End-of-Year Catchup

I have been remiss in my posting. Partly because we had family visiting over the holidays and partly because we were in limbo between appointments. Here's what's been happening.

My whole immediate family was here over the holidays. We haven't all been together in the same place at the same time for over 20 years. My brother and nephews drove out from Iowa. Mom and Dad flew out. We didn't exchange gifts as having us all together was gift enough. It was a great holiday. We were our usual silly selves, almost worthy of our own reality show. The Reller sense of humor is nothing if not different.

We spent 8 hours yesterday at the University of Colorado Hospital. They did blood/urine work and then an EKG. The creatinine levels can go up if the kidney function changes. I had an ultrasound to check this the day after Christmas. Anyway, they didn't like my numbers or my EKG, so I went to infusion for a couple liters of fluids. Then went and got retested. Things looked better so they sent me to radiology. After drinking two bottles of barium they called me back. Then I waited for quite awhile while they debated whether my levels precluded me from having the scan. Finally I was taken back. As soon as I was on my back, I threw up the second bottle of barium. My worst fear was that they wouldn't be able to do the scan and I'd have to go through all this again. Fortunately that wasn't the case. I got a call this morning from the hospital to schedule a liver biopsy on Jan 9, as that is part of the study. We are waiting on confirmation as to whether I am accepted into the medication part of the study.

We are now into pain management. Before we went to Mexico, I was having upper abdominal discomfort. Now it has moved beyond discomfort to pain. I'm taking time-released Oxycontin trying to stay at a steady level. It makes me a little tired, but I feel like I can function fairly well. So, don't read anything into my typos.

I have sent most of our Christmas cards and letters out electronically. We still have a few to write out and send. I'm still working on wedding thank-you cards. A girl can only do so much.

We have been needing to replace our bed for a long time. It is getting uncomfortable particularly with pain. So we ordered a Sleep-Number bed. I think that will help with comfort and getting a more restful sleep. I sleep a lot, so figure it's important to have a comfortable sleep. Also, got a set of 600 thread count sheets at 75% off. Should be pretty nice.

My plan is to continue working on my office. It's hard to get caught up, but I am making progress. I've been cut off from my remote access to work. It's kind of a bummer, because all I really did was check what's going on through the portal and look at the employee ads. But, I expected that, and I still talk to many people at work, I should be able to stay in the loop.

The rest of the day, I am going to laze and rest. The last couple of weeks, while being fun with family was also a little exhausting. It is good to go back to some semblance of 'normal'.

Happy 2009 to everyone and thanks for riding along on this journey. Love, Jane