Thankful

Once again it's been a little bit since I have wrote on here... which I guess in a sense is a good thing because there hasn't been any changes in my blood work or enzyme levels. Everything is still going amazingly! I haven't had hardly any side effects at all from the medicines, of which I am very thankful.

Sometimes we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays and forget the true meaning of why we are celebrating... & often times we get ahead of ourselves...

Don't forget the TRUE meaning of the season! Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. I still can't believe how fast this year has gone by. It's def been a crazy ride of ups and downs. & I will be sure to write a blog on this later. But just to touch on it a little bit...

Never think you can't do or overcome something. BELIEVE in yourself. Sometimes you might not get what you want right away but believe me, good things come to those who wait. You just have to hang in there and have faith. Don't doubt yourself for one second.

Happy Fall!!

I meant to post this picture yesterday, but I forgot! Smokey is the only one of our animals that actually likes to take pictures for me! Lol.

Hello October!

I know it's been a little bit since I have written anything on here... SO I wanted to change that! I can't believe that October is almost OVER! It's crazy how fast the year has gone by. A lot has happened so far in October, so let me share some of it with you in pictures:

We saw our first ever Colts game at the new Lucas Oil Stadium!! Colts v Chiefs - Oct 9, 2011. No, the Colts didn't win, but we had a LOT of fun! Happy Birthday Dad!

My best friend got MARRIED! Oct 15, 2011.

Jeremy got a deer!!

Nah, not yet. But he's been practicing!!!

So far it's been a great fall! Looking forward to the last 2 months of the year! Only good things to come! Hope everyone has been having a great October!!

Bass Pro Shop Weekend

Picture of my family and I at Bass Pro Shop, Springfield, MO over this past weekend. It was a lot of fun and that place is HUGE! You should check it out sometime!!

2 Month Check Up

I went to the doctor yesterday for a check up on my blood work to make sure that my liver enzymes were still at normal levels and that my blood counts were still up to par. Heard back from the doctor this afternoon and he told me that all of my levels were normal! This is def good to hear, although I will still be on the same dosages of medicine that I have been on the past few months just to make sure that everything will remain stable for a longer period of time. He did say that by middle of next year that I will be able to be taken off of the Prednisone as long as things continue to go well. He also mentioned that I would have to stay on the 6mp for a longer period of time than what we had originally talked about which I am really hoping doesn't end up being true. Right now my goal is to be off these medicines completely by end of next year. Any prayers, positive thoughts, and support would be greatly appreciated in hopes that this goal is achieved.

Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a great weekend.

Our Boys

Here's a picture of our boys... all graduated from obedience school at Petsmart! Let's hope they learned something!

Smokey & Bandit 

-September 2011-

Angels on the Moon

Friend on Facebook posted a few lyrics from this song. I had never heard of this band before but I really like them! You should check them out!

Thriving Ivory - Angels on the Moon

Do you dream that the world will know your name,
So tell me your name (tell me your name)
And do you care, about all the little things,
Or anything at all (or anything at all),

I wanna feel all the chemicals inside,
I wanna feel (I wanna feel),
I wanna sunburn just to know that I'm alive,
To know I'm alive (to know if I'm alive),

Don't tell me if I'm dying,
Cause I don't wanna know,
If I can't see the sun,
Maybe I should go,
Don't wake me cause I'm dreaming,
Of angels on the moon,
Where everyone you know,
Never leaves too soon

Do you believe in the day that you were born,
Tell me do you believe, (do you believe)
And do you know that every day's the first of the rest of your life,

Don't tell me if I'm dying,
Cause I don't wanna know,
If I can't see the sun,
Maybe I should go,
Don't wake me cause I'm dreaming,
Of angels on the moon,
Where everyone you know,
Never leaves too soon,

This is to one last day in the shadows,
And to know a brothers love,
This is to New York City angels,
And the rivers of our blood,
This is to all of us,
To all of us,

So don't tell me if I'm dying,
Cause I don't wanna know,
If I can't see the sun,
Maybe I should go,
Don't wake me cause I'm dreaming,
Of angels on the moon,
Where everyone you know,
Never leaves too soon,

Yeah you can tell me,
All your thoughts about the stars,
That fill polluted skies,
And show me where you run to,
When no one's left to take your side
But don't tell me where the road ends,
Cause I just don't wanna know,
No, I don't wanna know,

Don't tell me if I'm dying,
Don't tell me if I'm dying.

Facebook Status

 This quote was from the status of a few of my friends on Facebook... thought it was appropriate for a blog post. 

"BUT YOU DON'T LOOK SICK!" Maybe not, but it's a daily struggle feeling sick on the inside while you look fine on the outside. Put this as your status for at least 1 hour if you or someone you know has any invisible illness (such as ataxia, AIH, MS, hypothyroid, adrenal insufficiency, anxiety, depression, diabetes, lupus, fibromyalgia, chrohns, arthritis, cancer, chronic headache, HAE, etc.). Never judge what you don't understand.

I Am Strong

This is a great YouTube Video... it was shot at St Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Kind of helps you see things from a different point of view...

I Am Strong

Also, this is a great one by George Strait. He never gets old. ;]

Here For A Good Time

10 > 15

It's been one month since I was able to reduce the amount of Prednisone from 20mg to 15mg. This past Friday I was able to reduce it again from 15mg to 10mg! I'm really hoping that this time goes better than last! I have been having a few headaches but not as bad as before. As long as things go well on my blood tests next month, I will be on this same dosage amount until next June. Once June 2012 comes around, the doctor said he will try taking me off of the medications completely. This would be AWESOME! For now though, I'm just focusing on next month and making sure that I drink plenty of water and continue to eat healthy foods.

On a different note... we are re-doing our bathroom this weekend. Currently the old tub is completely gone and we are ripping up the floor so we can put a new floor and tile down. Already have taken a couple of trips to Lowe's and Home Depot. Hoping we can get a majority of it done today so our weekend project doesn't turn into a week long or two weekend project. Ha. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Penguins!

This is a video of the penguins from Tanganyika Wildlife Park. We went with Andrea and Brian when they came in from Indiana to visit us! It was definitely a fun weekend! Just wanted to jump in that water with them though because it was super hot!

A Positive Note

I bought a book the other day called 'Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive'. Chicken Soup for the Soul books are some of my favorites and I figured this one would just as promising especially with all that has been going on lately. So, I thought I'd start the weekend off with a positive note - here are some great quotes from the book that I have found so far -

Change your thoughts and you change your world.

Four things for success: work and pray, think and believe.

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.

Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow.

The only disability in life is a bad attitude.

Hope that everyone has a great and positive weekend!!

Prednisone... The Not Four Letters Four Letter Word

I've had a few family members and friends that have had to take this medicine, however I never really knew the details on the side effects that could possibly occur with it. I thankfully have not had many of these, but I just thought I'd list some of the possibilities from long time use of this drug which more than likely I will have to be on throughout the rest of my life -

• indigestion
• nervousness or restlessness
• darkening or lightening of skin color
• dizziness or lightheadedness
• flushing of face or cheeks
• hiccups
• increased sweating
• sensation of spinning
• increased appetite
• confusion
• excitement
• false sense of well-being
• hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there)
• mental depression
• mistaken feelings of self-importance or being mistreated
• mood swings (sudden and wide)
• restlessness
• skin rash or hives

And the list goes on...

One last note - Whenever you stop taking prednisone or change the amount of prednisone you are taking your body may need time to adjust to this. The body has to learn that it must now start making more of it's normal steroid production in order to compensate for the reduction in the amount that it is/or had been receiving from the prednisone. Possible side effects from this include -

• joint pain
• muscle pain
• fatigue
• headache
• fever
• low blood pressure
• nausea and vomiting

Which is the main reason I wrote this particular blog because I recently had a reduction in my prednisone dosage and have been having a headache off and on. We called the doctor yesterday and he said I shouldn't be having a headache from the prednisone and to try taking some Ibuprofen since I can't have Tylenol. Still need to try this out but I'm hoping it will just go away. Ugh. Had a rough weekend and today it came back around. Just feeling achy this morning. I found that sometimes it can take 2-7 days for the body to adjust to the change in prednisone. Let's hope I start to feel better soon!

It's A Great Day To Be ALIVE

I got the results back from my blood test today and...

MY LIVER ENZYMES ARE DOWN TO NORMAL LEVELS!!!

In case you can't tell, I'm pretty excited about this. Normal levels mean between 20-40! No longer 1,500! Now I know what it feels like to feel good, to have energy, and to be overall HAPPY! =D

The doctor told me today that I will be able to reduce the Prednisone from 20mg daily down to 15mg. I will take 15mg for one month and once that month is over I will start taking 10mg daily. I won't have to have blood work done again for another two months and as long as everything continues to stay normal I will be able to stay on the 10mg of Prednisone until next year when I am evaluated again. This is GREAT news!!

Thank you to everyone who is reading or has been keeping updated on my blog. I greatly appreciate your support and prayers! Hope that everyone has a great weekend!!

Science goes only so far, then comes God. - The Notebook

Blood Work

Well, as you probably know from reading past blogs that I [FINALLY] had my blood work drawn today... just waiting for the phone call from the doctor now to let me know at what level my liver enzymes are at right now. I've been feeling pretty good so I'm hoping that this is a good sign. Really would like my prednisone dosage to be cut in half. That is the goal this time around. Didn't quite reach that goal last time, although I think it may have had something to do with the fact that I was just learning how to swallow a whole pill. Crazy right? The fact is, I never had to learn before. Thankfully that obstacle has been overcome! I know it might seem pretty simple but it really has been a HUGE help. Ha.

JEREMY -
I never gave an update on Jeremy's MRI results... he found out he did NOT have a torn meniscus, however there is a hole in the cartilage on his knee and the doctor said there is a significant amount of arthritis under the knee cap. He will be going to physical therapy twice a week for the next few weeks to help build up the muscle around his knee. His second session was yesterday... he said the therapist really worked out his knee. Of course after the session he was told to ice it, however Jeremy informed him that he had a double header in softball that night and probably wouldn't be able to ice it right away. Therapist said, 'Oh, well... I'd definitely ice it afterwards then!' Lol. Not going to slow us down!

I'm hoping to get my results later today or tomorrow. The way it's looking it's probably going to be sometime tomorrow so check back soon to find out what the results are! I will def have a blog about it! Please keep the positive thoughts coming our way!

Water Does A Body Good

I've been doing a LOT of reading and researching lately on what is best for people with AIH to eat or drink to help improve the functioning of their liver. One of the most important things I've found is to drink water. Just plain old water. NO additives whatsoever. This does not only ring true for me but for everyone, so I thought I would share this article with you:

How Much Water Does Your Liver Need?


For the longest time I thought a healthy supply of water was 8 cups per day. There has been some debate on this as you can see from reading the article. It depends on YOU. It is the summer months now so I thought a little education on water might be helpful. It was 110 degrees (according to my car, Alice) yesterday. I don't know about you, but if you ask me that is HOT!! And it's only going to get hotter! So drink plenty of water and stay cool!!

Blood work in 3 more days!!!

Fun From the 4th

This firework was called 'Picture Perfect'. I picked it out... told Jeremy it would be pretty sweet - minus the debris that fell on us and our house after it was fired! Lol.

Support Through Facebook

Each and every day I learn more about Autoimmune Hepatitis, however there are still some lingering questions in my mind. I've found a group recently on Facebook of others who also have AIH and I'm finding it very supportive and useful. It lets me know that I am not the only one out there who has the same concerns/questions. Here is the link if you are interested:

Facebook: AutoImmune Hepatitis

I have posted a few things on there myself in order to help others who have found out recently that they too also have AIH. It's not going to be the same for everyone because everyone is different and has different reactions to medicines. What DOES matter is just staying positive through it all. I'm sure that everyone has their moments when they ask, "Why me?" but in the end there's nothing you can do about it but deal with it and go on with life. You most definitely can still LIVE life to it's fullest potential, even if the autoimmune disorder may not necessarily have been part of the "plan". Who's to say there even is a "plan". We don't know what is going to happen tomorrow let alone years from now. It may not even be AIH. There are other autoimmune disorders out there that I am sure are just as difficult to cope with and/or have not-so-comfortable side effects.

As for me I'm doing my best to stay positive. REALLY looking forward to getting some more results here in just over a week. I have some goals set in my mind right now and I'm very much looking forward to achieving them. =]

LOVE YOUR LIVER. 

AFTER ALL, YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT IT.

Happy 4th of July!

Hope that everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July! We all definitely have a lot to be thankful for because of our troops! THANK YOU!

The Knee Bone's Connected To...

Jeremy went to the knee specialist on Friday... He believes that Jeremy has a torn meniscus. And because I'm not 'up-to-date' on what a meniscus is, I thought I'd share this definition:

The meniscus is a rubbery, C-shaped disc that cushions your knee. Each knee has two menisci (plural of meniscus)-one at the outer edge of the knee and one at the inner edge. The menisci keep your knee steady by balancing your weight across the knee. A torn meniscus can prevent your knee from working right.

If this definition just doesn't do it for you, you can check out more at this link:
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/meniscus-tear-topic-overview

When in doubt, go to WebMD.

So, what does this mean? Jeremy has an MRI scheduled for next week to determine if a torn meniscus is really what has been causing him so much pain in his knee. He then has a follow up appointment for the results from the MRI and will start physical therapy the following week. No worries Brew Crew, Mean Greene will still be ready to play softball on Tuesday nights. Cue 'Nothing's going to stop us now' music.

As for me... still feeling good and ready to find out some good results in a few weeks!

Happy Father's Day!!

Results...

I got the results back today from the blood work that I had done on Wednesday. Originally my liver enzyme levels were at 1500 and now they are down to 300! The doctor says that this is still a fairly high level (they are supposed to be 30-40) but that it's definitely going in the right direction. He wants me to stay on my current dosage of medicine for another month and then have more blood work done to check the levels again. Let's hope they can get under 100 soon!

Update on Jeremy -
He's been having problems with his knee lately... went to the family doc today and he referred him to a specialist. He has an appointment on June 24th so we will see what happens from there.

All of these doctors appointments are making us feel OLD!

To end on a positive note... We are thinking of taking a mini vacation in October. Believe me, we need it! Hope that everyone has a great weekend!

God Never Blinks

Well... I thought I'd give an update on everything since it's been a little while. Results came back... I had the liver biopsy on May 19, 2011. Took a couple days off from work to recover from it, but over all it wasn't as bad as I had originally thought it would be. Word of advice... if you ever have to have surgery and you're not sure what exactly is going to happen, DON'T look it up on the Internet. IT WILL FREAK YOU OUT AND YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. Sure there are extreme cases sometimes, but more than likely it won't be you and there's no reason to worry about it and let it ruin your day. Ok, now that I've had my two cents about that...

Results from the biopsy came back about a week later and I was officially diagnosed with Autoimmune Hepatitis (where your immune system attacks your bad AND healthy liver cells). My doctor had a suspicion from the beginning that this is what my symptoms were pointing to. I'd never even heard of this disease before, so I didn't really know what to expect - and really still don't but I'm learning more each day/week/month...

Before anyone jumps to conclusions, no this is not caused from drug use (def DON'T do drugs) or unhealthy habits or any other crazy thing that might be out there and NO it is NOT contagious. Doctors aren't sure what causes autoimmune diseases and there is no way to prevent them from happening. In my case, autoimmune hepatitis is more common in women (got to love those XX chromosomes) and can often result from genetics (my mom has rheumatoid arthritis, another autoimmune disease). These are pretty much the only reasons I can think of that may have caused me to now have this autoimmune disease. Good news though - my doctor said it was caught EARLY - there was no scarring or cirrhosis on my liver.

-WHAT I CAN'T DO -

Drink Alcohol - Probably forever

Take Tylenol - No worries, headaches are for the birds

-WHAT I CAN DO- 

Everything Else!! 

-WHAT TO EXPECT -

From here on out I will be getting blood work done every now and then just to make sure that my liver enzyme and blood count levels are where they need to be. The medicines I am currently taking help with any inflammation in my liver and suppress my immune system so it won't attack my liver. I had my last blood work done today to check my enzymes so I'm hoping to get good results back from this later in the week! I also had blood work last week to check my blood count - doctor said that everything looks good!!

Another side note - I've been told that normally people with this disease can go into remission within the first 3 years after being diagnosed... since mine was caught a little earlier, I was told it could possibly be sooner than this for me. This is what I'm hoping for! I will do my best to keep everyone updated... sometimes it can be hard with having a busy schedule but I thank you for reading and for your support!

Everything can change in the blink of an eye. 
But don't worry; God never blinks.

Today Seems Like A Good Day

Some pictures from the weekend:

Happy Memorial Day 2011!

Mother's Day

Well, I ended up not finding out any results today... but on a different note, here are a couple pictures from Mother's Day 2011 back home in Indiana:

Keep On The Sunny Side

I've thought of starting a blog before but never really got anywhere with it. Now I think it might be a good idea so that everyone can keep updated on everything that has been going on lately.

A little over a month ago I went to the Wichita Clinic for jaundice. From here I learned that if this is found in adults it usually means that there is something going on with the liver. Jeremy and I hadn't established a doctor here in Wichita since moving, so this of course prompted us to find a family doctor. I was also recommended to a specialist as well. Since the initial visits to the family doctor and the specialist I've had my blood drawn more times than I care to mention. However, I have learned a lot about what a doctor can find out just by testing your blood. In the past I've never really been to the doctor much or been sick for that matter so all of this is very new to me. I've learned a lot about my liver and what certain signs can mean. Each time I have had my blood drawn my counts for bilirubin, liver enzymes, and iron have been high. The doctors believe that it could either be autoimmune hepatitis or hemochromatosis, which is an overabundance of iron in the blood. The only problem with that is when I had my blood work done it gave no signs of my liver being inflamed (which is what hepatitis really means) and my symptoms haven't really been related to hemochromatosis other than having high iron in my blood. I also had an ultrasound of my liver, pancreas, and gallbladder... all of which came out normal. 

Where I am now... I have to get my blood drawn again tomorrow to test for anti smooth muscle antibodies to see if I do in fact have autoimmune hepatitis. Normally these would only be present in that situation. The doctor will also test to see how my blood clots because there is a strong possibility that I will have to have a liver biopsy next week. When I first found out that this was a possibility I wasn't very happy to say the least. Now I know that this is just a way to determine what is going on with my liver in order to confirm a diagnosis, which is ultimately what I want. The only downside right now is the waiting game. It's already been a little over a month and a half since all of this started. For now I'm just trying to stay positive and keep on the sunny side.