This and That

It's been awhile since I wrote again....sorry. I have just been beat all weekend. I try to ignore the pain in my joints, and I do pretty well at it most of the time. I'm not so good at ignoring the fatigue that goes with it. It has gotten to the point that I go back to bed almost every day when Garin takes his morning nap. I hope this gets better soon. There are so many things I want to do, but I don't have any energy. It doesn't help that Garin and the dogs keep waking me up at night. With Karl gone, I have such a hard time falling asleep. It was after midnight before I finally drifted off last night, then I was up six times in the next five hours, taking care of one or the other of them. I ended up staying home from church again, which I hate, but I was absolutely exhausted at 5:30, when I should have been getting up for the last time and getting ready. I knew it would be foolish to try driving back and forth that far and singing three services, as tired as I was. I did manage to find some energy this afternoon and vacuumed and dusted. That made me feel better than anything could have....well, except for Karl or Matt walking through the door.

I went to the new rheumatologist Friday. He seems like a really great guy, and his nurse was sweet. I think it will be worth the drive to Lewes to see him. He is fairly confident that the miscarriages are because of the Lupus anticoagulant. I was taking daily aspirin when we got pregnant with Garin and continued taking it until well into the second trimester. He says that if I have another miscarriage or (God forbid) a blood clot, he will put me on heparin, but he wants me to try aspirin again once Garin is weaned. I am glad to at least have some hope. The doctor is doing the standard blood tests, plus a chest x-ray and hand and wrist x-rays. He wants to make sure it (the disease) isn't damaging my lungs, and because of the pain in my hands and the fact that this sometimes leads to rheumatoid arthritis, he wants to make sure I don't have it. If the x-ray shows any rheumatoid arthritis, he says he wants to "treat it aggressively". I don't like the sound of that, but I don't think I have it anyway.

Karl called from the other side of the world this morning at 1:00 am. He said he would call me again this afternoon before his next flight, but I never heard from him. I am trying so hard not to worry. He probably just got really busy or had a hard time getting to a phone, but it will be at least 24 hours before he gets another chance to call. It's going to be a long day tomorrow. This will be the (or one of the) demanding leg(s) of this mission. I miss him so much when he's gone, and I can't help but worry about him.

Tomorrow I plan to go to the bowling alley and practice a little while with my friend, Kellie, who is also in my league. Then I need to run a few errands, but afterward, I am going to finally get around to making Christmas candy! I'll heat up some cider, light up the tree and get to work! (This is assuming that I get a decent night's sleep and have the energy....I'm hopeful.)

Thankfully, Garin has been a joy today! Oh, and I spoke to Matt. They've been without electricity for three days now and are still waiting with thousands of others for the crews to get their lines repaired. For now, they're hanging out at his grandparents' house because they still have power.

I guess that about covers it! Hope you all have a great week!