Feliz Navidad

Well, folks, it was an eventful trip to Kansas to spend Christmas with my Aunt Brenda and to visit old friends.  First of all, a rare winter storm in the Southwest made driving a rather messy hassle until I got out of New Mexico.

Unfortunately, driving through Roswell there was a nasty incident with slamming on breaks driving through town, and long story short, I need two new headlight assemblies.  I ended up using bungee cords and duct tape to get me the rest of the way to KS.

I spotted an awesome mullet somewhere in Oklahoma.

Finally, here is the end result of my Christmas crafting.  My great grandmother wrote a poem about Mrs. Claus, so I made an ornament for each verse to give to my aunt.  Since her tree is blue and silver, I kept the ornaments those colors.  I'd give instructions on how to make each of these things, or at least link to online tutorials, but it's less work for me if I just tell everyone to look on Pinterest.

Of all the busy people
this happy Christmas time,
none work like Mrs. Claus
for days and nights besides.

The good old Saint her husband
has so much to do
if Mrs. Claus did not take hold
they never would get through.




Their home is bright and cheery
they call it Reindeer Hall.
Icicles stick fast to the roof
and icebergs form the walls.

The Northern star, bright and shining,

gives all the light they need, 

for How to Climb the Chimney 

is the only book they read.

There's dolls in all the corners,
there's dolls in all the chairs,
piled high in every cupboard shelf
and way up the front stairs.

But not a stitch of clothing

on any can be seen.

Old Santa Claus is nice, 

but he can't sew on a machine.

So Mrs. Claus is busy

making petticoats and sacks.

And there are all the shirts to make 

for all the jumping jacks.

And long clothes for the babies, 

and hats and caps and capes.

All the dresses must be cut 

in the very latest shapes.

Bright on the fire a kettle boils

making such a noise.

The lid pops up, 

how good they smell

those lemon candy toys!

Such lots of candy cooking, 

such stacks of chocolate nice.

The kitchen is a sticky place, 

so sticky but so nice.

The reindeer must be harnessed, 

the toys packed in the sleigh

and old Santa Claus wrapped up in furs

to ride so far away.

Then Mrs. Claus he kisses and says, 

"My dear, I don't believe I'll be back home

'till nearly New Year's Eve."

And then away he dashes, 

as Mrs. Claus does call

"Be careful how you climb, 

I'll worry lest you fall."

And old Santa Claus is smiling, 

"I never in my life

could do so much for boys and girls

without so good a wife."

I'd like to apologize for the weird formatting in this post.  Between the Yorkshire pudding and the homemade toffee, my stomach is full and my brain is fuzzy.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

Propaganda v. Real Life

I am knee deep in Christmas crafting.  Actually, over my head would be more accurate.

I know it's been nearly two months since I last posted.  Life has been crazy, between rescheduling a concert that got snowed out (it was a big one, too...and since when does stuff get snowed out in the desert? Ick!) and everything else, it's a miracle the military hasn't annexed my apartment and office for hazardous terrain training.

Meanwhile....I got my fourth infusion of Actemra yesterday, and it couldn't have come sooner.  It's been a rough few weeks as I am in what my doctor calls the "peaks and valleys" stage of treatment.  This is a valley.  This last infusion marks the first time that my nurses missed my IV on the first stick and had to stick me not two but three times...and then I didn't bleed enough from the IV stick for labs, so a guy from the lab had to come up and stick me a fourth time.  The first IV attempt hit a valve and left me with an awesome bruise.  The ones on my hand are cool too, but not nearly as impressive as this one, which is becoming more colorful by the hour.  I still love my nurses, though.  They do a great job.

Anyway, I'm almost over my infusion hangover (which feels exactly like a real hangover, by the way) and recalled some mail I got about a week ago from the drug company.

By "mail" I mean this stuff was delivered to my doorstep via UPS.  This is a miracle considering that when I was taking Enbrel it took an act of Congress to get the actual drugs delivered to my doorstep....but drug company propaganda is no problem!  When I first saw the huge package I thought, "Wow, that safety brochure they mail out has gotten huge.  Should I be worried?"

It turns out the drug company was being helpful and sent this lovely journal:

As you can see, this is supposed to help me chart progress on this new drug.  I can't decide yet whether I'll actually use it.  I hate paperwork, and I'm pretty aware of how my body is doing, so I probably won't.  I think this is probably more helpful for people who were more recently diagnosed.  It does, however, include neat little appointment stickers.  Those are kind of cool.  Everyone likes stickers.  

Yet another reflection of what I believe to be targeting of the newly diagnosed was the second item in the package, a brochure:

While I certainly can appreciate this attitude, it really isn't mine.  After 22 years with RA pain I'm not on a "journey", and I'm not so much determined as I am resigned to the fact that I must have something that works in order to function and live my life.  I have things to do.

Bottom line, my real life perspective on my RA is this: