[Laura]

Thanks everyone for all the tips/etc. I am sorry to leave you hanging. It just takes me so much effort to do everything, sometimes I have to pick and choose what to use my energy for.

Below is a copy and paste from my caringbridge site of an update. You can always find updates on there (even those have been sheldom and far between).


My hand is better every day. Still hard to type. Still have restrictions. But overall much better.

My right is extremely sore. I can't put any weight on it. My left one aches on and off very mildly. Thank God it isn't AVN (hip bone death); however, I have earned a ticket to ortho as the MRI of the right hip showed possible cartilage tear, inflammation, debris in the fluid, cyst, etc, etc (too much to type out). And they didn't really scan the left hip so who knows on that. I have NO idea what I could have done to cause the damage.

But I think it is comical and maybe I shouldn't. I can't really use my right hand. I can't put weight on my right hip. I can only use the crutch for the left side to try and help me walk....which is hobbling from the couch to the bathroom. Then skin on the bottom of my left foot peeled, so I have dressing changes for that and it hurts to walk or put weight on that. And I am supposed to put the least amount of weight on it to help it heal. Needless to say I am quite the sight.

Thank goodness for pain medication otherwise I would not be able to get off the couch. Sadly, I live in a two story house. And with not being able to use two crutches it is impossible for me to do stairs. So I have been camping out downstairs. I basically hobble (or Ryan pushes me in the computer chair) from the couch to the bathroom and back. Otherwise I live on the recliner couch. And use the wheelchair when I go to Mayo.

I am super excited about this derm doctor!! I had derm testing last week. So far reacting to pretty much all the tests. Today I had allergy patches placed on my back. Tomorrow I will have light applied to some of them. Wednesday they will do a patch check to see if I am reacting to the other ones. Thursday is my big derm apt to find out results and such. I also have this feeling that I will get many ideas of what to do to FINALLY get my life back and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!! Then Friday they will check the allergy patches again.

We have dropped the Prednisone a little bit. The side effects are becoming way to great. Last week I went from 40 mg to 35 mg. This past Friday (a week after the first drop), I went to 30 mg. We will leave it here for awhile as not to disturb anything. The Prednisone was being used to keep my plts up so pray those don't drop. It also cured me of all my GI symptoms so we need to be very careful of the taper so as not to cause the GI symptoms to return. And it was being used for my skin but not really sure if it is doing anything for that or not. Plus it seems derm wants me off the Prednisone. So pray my GI does not flare back up. It is all a very careful balance.

Even though I may look and sound like a train wreck. I feel so excited and happy to FINALLY feel like there might be an end in sight for all my issues. And I absolutely can't wait!!!

Pray for good healing post hand surgery.
Pray for my hip pain and it doesn't require surgery or anything serious.
Pray for the bottom of my foot to heal with no infection.
Pray my platelets remain stable.
Pray my GI remains stable.
Pray my skin doesn't go crazy with the drop in Prednisone.
And pray for guidance for the derm doctor so I can finally put all this transplant, etc, stuff behind me and continue on with my life!

Laura