Trips galore

Cutest family! My brother Nathan, wife JoEllen and Simon sleeping peacefully in the Mobey sling

I apologize for the gap in blogging. As always, a lot has been happening, but I will give you the Cliff's Notes highlights.

After two epidural steroid injections, my back and leg are doing much better. I have gotten two shots in the last month and each went pretty well. The first one got me about 60% better, the second about 90% better. Most of my day-to-day pain is greatly minimized or gone. At this point, still in the "acute" phase, I am supposed to take it easy with stretching, bending and twisting for the next month or so and then I can start phasing that stuff back in and see how it goes. Herniated discs can take 1-2 years to heal. The cortisone injections will help me deal with the pain/tightness/discomfort in the meantime. Hopefully I will not need too many more of them.

Sam and Todd at Ship Rock, off the Blue Ridge Parkway

We had a great trip to the mountains three weekends ago. It was the first time we had been there all summer long! We arrived just in time for a wonderful patch of fall weather. The skies were blue, temps were cool. We went on some awesome hikes in the Linville Gorge and off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Great exercise and great fun.

Me and Simon @ 8 weeks old

Mom (grandma!) and Simon, sleeping his favorite way (being held and on his belly)

Had an incredibly awesome trip to Michigan two weeks ago! I absolutely fell in love with my new nephew. He is so sweet and cuddly and kissable. I've never spent that much time around a 7-week baby. It was really amazing. All of his little grunts and uncontrolled movements and facial expressions... he's just a little ball of innocence. Looking so forward to going up there for Christmas.

On Saturday, we rode the train to Charlotte to see a Checkers (minor league hockey of the Hurricanes) game with some friends. We stayed right downtown - it was a lot of fun!

View from our room, downtown Charlotte

Sort-of surprisingly, my health and lungs have held up through all of this traveling. I say 'surprisingly' both because this is getting into my bad time of year for lung infections, and because I've had some hemoptysis over the last few weeks (which can be a sign of infection.)

Unfortunately for the inhaled levofloxacin study I was in, I had to start back on my inhaled antibiotic regimen, and also added in an oral antibiotic to give me a boost. With that, continuing to exercise, and trying to get enough rest, etc. my lung functions have returned to where they were before my recent slump. Yay!