Over the river and through the woods

The really exciting news is that I am done done done doing stuff/setting up/preparing/etc. for the two First Friday events my soap partner and I are doing on the 3rd. I am really happy with our display at Designbox, which has three containers halfway filled up with the soap on top of that - orange lentils with our scrub soaps, wild rice with the goats milk, and oatmeal for clear glycerin. Here is a picture:



Thanksgiving:

I felt like I overcame a million obstacles and back-and-forths about my trip to Cleveland to see my dad and step mom and her family Thanksgiving - a trip I had planned for so many months that the thought of giving it up was devastating. I ended driving my mom's brand new Prius up there! So nice of her to let me do that. And I had a wonderful, wonderful time. We all jive really well. Even after 5 days there, I could have stayed longer. Here is a picture of my dad and I right before I left:



Also while I was there, I ended up coming down with Todd's cold, which I had tried so hard to escape. Fortunately, with the herbs, Vitamin C, zinc, green tea and lots of water, my symptoms were pretty mild. But it definitely lingered, and has continued to affect both my lungs and sinuses.

To finish telling you what's up now, I have to fill you in on what happened after I had to stop Tobra b/c of the ear ringing a few weeks ago. The first few days after I started having worsening lung symptoms. I got pretty upset because, well, one, it's easy to be hyper-emotional when you're in the middle of an infection; two, I was worried about being able to have Tobra in the future; and three, probably the biggest thing, I didn't want to lose ground on the two weeks I'd already had on IVs!

At my two-week follow up appointment, when I thought I might be declining again, I was surprised to have my highest PFTs since 2007. But with the uncertainty of my lungs after the abbreviated course of Tobra, we decided to keep the picc line in and follow up after Thanksgiving. I did start to feel better after a couple of days - my energy was increased and my lungs started feeling good. And then...Todd got a cold. And a week later, so did I. And the cold lingered in my head and stirred up my lungs, which brings us to now.

I usually write a lot on here when I'm sick, partly to keep people informed and partly for catharsis. But I haven't really felt like it. A lot of the reason is that I have been frustrated with not knowing what is coming next...I need to be a more patient patient.I've felt like I'm planning my immediate future around the outcome of my next doctor's appointment - and I've been so long up and down (several months, really) that my internal compass is all out-of-whack: I don't know which of my instincts to trust.

So here I am, missing more work this week (but working some from home, thankfully.) I am almost out of sick leave so if I do IVs again, I'm going to have to do all the FMLA stuff. I am currently treating my sinus infection with two orals and an antibiotic rinse, but my lungs are feeling so sticky and congested. I really just want to feel good right now.