Been reading....

a few books over the Christmas holidays. Stephen Baldwin is quite a good author and has some great views on Christianity and spreading the Word to the youth of today. I enjoyed reading his book "The Unusual Suspect" which is all about his coming to Christ and his current ministry as well as his beliefs and moreover, his opinions on the current state of America's youth when dealing with ministry. I am in agreement with a lot of what he said in this book! I would suggest reading it to just about anyone.....I was not even really a fan of his prior to this, I just saw him on Huckabee one night and decided I would pick his books up. I also read his first novel, "The Death and Life of Gabriel Phillips" which was a murder/mystery/faith story. I was sucked in and did not want to put it down. I read both books in 2-3 days...and wish I had more to read. I think I will follow him and read more of his books if he continues writing.

Check out his ministry http://www.livinit.com/index.php.

Life is Good

It really is....I have a wonderful family, some great friends, a nice home, and God in my life. What else do I need? Nothing......I may WANT, but I know I NEED nothing. I am well provided for by the Lord, and my dear husband. My kids give me plenty to keep up with, and my health has greatly improved since the first of the year - so that is definitely a blessing that was the work of God! I am blessed by many people in my life and try to be a blessing to others when I can.

I hope everyone has Merry Christmas and will be blessed in the New Year - God Bless!

So no chase.....unless the neuro thinks I need to....

I saw my PCP today and he looked over my blood work (some going back to 2004) and did not think my low white blood cell count was anything to be too concerned about. He said that all of my other counts were at good ratios and nothing was out of whack in comparison - so he did not want to start messing around with anything. He pulled out his 4 inch think book of medical info and and showed me a study where Betaseron (my MS drug) lowered patients white blood cell counts by 15% or so. I could not find that info on the web before the appointment but I wondered if it was the meds doing it - looks like it could be. He checked me out for signs of any other issues like lymph nodes being swollen and talked about the other meds I am taking, but did not seem to think anything else would be the culprit. He told me the neuro probably would not want to go beyond this, but if she did want to send me to a hematologist, he could only see the next step being a bone marrow test. No thank you.....no signs of anything else at this point right now, no need for bone marrow testing for me. He said it would just be more pain for me than worth in his opinion. I have to agree......now is it Christmas yet??

A New Chase?

So the blood work I spoke of in my last post came back Ok for the most part. My white blood cell count is low....it has been for a few months now, since August. The neuro wants me to follow up with the PCP so I will be going in to see him tomorrow. Low white blood cells can mean a host of things and some of them are not to pleasant to think about so I will just wait and see what happens tomorrow I guess. I have looked into some of my meds to see if that could be a cause and so far I have not found any. MS is a possible cause.....no one really knows for sure. Sometimes I feel like the medical issues will never stop. I guess that is the life of immunodeficiency.....how did this happen? I have a friend with a young baby who was born with serious ID problems and I feel so bad for him as I know what I have gone through recently, and I cannot imagine growing up with constant illness, and having to worry about everything you come in contact with, or everyone. I pray he grows out of it and can have a normal life and can play hard with all the other kids with no worries one day!! As for me, another day will bring more tests I am sure, more questions and more stuff to ponder and investigate as I do. Sometimes the internet is my friend, and sometimes it is a scary place!! :)

Neuro Follow Up

I had a follow up with the neuro today and all seems to be good. She was pleased with my status and how I seemed to be doing on the meds so far. I do not have to go back to see her for 3 months now unless something comes up between now and then. She did send me for blood work so I will see how that is in a few days, but I think it will be ok. I have been sick this past week with bronchitis, sinusitis and an ear infection so I am loaded with more antibiotics. I have been on the go most of the week though and I am feeling run down today. I am pretty tired so i think we are going to start our Christmas vacation from school and start relaxing and getting ready for our trip to the mountains. I am so ready to go to the cabin in Arkansas!

Feeling Really Good

I have been feeling really good lately. I saw the LLMD last week, and I have lost some of the weight I put on with the Lyrica....about 6 pounds since last month when I was in there to see him....not bad with Halloween in there and the hubby making cakes every other day around here. (he is into cake decorating now so we are the testers). I have had more energy, and been able to scale back on the meds which I am all for. I pretty much stopped taking all the supplements....I was not really seeing much of a difference with them, and now without them either. I am now only on my shot for MS, my Lipitor for cholesterol, my happy pills 'cuz no one wants me without those, Topamax for the headaches, and a sleeping pill on occasion. I switched taking my shot to morning time instead of before bed time as I was having super bad horrible insomnia on those shot nights.....anxiety I guess. Now it is like a little extra juice for running around on those days I take it in the am. Most of my symptoms from the Lyme have gone away, as well as most of the things I was experiencing from the MS (which many can overlap). I still have some tingling and numbness in the legs (mainly the left one) when I overdo it, sometimes I will have the odd tingling in the lower half of the face at weird and random times, headaches pop in and out (but are mostly under control with meds), I have not had any weakness issues like falling or standing problems in a while (thank God) and for the most part I have had a pretty high energy level - much more than I had back over the summer for sure! All in all, I have seen a big improvement in the past few months which has been a blessing. Hopefully I will stay at this level or continue to improve....I know it can go the other way, but I just try not to think about the possibilities or what ifs.....I know God will take care of it all no matter which way it goes!