Eventually the pattern had to reverse...

We've turned to sleep(less) and productivity!

On Thursday, Mom took me for my last regular appointment with the pulmonologist here. I'll be picking up a new one in Jackson. The appointment went fine, I'm a pretty good patient when I'm not sick. Got Rx's written for a year (just in case, with God's help, I don't manage to get sick).

Then I asked for the shot. Ugh. Five years ago, I got my first dose of the pneumonia shot. It worked REALLY well. As in, I haven't had a documented case of pneumonia in five years. I had a total of 14 chest xray & blood documented episodes before the age of 18 (along with several close calls or self/doctor diagnoses), so this was a huge milestone. I had done some reading about the shot and realized that I probably needed a second dose, due to my level of activity with the disease and the fact that my only real close call in the past five years was this past season.

The bad part? I had a reaction to this shot five years ago. They gave it in the deltoid and I had such a skin/muscle reaction that we considered not getting another. Then we had the amazing results. So skin reaction aside, I knew it was necessary. This time, the reaction was more pronounced. I countered it with benadryl every 4 hours, but by the evening of the first day I was miserable. By the time it was said and done (today, I believe, we're finally receding), the shot site was about 3"x5". It's not "hot" or spreading anymore and the redness is completely gone. Thanks be to benadryl and prednisone. This is a shot that won't have to be repeated for a very long time, if ever, so I'm officially good to go.

Side effect of prednisone has and always will be insomnia for me. So even the low, 2-day dose caused me an exhilirating sleep time of THREE HOURS last night. On the upside, when I have to take it in med school I'm uber productive. It's kind of nice to be able to function well on no sleep.

The packing has come to a standstill because all that's really left is clothes. We did a lot this weekend, and there's a ton of stuff that's still packed from when I moved in with Dad. The coolest part about having my own place again? Probably seeing all this stuff that has been packed for 8+ months!

So all the paperwork is in, ALL the shots and dr visits are complete, and my beautiful, custom-made storage ottoman from La-Z-Boy is in the production stages. It'll take a bit longer than my other furniture, but it'll be worth waiting for :)

Hope everyone else had a wonderful 4th... I'm full speed ahead into two weeks of whirlwind breakfast, lunch, dinner, and coffee "see you laters" with friends as I get ready to finally start this process. Bring it on!