Well, I waited too long between posts. Sorry everybody! SO MUCH IS HAPPENING!!

Mixed Connective Tissue Disease. Apparently, I've got a little of that in me? When I went to see the rheumatologist a few weeks ago, I missed when he told me this. Or maybe I wasn't paying attention? I remember him saying, "Hey, one of your blood tests came back barrrrrrrrely positive, so I'm putting you on hydrochloroquine and I'll see you in 3 weeks." I think that's how it went.

Anyway, remember last time when I said I was an interesting case? Well, this is why. It's considered an "overlap syndrome" because a lot of different symptoms show up with it. BUUUT, the prognosis is good because it responds to corticosteroids and is generally treatable. Good for me, because at this point, I'm not even showing symptoms.

Common symptoms include: fatigue, cold, numb fingers, muscle and joint pain, and SAUSAGE FINGERS. I know I shouldn't laugh, but literally, EVERY SINGLE GOOGLE SEARCH PAGE lists "sausage fingers" as a symptom! I just can't help but giggle.

Aaaaanywho. Went to see the eye doctor again and for the first time in a month and a half, she was pleased with my progress and told me to come back in a MONTH. HOWEVER. My pupil is a different shape? Nothing to be alarmed about, but it freaked me out when I first noticed. For those of you who love Google, you've probably googled all the crazy things I've been writing about. I'm guilty of this as well. But apparently, pupils change shape a little as the inflammation is healing. I swear, some of these Google images show Starship Enterprise-shaped pupils. But it's nice to not have to schedule my life around appointments.


Wake up. Put on glasses. Eat Breakfast. Eye drops. Multivitamin. Prednisone. Hydrochloroquine. Live a little. Eat Lunch. Maybe work some. Eat Dinner. Another Prednisone.  This is my day. Not too shabby.



Except for my glasses. Had these since 2004. Soon to be fixed by the amazing Natalie Gainey.

In other news, our last day at The Lord's Church was last week. It's a really bitter sweet time for us. We've been there since 2009. They've been our support through our ENTIRE engagement, walked through almost the whole three years we've been married, and helped us spiritually, emotionally and financially through school, fires, moves, car wrecks, and all kinds of other disasters. We COULD NOT have made it through the last 3 years without them. Wouldn't have been possible. I got to hug everybody again at church and it broke my heart thinking that I won't be able to hug them again next week and watch our students grow into adults. I gotta stop writing about this. It's the prednisone. It makes me cry.

Lots of things are on the horizon. Good to know God is in control. And good to know someone out there made a recipe for homemade girl scout samoas, because I made these beauties. You're welcome. 

Sponkedonketitis!

Updates. I know you all want them.

I thought last year was the most ridiculous year ever. So far, 2013 has been a test of faith. Let's see how we're holding up, shall we?

I still have uveitis. It's been 36 days since the "Ojo Rojo" day at work when everyone thought I had been crying. Lots of ups and downs since then. Since my last post, my eye doctor saw lots of improvements in my eye, and began tapering off on my eye drops (no more dilated eyes!). However, 3 days later, my eye flared up again, turning a lovely shade of angry red and hurting like the Dickens. (What does that phrase even mean?). I called the eye doctor, who then informed me that I was positive for the gene HLA-B27, and she didn't want to make any decisions about my eye until talking to my rheumatologist.

HLA-B27 is a gene that's pretty hard to figure out. It is most commonly associated with ankylosing spondylitis, (what I've been calling sponkedonketitis for the last 2 weeks now) which is a chronic inflammatory disease of the spine that can eventually cause the spine, hips, and/or ribs to fuse together. Pretty crazy. But here's the thing. I DON'T HAVE IT. At least not yet. So there's some hope. I also don't have Lupus (remember the good ol' high ANA levels?) So Mr. Rheumatologist said, "Well, Carmen, you're an interesting case."

I knew that all along.

Long story short, he put me on some semi-long-term anti-inflammatory/malaria (ha!) medication (hydroxychloroquine, for those of you who are medically inclined) and he said it should really help keep both the AS and the Lupus at bay, for now at least. He said there were some other stronger medications that he could put me on instead, but they have more severe side effects (like, stimulating Lupus or AS, or not allowing me to get pregnant, or if I DO get pregnant, I would have to have an immediate abortion - yeah, that serious.) So this seemed like the best option. As for it helping the uveitis, he said that because it is so rare and unpredictable, there's no telling if it will improve with the drugs or not. Only time and patience for now.

Many thanks to Kelly Singletary for taking me to the rheumatologist for all of 20 minutes... and driving across the twin-span in a torrential downpour during a tornado warning!

As for my eye, she's improving. However, not without consequences. Tuesday, after attempting to drive out of the parking lot at work, I wrapped little Yaris around a brick building (like, literally got it stuck on the corner of a brick building) and scratched her up pretty badly. I couldn't get her un-stuck, so I ended up grabbing a bunch of my team members to get it out, only making me more embarrassed, and then cry in front of everyone. Wah wah wah, life is hard. It's just a car. I just feel badly for her, she's so ugly now.

We're all moved in with John and Lauren, and it's been nice having grown-up roommates again. We plan meals and groceries together. I'm learning how strong-willed two year olds are. I get a dog that not only snuggles with me but protects me... and climbs trees?



As for Scotland, I don't have much to update. No, we still don't know where we're going to live... or really what we're going to do when we get off the plane. It's a little scary. I love to plan and stay ahead of the game, but I think God is really testing my trust in him. A lot of people have been asking me if I think all these problems are God's way of telling us not to go to Scotland. Honestly, I don't think God works that way. We've been in constant prayer about this whole thing. Why would God affirm our decision to go in prayer and then turn around and make everything difficult and say, "Well, figure it out. Do I want you to go or not?" God has given Clay and me complete peace about the move. Now, the details, we have yet to work out. The money situation, ehh, money comes and goes. We knew we wouldn't get the $35,000 that we need to show to the Scotland Visa people that we have the finances to pay for tuition and living expenses. Loans never killed anybody. But we know we're right where we're supposed to be, and we're just going to trust that God will help us work out the details.

So on that note, I'll leave you with some comedic relief.

When Clay is upset about something, he makes angry cat sounds and makes angry cat ears. I love him. He just hit his head on the wall trying to get a look at what I'm writing and made more angry cat sounds. Ha!

Found this picture of my favorite teacher in high school, Mr. Norton, when I was cleaning out my apartment. Now, the funny thing about this picture is that a student bet him $10 that he wouldn't be able to get his eyes completely shut in his yearbook picture. He said over and over, the photographer snapped the picture, and each time, his eyes were shut, so the guy just kept taking more. Finally, after the 5th picture, he got this masterpiece. Halfway. He only got $5. But this picture was up on the Wall of Glory in AP Lit and I snagged it at the end of my senior year. Love that guy.

Got some fun stuff coming up this summer! Hopefully, new glasses and a healed eye are in my  very near future!

Carm