SUNDAY

Hi Friends,

I'm feeling a little better today. I am adjusting meds this week, and I will be trying to discontinue 3 meds that were contributing to my low blood pressure. My blood pressure is already better with them gone, so that's good. The problem is that my heart rate is too high. But Dr. Cohen and the cardiologist will need to work on a new plan for that, because when we lower the heart rate to a normal rate, it unfortunately lowers my blood pressure to a dangerous place. I also got the OK to go up on Prednisone (may help with energy) just a bit from 3 mg-5 mg daily. Don't worry, I'm not on 60 mg a day anymore. And I'm trying to stop the Lasix (for swelling) and Oxybutynin(for bladder symptoms) -- hopefully I can do without them. If those symptoms come back, I can restart. The idea is to be on the fewest medications possible, of course, to manage my conditions. I've been feeling very nauseous, so I'm hoping it may go away when some of these meds are discontinued.

Other than that -- today was family day. We went to the library as a family. Cameron needed books for his Y2K report, and the homeschoolers chose some new reading materials, too. After our trip to the library we had dinner at Carl's Jr. And right now, we're all hanging out and watching a marathon of "Trauma:Life in the ER." Everyone that is -- except Nate who has fallen asleep.

Nate and Isaac have made a friend who lives down further on our street. His name is Matthew and the boys have been playing together everyday after school. On Saturday, we met his Mom as well -- who is very nice. So, I have finally made a friend in our new housing development. And it turns out that Matthew has a sister, Amber, who is 13 just like Molly. So, we got the two of them together and they were fast friends!

Well, I'll sign off now and continue to hang out with all the kids and cats on the big sectional. It's very cozy!

Much Love,
Michele