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| Dawes at Criminal Records, Atlanta GA, March 2015 |
Happy New Year to me! 2015 was an extraordinary year, one of the very best in so many ways. My job went well; my successes were acknowledged. I made a nice automotive upgrade. We took (and survived) a real family vacation. Two of three sons became engaged to wonderful young women whom we love. I saw lots and lots of live music (Dawes 2x, Jackson Browne, Rob Thomas, Kyle Cook...), and Middle Son's Band's fabulous first studio album was released to great reviews. Mostly, I am happy, content, and optimistic.
But I am not well. In 2015, I had three bouts of diverticulitis (more like one five month long one, with three peaks) that really knocked me on my ass. I made three trips to the emergency room. They included an overnight stay, a full-day Saturday for IV antibiotics and a four day admission last May. I had two CT Scans and a Stress Test. I missed a lot of work. I had a failed hysteroscopy (attempting this one again next week) during which I broke a speculum (look it up if you dare - but don't). Mostly, my joints seem to be disintegrating at a remarkable rate, and I can no longer really walk unassisted. Everything hurts almost all the time. So, I'm looking forward to 2016 with the hope of improving some of this. I'm seeing a rheumatologist who is helping me treat the pain while we wait and watch in an effort to make a proper diagnosis (he says these things take time?!). For now, he's calling this fibromyalgia (gack!) with osteoarthritis (in so many joints). Add all this to my Crohn's Disease, and I'm just one sweet little *barely able to walk* ball of inflammation. I've been seeing a physical therapist for strengthening exercises and "dry needling", which seem to be helping some. I am at least stronger in some ways. In February, I'm going to get a new right hip. My original one is completely out of cartilage and has grown three ugly bone spurs. This has happened frighteningly fast. I am told that fixing this will reduce my pain and greatly improve my ambulation but warned not to expect too much because some of the pain is caused by the degeneration of the disks of my spine. We won't know how much until the hip is fixed.
Meanwhile, the Crohn's Disease has slipped from "mild to moderate" to "moderate to severe" (two tos too many?). The good news there is that we've added a biologic infusion med to my treatment regimen. Every 6-7 weeks, I go sit in a little room of five recliners and get a two-hour IV infusion of a medicine (Remicade, a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor, a "biologic") that helps stop my immune system from attacking me (sure, this is just osteoarthritis all over my body), which will not only improve my Crohn's symptoms but should at least slow the alarmingly rapid progression of joint degeneration (especially if it's auto-immune, which I strongly suspect).
Yikes. In the meantime, life marches on. Middle Son will marry in April. The Youngest will graduate from college in May. Texas Niece will marry (in Wimberley TX) in June. The Oldest will marry sometime next fall. I have much dancing to do. But first, I will have my hip replaced (a way nicer way to say it than the actual procedure deserves - more on this later - promise). Going forward, I resolve to write more and to write more authentically, to do less focusing on all that is peachy when so much isn't, and include the hard stuff too. Let this be that beginning.
Happy New Year, y'all.
