I think in reality it is more painful, but my first instinct is to scratch it for some reason.

I also have a really hard time with sunscreen. I hate the stuff. No matter what it feels oily and gross when I put it on. Even when the bottle says "oil-free" or whatever, I can tell I am wearing it. So I tend to forgo it. This is bad. I need to get better about this especially since I just started a new job and I don't have any personal/sick/vacation time yet. I can't afford to have a lupus flare right now. So I guess this weekend will be filled with lots of food, family, friends...and sunscreen.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season! I know I sure did. I am also looking forward to this new year. I have not made any real resolutions this year, but I want to continue with my health and weight loss goals.

What does this year have in store for me? The biggest thing is that I will (finally) graduate from college. Five years is enough - I am so ready to be done! I have pretty much decided against going to grad school right away, so not the job hunt begins in earnest.

Health wise, I still have not gotten any answers about my calcium levels. Hopefully this will get sorted out soon.

Once again, happy new year!

Stuffed and Content

Yesterday I tried dim sum for the first time. Here is a wikipedia article about it. It was quite interesting. I'm not sure how much I actually liked, but I am willing to give it another chance. It certainly helped that I was with someone who spoke fluent Cantonese so that I could have some idea about what it was eating. There were a lot of mushrooms involved, which I do not like (it's a fungus!!!!) and I think that contributed to why I did not enjoy it that much. It also could be just the restaurant because I have nothing else to compare it to.

Later, I went out to eat with my dad and some of his friends. We went to a really nice Italian restaurant and the food was really good. I got a dish called chicken Mediterranean which was chicken, pasta, feta cheese, tomatoes and spinach in a lemon sauce. It was so good. The only thing I did not like was that there was no sangria on the menu ;-).

All this eating out stands pretty much against the way I am trying to change my eating habits. I'm all about the home cooked meals, especially as I wage war against prednisone and it's weight-gaining ways. It is so much easier to control what you are eating when you know you prepared it yourself. For example, there is an Au Bon Pain at the hospital that I use. I spent most of the morning and afternoon there on Tuesday and did not feel like paying for parking so my dad went with me to the first appointment and then came back to pick me up after the second. While I was waiting I got some lunch at Au Bon Pain and decided to get their southwestern cornbread for me and my dad. When I got home I looked up the nutritional information of the cornbread and found that it contains 560 calories and 30 grams of fat (!!!). This is over half, and almost all, of the fat that try to eat in one day.

I'm fairly certain that I can make my own cornbread without all the fat and calories. Since I really, really enjoy cooking, I don't mind trying to remake recipes. I'm very happy that restaurants have started to post the caloric content of their menu items because it makes it so much easier when you are eating out. But it also dissuades me from eating out a lot because I can see exactly what I am eating.

Anyway, Merry Christmas Eve to all those who celebrate it!

Belated Thanks and Another ER Trip

Thanksgiving was pretty awesome in my house this year. It was the first time in many years that a we had more family members show up than not. We had some amazing food (I made mac and cheese) in large quantities. My aunt made this pumpkin spice cake that was absolutely divine. I also got to see one of my aunts for the first time in almost two years.

There was only one little problem. I realized, just after the halfway point between home and school, that I had forgotten all my medicines at school. I was so far into my trip home, and just wanted to go home, that I did not turn around. I just hoped that the people at the pharmacy could help me out since I am quite friendly with them. Unfortunately, due to some insurance crap or whatever, I was only able to get some of my medicine. Only 1/3 of my lupus medicines. But I made it through Thanksgiving pretty well with only a few bouts of pain.

Things changed when I got back to school with a horrendous bout of chest pain. I knew what was going on. Over the summer I had inflammation on my pleural membrane, and this felt the exact same way. I called my rheumatologist, who was not in, and spoke to her assistant. The assistant told me to call my primary care doctor, which I did. They told me to go to the ER. UGH. So my roommate and I went and after spending hours there so they could run all sorts of tests I was put back on 25mg of prednisone.

I hate prednisone, as I am sure you know. I have spent many months trying to come off it and then to get put back on the same dose I was on over the summer was so disheartening. Luckily, I am now only on 20mg and will keep reducing rapidly. My cheeks were swollen by the third day.

I have definitely learned my lesson about taking my medicine.

Also that night, I managed to lock myself out of my apartment at 1am, bleed all over the place from a cut in my arm, have a pukingly bad migraine and get a $1500 medical bill. It was very unpleasant.

Anyway, I am two weeks away from the end of the semester. Only 8 exams, two papers, 1 lab report and several smaller assignments to go before I am on a blissful one month break.

Opening Day!

I am a Boston sports fan. Especially baseball. The Celtics won against the Cavs today, and its opening day against the Yankees tonight. This is the start of summer for me. There is nothing like Fenway during baseball season.

Anyway, heading back to school today after a delicious Easter dinner with my family. I'm sad to be going back, but I know I have a lot of work to do. I am really glad I didn't go to work today as I am just starting to feel better and working my shift would have probably set me back another week.

Has anyone seen the documentary Sicko by Michael Moore? I watched it last night and finished it this morning. I recommend it. It has me thinking a lot. Maybe I will write a post about it later.

Hope everyone has a great start to their week!

Nothing Like It

There is nothing like going home. My dad picked me up at school and brought me to the doctor's on Friday. She gave me a Flector patch, which is doing well so far. Then we stopped at my aunt and uncle's for a bit and then continued home.

I am not working tomorrow because I am pretty sure I would not make it. I am so happy to be spending Easter with my family. I have been so miserable lately and I think the best medicine so far has been being home with my dad and the rest of my family.

I am also completely swamped with work. I have never had this much to do before! Maybe I will post my list, but right now it's too overwhelming. I worked on some today and noe I am about to get into bed with a movie.

Happy Easter/Passover/anything else you might celebrate!

Merry Christmas and Prayers

I hope everyone out there that celebrates Christmas had a wonderful and healthy one. I got so much stuff for the new apartment kitchen, so I am very happy about that.

On a sadder note, I have been following the blog of Cornell wrestler Adam Frey who was diagnosed with cancer at 22. Things had been seeming to get better, but he contracted some sort of infection and they are just making him comfortable at the moment. Here is a link to his blog. I'm sure his family can use many prayers right now. I can't even imagine what they are going through. http://adamfrey.us/

On a different note, my cousin is having a potluck tonight so I am making mac and cheese. I have to go run to the supermarket now to get the diferent items I need.

Belated Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone out there's Thanksgiving was as great as mine! I contributed mac and cheese, bread pudding mashed potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce. We also had turkey, ham, turnips, green beans, stuffing, rolls, sweet potato pie and almond cake. It was fantastic. It was great being home and seeing family.

I came in Tuesday morning and missed a bunch of classes. But that was OK because on Wednesday, when I would have been free to leave, there was a 45 mile back up on the highway I use to get home. I was able to drive home on Tuesday with no problem at all and made good time.

Yesterday I went out to eat with my dad and some family friends at Bugaboo Creek. We also saw the movie Precious which was AMAZING. Go see it, It was my first time at Bugaboo Creek. I was jolted awake at 3:30 this morning with horrible stomach cramps. I don't know if it is food poisoning because my stomach has been disagreeing with everything for a while now and it might be a progression on that, so I really need to get my stomach checked out. I have had a barium swallow, upper endoscopy and two colonoscopies because my intestines have bled before without any cause. No bleeding today, but I have been pretty miserable. I may mention Celiac's next time because my stomach really, really does not like me sometimes.

Now I have a lot of work to catch up on. I am supposed to go to a fashion show tonight, so I will see if I am up to that. I can't find my cell phone so I have not been able to get the details on it.

Back to school tomorrow, but it was great being home.