My son in law got a job selling guitars at the Guitar Center in Knoxville. Yes! At least one of them is employed! My daughter has several possibilities but all are part time.
Meanwhile, they are closing my husbands department. So, looks like he will be out of a job unless a contractor picks him up. Things change all the time.
My place of business has officially been sold and I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Meanwhile, I am taking CPR and other certifications as long as it is free!
I went for a few weeks with nausea, but that seems to be gone now. Worked out in the sun for about 20 min last week and ended up with the Lupus rash on my face, but it is gone now. I am staying inside. Been pretty tired. Slept for 14 hours last night. Still sleepy. But I need to do a little work around here before I go to bed again! LOL!
Keep gaining weight. I figure it is about 1/2 pound a month for the past few years. Need my thyroid checked.
My sick kitty is doing better. Wormed her and put her on thyroid meds and she is more perky and playful. Pretty good for 13 years old.
The heat has broken and it is now in the 80s. I am so glad! Those high temps were killing me. I do not do well with heat.
Hope you are all having a good week.
Mary Ann

Not too much new here. Been camping off and on for the past month. I find it very relaxing, no adult children hanging around, only the hubby and 2 or the 3 dogs. Had to send our dear sweet springer spaniel to heaven before we went away. She was 16 and deteriorating. It was so aweful. It has been over a month and I am just not dealing with it at all. OZ Tracy wherever you are....I feel the pain you felt over Borys. Went into work today for an hour or so, next week is the last of my holidays. Have to make an appt with the Rheumy, she was supposed to start the paperwork for 1/2 time disability.......I just don't feel that I can physically or mentally do the full time thing anymore. Anyway....I know I sound down and negative but I am not, just really tired these days, even napping again. Hope everyone is well. Take care and have a great weekend everyone.

Leanne

Not really too much going on here except for doctors appointments. Trying to train the new puppy and keep the kids entertained. My daughter will start preschool in September and she will turn four in Sept. also. I can't believe it seems like she was just born. Sorry about your loss Lela, I hope you start to feel better about it soon. I finally got a new doc to agree with me that I don't have an allergy, but he thinks it is anxiety, so new meds and wait two weeks. We'll see I guess. Not too sure that it was it is, but at least he is listening to me! I've been pretty sleepy too, and the new meds aren't helping that situation, but they should at least help me sleep a little better at night. Hope everyone is having a good week!
-Kate
p.s. Congrats to your son in law on the job, Mary Ann. Hope things start to look up soon for you and your husband.

Counting down the days until school starts!! The kids are driving eachother crazy, which is driving me crazy. I feel like I have no patience for it, and blame not feeling well for it but I can't live my whole life like this so I need to get over it. I'm feeling much better, but the itching is coming back. I'm just going to ignore it for now unless I start to see some other symptoms of an allergic reaction (or if the itching gets absolutely uncontrollable). I started back to a full-time workout program and now my ankles are really bothering me, but my rheumy has said I've got degenerative arthritis in both ankles. I've also got achilles tendinitis on one side, and PT isn't helping it one bit so I'm just going to ignore that as well. Seems like it's always something, right?? All in all things are going really well, my husband and I are headed to Dayton this weekend for a friends wedding so it'll be a kid-free weekend and we're really looking forward to it. Hope everyone is doing well!!

Hey everyone.......I'm feeling well, but things have been crazy for me lately. I'm wondering what I did to bring this karma to me....lol
We went up north for the long weekend for a motorcycle rally. We trailered the bike there. We had a great time. 2hours out of Thunder Bay we broke down, everything is closed and it is a holiday weekend. It was unbelievable the amount of things that went wrong. We were supposed to be home on Monday we didn't get home until Thursday. Our dog had injured her tail before we left and it was healing well, but the people we left her with didn't change the bandage all week and the tip of her tail died so she had to have 6 inches amputated on Tuesday. I took my dad truck in for a safety to have it switched over to my name and it needs 1000.00 worth of work.......oh did I mention our big truck that broke down will be about 8000.00 to fix.

If I wasn't living this I would think it was a soap opera. I keep asking what I am supposed to learn from all this but I haven't got any answers yet....lol

It is ac tually so ridiculous that you just have to laugh. Amazingly through out all this I haven't come crashing down. The dog is doing well.....she wags a little differently now but it is cute.

I am looking forward to fall and the weather and clouts and cooking comfort food again.

Love and hugs to all
Beth

Your holiday sounds like a typical holiday for us every year Beth! This year we had 2 flat tires, one tire blow out, a storm that washed out the road in our campground and downed 100 year old trees, 2 broken fishing rods, one totally completely in the lake fishing rod and reel and the little black weiner dog jumping into the lake - thank god I got them life jackets this year! He was very well behaved int he boat after his man overboard adventure. I know.....when it rains it pours. I am tired of pouring too! Also the day we got home from camping that horrible hail storm had passed through and my entire garden and flower beds look like coleslaw, I would say the garden is a total write off. Anyway.....I think I will park on the deck for another hour, enjoy some more coffee and watch the weeds (which are the only thing that survived the hail) grow!....LOL....take care everyone. Remember, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger....chins up! Leanne

Busy so far this week had two mri's.
Was told right is worse ? Pain after being told no more falling
Yup broke thumb and hand.

Wanted to try to tell you all how much this site means to me. I tried to tell my husband about the people on this site. He got all teary eyed when I told him about your struggles and your successes.
Every time I try to talk about MCTD and what it means in my life, or the life of others, he gets upset. I then realize that this site its the only place where I can really tell anyone how this has changed me.
I told a young woman, the other day, that I am not the same person I was 6-7 years ago before this really flared up. She is young, slim, healthy, and thinks she knows it all. She has no concept. You do. Thanks for being here.
Mary Ann

I don't think anyone but us really gets it! Like I said before, I have given up trying to explain the many illnesses that I have and just blurt out that I have Lupus - which isn't really a fib because all of the illness fall under the Lupus umbrella. Well to most people Lupus is a death sentence and it usually ends the interogation immediately. I am also very thankful for this site because you can tell it how it is and people actually understand and care. Hugs to everyone :)

I've been enjoying the summer quietly, not going anywhere but seeing friends pretty much daily here at home. Not eager for September and going back to work. I'm not sure I'll have the energy for it. I know, giving piano lessons in my home and at an afterschool centre probably sounds like an easy job, and I am grateful to have it.... but the level of attention it demands is high and on a painful, brain-fogged day it can be difficult. But that's for next month.
Today I'm having quite a lot of pain. But I have to start deep cleaning my house from floor to ceiling because a couple weeks ago I decided it would be FUN to invite 20 women over for lunch this Tuesday. About 15 are coming... Now, they're each bringing something, so the food is not the issue. But the cleaning is, and today I just feel like crawling back into bed.
Well, looking at this, my problems are pretty minimal... more good than bad in all of it, so I'll stop complaining now! :-)
I don't know what I'd do without this site and all of you! Your optimism and good humour in the face of real problems is a constant inspiration to me!
XSharon

Things have settled down since we got back. We still haven't heard anything about our truck......no news is good news right?.....lol

I have just been puttering about not doing to much and the house certainly looks like I haven't been doing much......the dog is also in heat so I gave up on cleaning the floors until she is done....well for the most part anyway.

I had lunch and went shopping with a friend who is on vacation this week, we went out to a litlle town not far from here and a nice afternoon.

I have been reducing my prednisone and some of my joints are not liking it....some aches and pains and I had a little bit of reynaulds from the shower this morning......I am playing by ear, this is the lowest I've ever been so I am taking it very slow.

Have a great week everyone, I'm so glad you are all here!

Love and hugs
Beth

Hi All,... I am so glad the temperatures have come down. I can not take the heat either. My little Jaymie, has Cushings, so we have been loading her up on Lysodren. Tomorrow is the 11th day, she will have the cushings test again. Then she will just have a maintenance dose after that. She seems to be feeling well., her nosebleeds have stopped. We hope her diabetes will be much better or maybe go away. Keeping our fingers crossed. She is such a good dog.
I saw my Rheumy last week, showed her my swollen toes and strange nails. She suspects psoriatic arthritis and nails. Does anyone have a home remedy for the nails? She wants me to see a derm. $$$ I have so many bills now. I wish she could make a diagnosis and quit wanting me to see another specialist. I have a huge deductable still. Oh well . I have to start taking sulfazine, hope this helps. I am still hurting all over, the plaquenil did not make a huge difference. Just some better on the swollen fingers.
Could plaquenil cause psoriasis?
Hope everyone is doing better. Thanks for "listening".

Oh, it's so good to be back and hear from everyone-- even if the news is not always good. They say no news is good news, but not having news from you guys? That's bad news!

What is it with dogs and trucks this week?! Okay, Z had two basal tumors removed last week-- locally invasive but not malignant, whatever that means-- and the scars are, like, huge-- one three inches and five sutures, the other two inches and three sutures. Man, why did they take such wide margins? He looks like Frankenpuppy, but I know they will heal and grow over. He was hallucinating on the Tramadol a little, which I did not like, but now he's back to himself, playing and running around in circles like Bichons are supposed to do and like he always did.

Applied for a paying job at a day facility for people with pervasive mental disability-- whole spectrum from mildly bipolar to full-on florid schizophrenic. Get this: The gig requires a class-B license, which the facility would pay for my training. Actually, being a bit of a motorhead, I would kind of dig this.

"My name is Catalyzt. I'm a psychotherapist. I also drive a bus."

Of course, now I am driving much more carefully because I do not want to get a speeding ticket! Not easy for me!

Health wise, the cardio thing turned out to be nothing, cardiologist says no action is needed at this time. The stupid thing was, last week I drove with the top down for three or four hours, and I can't do that even with a hat. I think that's why my joints and muscles are going off now pretty bad, barely made it to work today... wanted to go to the Hollywood Bowl tonight with my wife, but that involves a mile and a half walk up a steep hill, which I could not do tonight. Frustrating! I could handle four to five foot surf last week, today I'm walking with a cane and can't do a mile walk?!

Ah, well-- trying to be smart, and not overplay my hand for a chance.

Anyway, great to hear from everyone...

Hi everyone,
Haven't been on in awhile, summer is very busy. My rheumy has cut me back on the plaqunil and I'm having problems with my hip. Not sure if the two are related or not. I'm going to give it another week, get my blood tests done and see if my levels are up. Have a great week. Terry

Hi everybody. I haven't been on for awhile either. Good to see some familiar names though. Sorry some of you are having some hard times - it always amazes me that doctors will tell you to reduce your stress levels. Seems to me that that is never possible and that most stressors are out of our hands anyways. Hope things improve for you all real soon. I am doing well. I just started doing a yoga class a couple of times a week. Never thought it would be possible. Not working at all anymore since we left the hotel business in March - our year's lease was up. I garden a bit when I can and read the rest of the time.