It has been so long...

I cannot take in all I have missed to spew on!
Banks, Barney Franks, raises and bonuses, the four way stop by my apartments, AHHHH!
Let's start with why I haven't been around so much.

Phase I - Shortly after my last February post Lee broke his foot. An emulsion fracture isn't a clean break. It is a chunk broken from the bone. It is going to take a long time to heal. We have a car with a clutch, I am now the chauffeur for Lee now. My day is divided into sections. The morning section is between dropping Lee off and going after him for lunch. The afternoon chunk is after I drop him back off from lunch and picking him back up at night.

Phase II - Add to the mix the dreaded and very hated around here DST. We hate it, despise it and wish it were dead along with all those who love being morning people. Vampires and Werewolves do not like the light. I am definitely of the Vampire class.
I have made over $1000 in jewelry recently due to a really hefty order I received from Fire Mountain Minerals. So I have been both busy at my design table and at my key board because of...

Phase III - I am the Charleston County Relay for Life Publicity/Newsletter Committee Chair! Whew, that alone is a lot to type! Every month, I gather stories from all over the cancer world and info concerning the teams and such and put it in a fun newsletter!
My personal Relay page is located here if you care to donate or buy a Luminaria bag.
If you can come to the relay at all, try to see the Luminaria ceremony at sundown. We will scroll the names of those "in honor of" and "in memorial of" on a large screen near the DJ.
The survivors dinner will be held earlier this year for those who do not know. The forms to join us for the survivor laps are here and that is no charge and you get a tee shirt and a ticket for the survivors dinner.
Please come and show the rest of the world cancer can be fought and beaten.
This year, I will be wearing a bright orange COMMITTEE shirt and not a survivor shirt. I will probably be helping out with the dinner or signing in the new people.
There is still time to sign up a team and our next meeting will be March 23rd at Bon Secours St Francis Hospital on Teckleburg Rd here in West Ashley from 6:30 to 7:30 in Mall class room 1.
Come and meet the other team captains and get some info on how to help make your team a success!
Uh-oh, got into preachy mode there, sorry.

Phase IV - I had a bad patch recently. After many blood tests and doctors visits it was a concern that I might have had another brush with cancer. They were doing tests to see why my blood counts were all low and consistently low for 3 months of blood tests. They started (not really wanting to) the words Aplastic Aemia. That is a blood cancer. My pelvic bone remeber was irradiated enough to destroy my lowers spine and cauda equina. The pelvis is also responsible for the majority of your white cells. They took all of this into account and was about to do the diagnosis when my last groups of blood work came back with a bad ANA reading. It was decided to do another blood test for ANA and TA-DA! The ANA came backbad and another diagnosis was made. the pretty name is SLE or Systemic Lupus Erythematosis.
The signs were all there. I had a butterfly on my cheek which is an outward sign of Lupus, low grade fever, aches in the joints themselves and really bad fatigue. I could wake up from 12 hours of sleep and be absolutely wrung out and loss of appetite. I have lost 24lbs since Jauary. My favorite bell bottoms are too big. THAT is upsetting!
The thing is, Lupus is bad but it flares. I may not have another flare for months. Right now, I am flaring. Hopefully, it will go away soon. I have had to adjust all of my meds. I am now on a steroid...YUCK!!!

Let's see, I think that is it for why I haven't been around much. Lee is still looking at 4 months of healing or so. Although he did need to drive himself one day due to me being flat out on my back. His foot was swollen after that.
So hopefully, I will find time in my chunks of time to blog a bit. DId I mention that I have a facebook page too that is being ignored? I also have a garden to weed and some tilling of my pots to do, Ostara is Friday!