Things be happening

The following post I wrote on my flight back from my wonderful trip to DC to visit my bestie Jenna in August 2012. It was before I got engaged, before my job position changed, before a lot of awesome things and other things happened in my life. Since I already had a lot written and I haven't posted in quite some time, I thought I would go a head and share.

Here I am at a cruising altitude of 39,000 feet and it is hard for me to sit still in my middle seat. Sorry people to my left and right. I don't think I have stopped moving this entire flight. The past week I have had an overwhelming feeling of joy that things are happening, and I have so many exciting things in store for my life in the near future. Some things I know, others I things I have no idea but I am excited. 

One amazing thing is the start if a new med! The most recent try after my failed Humira attempt was Orenzia. Unfortunately, that made my WBC spike to what my doctor said was "scary high." Always comforting to have your doctor use the word "scary" when talking about your condition. So this Friday we head forward to infusions. I have had an infusion before. Basically I get to sit in a chair for 3+ hours attached to an IV. I will say at first I was very not excited about this. I think it frustrated me that my RA controls a large part of my life and the previous treatments were, for the most part, not very time consuming and relatively a breeze. Now we are talking about having to take a big chunk of time out of a day every 8 weeks. However, I am looking at the positive side of this and I'm thinking how many books I get to read, all the "me time" I get to have, all the movies I get to watch. It really won't be too bad of a thing to deal with. Plus new meds and research are constantly coming out so I very well could not be doing this for the rest of my life.

And then the plane landed. 

So to catch everyone up to speed, I got engaged since then! :)

Spencer and I have been dating since 2010 and I love him soooo much! I couldn't have asked for a better man. The stuff he puts up with...God bless him.

This was right after dinner... his "I am so exhausted I don't know whether to puke or faint... I just can't talk right now" face.

And every girl has to have a nails done ring picture. I had my nails done for about 2 months in hopeful anticipation :) 

Spencer proposed at the Chihuly Exhibit in the Oklahoma City Museum of Art on September 21, 2012.

From there I was in the middle of trying an new medicine, Remicade. My doctor wasn't seeing the results she wanted, so she upped the meds and the frequency of the infusion to every 6 weeks. 

I actually didn't mind getting the infusions at all. They had nice big comfy chairs, I always brought my computer and I definitely got some good quality "me time."

Unfortunately after I think 7 treatments, I was feeling bad again just a week after the infusion, which shouldn't happen. While my blood tests showed my RA was partially controlled, my doctor said she thought we shouldn't waste any more time on this drug because it is not giving us the results we want. 

So now we are caught up to today. New day, new drugs.

I am now taking the newly approved Xeljanz. I am again super excited about this one, despite the whole "newness" thing. But what are you gonna do. All drugs were new at one point. Someone has to be a guinea pig. 

Xeljanz is an oral pill taken twice daily, which is awesome because taking a pill takes like .5 seconds. So that's like a second every day instead of 3 hours plus treatment every six weeks. The other thing is, this drug has shown really good results in people where other medications were not effective. It works on an entirely different pathway than any other RA medication (DMARDS, Biologic, NSAIDS, ect.). And I've tried them all so yay for new meds! My doctor said several of her patients reported improvements in just a couple of weeks. 

Maybe it is just me being hopeful, but I will say, this has been a pretty decent arthritis pain-free week. The only downside I have experience is a little nausea, but I am used to that. So as I enter week #2 on Xeljanz all I can do is hope and pray that this is my perfect cocktail.... minus the daily predisone.... which I would like to stop taking before my wedding... because it is making me gain weight and there are few things more frustrating than gaining weight that is out of your control. If I am going to gain 10 lbs in a month, I would like it to be because I enjoyed a delicious double cheeseburger from Patty Wagon. Not a crappy tasting 10mg steroid pill. Please and thank you.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future."