Humor, Medicine, Running, and SeaWorld

When I entered the family room, I nodded my head and raised my hand with anticipation of praise as I announced, "Thank you, thank you! I trimmed my own toenails." My dad smiled wide with pride and told me to get a sticker for my sticker book. Being an adult is hard.

In regards to my health, I don't feel qualified to make treatment decisions. The doctor tells me a list of options and then tells me to choose. In the moment, I may think I made a solid decision. However, after pondering my selection, I wonder what the hell I'm doing?  When did a biological medicine being infused into my vein become the best choice?  According to my nurse advocate, my insurance approved Remicade, but my co-pay is really high (she didn't tell me the amount of the co-pay). She will be mailing me paperwork for Remistart, which is a patient rebate program to help with co-pays. Eligible patients only pay $5.00 per infusion. I went ahead and scheduled my loading doses for May 3rd, May 17th, and June 14th. After the loading doses, infusions will be scheduled every eight weeks. The bad news is that the infusions take two and half to three hours and my nurse advocate only administers infusions Tuesday mornings or Friday mornings at her office in Ocoee, which is nowhere close to Sanford where I work. That means more time I have to "waste" taking off of work for my health.  I'm going to be lucky if I have enough time off left in November for the NYC marathon. Anyways, when I made the appointments, I didn't know where Ocoee was located. I'm going to call her tomorrow to see if I can request a location closer to Sanford. Either way, I'm going to have to talk to my supervisor to let her know I'll be needing more time off.  Hopefully, she'll still be understanding. If I do keep my Remicade infusion appointment on May 3rd, I will not have to do any more Cimzia injections.

My colorectal specialist told me to take two weeks to recover from what ended up not being as serious as we thought going into it. Technically, I should probably wait until my follow up appointment on the 29th or call her office to get approval to start exercising again. But you know me, I do what I want. I walked two miles on Monday to prove to concerned family members I really am ready to get moving again. On Tuesday, I ran one mile with my sister, Kelly, and then we walked another two miles. It felt good. I'm a little sore, but I'm excited to start training again.

My company is hosting a picnic for Employee Appreciation at SeaWorld this Saturday. I was allowed to RSVP for myself and one guest, so Taylor is coming into town to be my guest. After the picnic at Sea Harbor Pavilion, my company paid for everyone's ticket into the park. Bonus: For only $20 I can update the ticket to a fun card for the rest of the year! They've already distributed the free parking ticket. I'm excited because I haven't been to SeaWorld in forever!

All My Friends Know

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a lot of friends. In friendships, I look for quality, not quantity. One thing is certain, anyone I consider a friend knows poop makes me smile and laugh. Jokes, books, and videos about poop really lighten my mood. Even though I deal with a shitty disease I'm still able to find the humor in poop, butts and farts. I'm thankful for that. Strangely enough, I feel bad for those who have lost their cockroach. Watch this video to explain the cockroach reference: http://youtu.be/JsinmLHiItI 

I've been having a rough time lately... pain, diarrhea, and fatigue have been beating me up. In times like this, I'm glad I don't have a lot of friends because I feel I don't even have the energy for the friends I do have. I know I'm sleeping my life away, but it means I'm sleeping through life happenings of their lives, too. I'm grateful my friends are understanding of my non-seasonal, hermit like habits.

Today my friend, Brittany, made my day. Heck, she made my week! She mailed me a book all about poop! That's how awesome she is! Thanks to her, I'll be able to tell the difference between dog and hippo feces. Can't wait to enjoy the book while I take a dump. Dear future friends and boyfriends, this is how you make me feel special. Every time my friends make me smile and laugh it reminds me that I am indeed blessed. The poop book means more to me than I can put into words. How lucky I am to call Brittany my friend.

"Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you." -Langston Hughes