Snow Day

We had our first big snow of the year here in River City.  Sometimes it’s best just to stay home.

The January Funk

Last weekend I tossed a few things in a suitcase and drove the 93 mile trek to spend the weekend with my sister.

I could feel a January Funk coming on and wanted to shake it off.   My choices were to just give in and let it happen or DO SOMETHING before I morph into the Funk.  We went to the movies, and watched a few more at home.  I caught up on some sleep.  We went to church and drove around town a bit, ate in and ate out.  I came back home on Sunday to do laundry and get ready for a busy work week.  All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend.

Somehow, the Funk came anyway.

When I’m not feeling well mentally or physically, it’s hard to determine  whether my problems are  Lupus-related or something else.  Maybe it’s my medicine causing goofy side effects.  Or not.   I’ve had a cold for the past 2 weeks and my immune system is not strong.  I also have central nervous system involvement with Lupus that sometimes messes with cognitive skills … like feeling totally clueless at times, having trouble concentrating, depression, aphasia, etc.  Most people have these issues from time to time too, so I never know if it’s me or Lupus.

January is cold and dreary.  Heating bills are extra extra high in January.  Spring seems a lifetime away in January.  I’m homesick for my son in January.  Plus, my hair is growing back and looks like I dropped acid and decided to cut it.  My parents had birthdays in January and I miss them even more during that time.  To top things off, the immunoglobulin infusion that was supposed to start in November is still in limbo with the insurance company and my doctor trying to reverse the denial.  I really don’t want to go through a plasma exchange (which IS covered by insurance), but that would be the next step.  I’ve had that whole scenario in the back of my mind for months and feel like a ticking time bomb, waiting for my crazed and confused immune system to go into another lupus flare-up.

Time will pass and things will get better … it usually does.  But for now, today, I feel the Funk.

Ike in Missouri

I live smack in the middle of the United States far away from large bodies of water. Hurricane Ike rolls through Texas a few days ago and we’ve all seen the destructive path it took.  Including Missouri … a very landlocked state.

We had 5 inches of rain on Sunday morning.  Flooding from local creeks wiped out homes and businesses.  A nearby lumberyard flooded and tons of lumber, cars and trucks floated thru streets, parks and into buildings.  About a mile from my house a rising creek trapped some apartment dwellers who were later evacuated by boats.  Boats!  One lady died when a tree uprooted in her front yard and fell on her.  Another lady was swept away by water.  Her body was discovered floating in the Mississippi ten miles from her house.  One of the women I work with was left homeless when her apartment suddenly flooded Sunday morning.  In a matter of minutes, water from a nearby creek forced five feet of water inside.  She was lucky to escape with her two children, but has lost everything else.  When my sister went to church on Sunday morning, she learned that the front door was blown off by gusty wind.

In Missouri we worry mostly about tornado season.  We’re used to the Mississippi River and the Missouri River flowing out of their banks.  We’re also in the New Madrid fault for earthquake activity.  Hurricaine weather is not on the list of impending disasters in the midwest.

Oh well, what’s one more?  Thank God it wasn’t a tsunami.