Update

   I went to see my dermatologist and we are going to do the Enbrel treatments again. I'm not really looking forward to this, but if it gets rid of the psoriasis, then I guess that's what I need to do. This time they are going to have me take the shots twice a week instead of once, and there is a pill I will be taking that has some awful side effects. One of them is severely dried chapped lips. If this happens I have to wing myself off the pills one by one until it stops. The second one is that I may have bad headaches that won't go away. I get rid of the headaches the same way.
   The swelling in my feet came back again and now it is in both feet. My clinic seems to feel that the edema and the psoriasis are aggravating each other and causing the swelling. My ankles are very swollen and I am wearing my house slippers to work. My dermatologist looked at my latest outbreak and agreed with what the doctors at the clinic had to say. He said that what is probably happening is the blood is only flowing so far down my legs and then backing up and the water is accumulating in my lower legs. All I know is that it's uncomfortable.
   In other news, the Bells Palsy is starting to get a little better. I notice it mostly when I sleep because I drool. Plus when I talk I still slur my speech. It is the weirdest thing ever to feel your face all scrunched up like this.

   The girls just got out of school this week. The oldest got honorable mentions in the Kiwanis Club's terrific kid award, a Presidential certificate and medal for Academic Excellence, A certificate in Language Arts and received another certificate for highest GPA average between 3.8 and 4.0. along with 9 others. She had straight A's this last quarter. Pretty darn awesome.
   Aly's school didn't have all the awards because she just graduated from 7th grade, but she also received A's and one A minus. I am very proud of the two of them.

   That is all.

In a Nutshell

Lately I've been feeling sore. I never know when the pain will come. Sometimes I have bouts of it. Sometimes it is like jolts of electricity shooting through my body. It may be in my back or in my stomach. It may travel through my shoulders or my legs. They are usually brief, like they are subtle reminders of what comes next, screaming this is that. Sometimes there is no pain. Sometimes it is just an unrelenting tiredness that has no boundary. I must just sleep. Sometimes it is a persistent nauseating feeling in my stomach.
My muscle mass is slowly wasting. That means my strength is leaving. I am going to have to work on this. If I can do anything for myself right now then this is it. I need more exercise.
I haven't been writing very much because I keep losing my train of thought. I don't think it's terribly bad, but it is certainly more difficult. Sometimes I will be talking to Lois and I'll lose the words. I have to stop and think about what it is I'm saying. She'll ask me repeatedly what it is I'm trying to say and then I will get frustrated and tell her to hang on a second. This is a big worry for me. I don't want to lose my mental faculties.
My psoriasis has returned. I was hoping that I'd have my transplant before this happened. I'm not sure what to do about this new development because it takes a lot of time to treat it and it is uncomfortable. I was actually thinking about asking my doctor about trying the interferon treatment again to see if we could fight the HCV. I figured that if I was going to be miserable for the next few months then maybe I could give it a shot and see what happens. But the interferon has a nasty way of making the psoriasis flare up so maybe that won't work right now.
I realize that this post probably sounds kind of depressing. I think I'm a bit overwhelmed these days. Up until recently I've tried to keep my head on straight. And in all honesty I think I've been doing a pretty good job of it.
I hope to be feeling better by the next time I post again.
Peace.