So . . .while this blog was a good idea, I'm thinking it's pretty much dead.  Amy's getting married in a few weeks, and I'm either busy not feeling well, or catching up on things I don't get done when I don't feel well. 

I'm a Hoosier now!  I found a great little place in NW Indiana, so I'm closer to all my friends (and to Nick).  I love the solitude of having my own place.  I'm all unpacked, so if you're interested, give me a call and come visit me! 

I am also enjoying the wonderfulness that is sharing friends and family with a significant other.  I really genuinely enjoy Nick's family (especially times with Megan and Katie, who are very fun) and his crazy rogue-ish friends.  There are a lot of really generous, supportive people surrounding Nick, and I'm grateful for that.  It's also nice to have a really caring best friend who takes care of me whenever I need it.  <3

I still love my job.  I finally told my boss about my condition, and he's been unbelievably supportive and understanding.  His wife has MS, so he knows quite a bit about autoimmune diseases, and knows my occasional physical limitations won't affect my job performance. 

The only thing that could possibly make my life better would be a puppy. 

it's amy's birthday, and i'm long overdue for the aforementioned promise.

my job requires me to do a decent amount of travel.  this is both exciting and a little worrisome.  no one at works knows i'm sick, and i'd rather they didn't find out.  now, for the most part, everything's been pretty well under control.  it's an easy time to fake healthy at the moment.  that helps. 

what doesn't help is that on a business trip, i'm often busy from 7am-11pm.  i will have meetings, classes, have to work trade shows, dinners, receptions.  it's a lot of walking, a lot of standing, a lot of eating things that maybe aren't the best for me, a lot less sleep than i like, and almost no break from the eyes of my coworkers. 

i think i managed just fine, but i came back from orlando pretty exhausted, and was so glad for a few days to recuperate.  my next trip isn't until june (luckily), but is sunday-tuesday, and i'll have to be ready to go back to work Wednesday morning. 

i think this job is a challenge, and would not be the best choice if i intended on "taking it easy".  however, i want a return to as much normalcy as possible, i want to always try my hardest to live life to the fullest, for today.  this job gives me good "training", i guess you could say.  hopefully this doesn't backfire in any way (always possible i'm pushing too hard, but i'm willing to take that chance). 

wish me luck.  let me know if you want to be on my souvenir list.

I love my new job.  It's a "real", "grown up" job and I'm already doing important things that utilize my education.  I've definately learned a lesson here, from being at Ozinga: I need to trust that there's a reason for everything.  I needed that crappy year and a half at a job I didn't always like in order to be best qualified to be where I am now. 

I'm trying to figure out insurance right now, and deciding between a PPO and a PPO POS (point of service).  If anyone has any knowledge about these plans, give me advice!

I still worry a little about a lot of health things.  No one at my new job knows about my health issues, and I hope to keep it that way.  However, I'm worried about the day I'll get violently ill out of no where and they'll figure out something's wrong.  I'm also a little apprehensive about the week I'll spend on a business trip in Orlando next week.  I'll be spending a lot of time standing and walking, which could be hard if I'm having a tough arthritis week.  We'll have to see.

I also worry because while Humira definately works, it does something, I still have what I consider to be a decent amount of pain.  It just still feels like my insides are always bloated and everything is too narrow. I can feel everything all the way through, and sometimes things feel stuck.  I worry that I'm functioning with an almost-obstruction, but I don't really know what to do about it.  I feel like my options are dealing with it, or telling my doctor and either getting put back on steriods (no, please no) or getting other risky medications upped.  I don't like upping my already too-high cancer risks.  Or I could try for pain medication and get a whole ton of people giving me extra stress (which makes me extra sick) by accusing me of being a pain addict or a wimp.  Eesh. 

I can't really rememeber what things were like before I had to run every daily decision past a bunch of "sick" criteria.