Hi there, everyone! Are you out partying on a Friday night? We’re home after a nice day, my mom and dad just went to bed, and Laura and I are watching “Frasier”, still basking in the glow of the Christmas lights. It’s so clear tonight, and the skyline is beautiful, as always.

I have lots of medical news to share with you tonight. I picked up my schedule for next week, and it felt so good to see “departure” written everywhere, as in “departure” or “discharge” clinic…pretty exciting, huh? Now let’s see…where do I begin? Well, I met with my dietician, and although she didn’t have too much good news for me, she’s not very worried about it. It seems the Prednisone does much more to your body than give you a puffy face! In the bone density scan yesterday, they detected some osteopenia in my spine and some osteoporosis in my hips. I’ve been taking calcium and Vitamin D for several months now, but they are going to recheck my Vit. D level and we’ll go from there. From what I understand, basically, my bones aren’t as dense or strong as they used to be, but there’s no pain with it. I guess bones become less dense with age anyway, which can make you more prone to breaks, but this does not seem to be anything serious for me…still, I’d rather not have it!!!

She also told me my cholesterol was high, also from the steroids. Total cholesterol should be lower than 200 mg/dL (milligrams per deciliter), and mine is 278 right now (it was 132 in September). Triglycerides should be less than 150 mg/dL nd mine are 252 (they were 93 in September). She gave me a list of foods that are lower in cholesterol. i doubt they’ll put me on any medication because things should get back to normal once my steroids are completely tapered. Also, I’ll get into my regular eating routine once I get home. The last piece of bad news (well, I consider it bad news, not that I was surprised by it) she had was that I’m about 15 pounds over the weight I was when I got here. In August, I weighed 126 pounds, which is my normal weight. Today I weighed in at 141.5. I realize the Prednisone results in some weight gain and an increased appetite, but I had promised myself that I wouldn’t eat a lot because I already knew that Prednisone could make you feel hungry. If I know I’ve already eaten, then there’s no need to eat more! Makes sense, right? But then Christmas happened…with lots of delicious food my mom made, yuuuummy cookies, candy, bread, restaurant outings, hot cocoa, Doritoes (Doritoes, I have enjoyed you, but you are not allowed in the house in Virginia!).

Anywayyy, I guess being 15 pounds over my typical weight is NOT a serious problem to have, but it’s all part of the body image, and how it can change during treatment. It’s just frustrating, that’s all. As I wrote last night, I give myself time to feel sorry for myself when I look in the mirror, and then I try to forget about it….and then I blog on and on about it so you can know exactly what I’m thinking! Lucky you.

After leaving my nutritionist, I met my dad for a chowder down at Duke’s (apparently it’s the best chowdah in town—I believe I put pics up of it earlier…it’s just down the hill from the clinic). It was deeeeeeelish! Then we went back to the clinic to have my pulmonary function test done, and my dad sat in the room and watched. He got some pics, as you can see! Everything went well, and I’m within the normal range which is good. I’m not as good as I probably should be for my age, but my blood count is still a little low (my hematocrit is 27), and obviously I haven’t been doing any crazy exercising! It’s a cool test that combines different ways of measuring the volume in your lungs, and “how well they move oxygen into the blood” (stole that from a medical site ).

My mom took Katie to the airport this afternoon, but it was easier to say goodbye knowing that I’d see her in only two weeks!!!! Afterwards, Laura and my mom went and saw “Marley and Me”. They loved it. Maybe I’ll go see it when I go home…the book was great, and I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it yet.

My dad and I couldn’t make it in time, and we wanted to walk to Volunteer Park anyway, so we went our own way. It was a beautiful afternoon/evening, but it was chilly!! We never made it to the park because it started to get dark, but we walked through a beautiful neighborhood on Capitol Hill. Then we decided to call my mom and Laura and have them pick us up while we enjoyed a hot cocoa at Starbucks.

We ate leftover pork and sauerkraut for dinner (mmmmmmmmmmm……..). Tomorrow we’re headed to Wolf Haven International, about an hour and a half away. Check it out: http://www.wolfhaven.org/. I’ll get some photos for you!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Lots of love from Seattle,

Julie