Officially a Flare

I heard from my docs today. I'm officially in a flare - a fancy way of saying that my chronic health condition is acting up. Well, we king of knew that, right? I was already feeling yucky before the flu shot, so perhaps the flu shot was the last straw. The good news is that my doc put me on a high dose of prednisone yesterday and I'm already starting to feel better. I got a good night's sleep and I can function today. Prednisone is like a devil in a white dress... it makes you feel great, but it's really an evil medication. I was once on it for nearly six months. I'm hoping to be off it after just a week and not have to taper the dosage or anything. It's a good goal and my docs are on board with it. I can live and work through mild pain and inflammation, just not the extreme that I was suffering. Too long on prednisone and I'll get "moon face" again - definitely not something I want ever again --- a round face that literally is shaped and bloated like the moon!

Tonight is my last class before a weekend reprieve. Sporty, T.S., and I are headed to our hometown for the weekend. I will celebrate Yom Kippur with my family, attend a G.A. meeting, spend time with Sporty's family, and hopefully see a bunch of my friends as well. It'll be a quick couple days, but it's the first time I am leaving my state while on supervision. It's that reality that I am not quite free to live my life, but I am so grateful that I was given the permission to travel home without any suspicion. I wish I was feeling better, but it doesn't have to be perfect, what matters is that I am going. I'm worried more about the several hour drive, than being there, but we have several stops to make along the way, so I'll get out and stretch, so that will help.

My weekend is not exactly a break, however, as I have two papers and a major presentation due next week. I will be trying to find time for reading, writing, and preparing. Once I am back at school, I will have two days of late group meetings to make up for the inability to meet over the weekend - Monday and Tuesday meetings going to 10pm - because my professors like to put us in group projects. I love collaborative projects, but finding times for everyone to work together can be difficult. I'm all for great technology - like google docs and others online that allow us to edit same documents in real time - but people like to meet, and they seem to see me as their lead. They are all just out of undergrad and not as familiar with the writing protocols or technology. I'm trying to pass the agency on to them, but they look to me to delegate. It's okay, they are incredibly intelligent capable people!!!

For me, I am getting to be creative in my work in several ways. In one presentation, I am using Prezi, which I enjoy so much more than PowerPoint. It makes it so much more fun in preparing for presentations. I am creating graphs/charts with lots of data (which I enjoy). I'm also getting to use my legal brain now and then, which can be fun. I'm really enjoying school.

So, being in a flare sucks. It's hard to sit for a long time in the uncomfortable seats usually available. It's also hard to stand sometimes. It's hard to type sometimes. It's hard to lie down at times. Well, sometimes anything can be difficult. Yeah, flares suck. But, I am not letting it slow me down, because I not only need to do my work, but I like doing my work. Isn't that what we all want?!?!?