Prednisone = Super Girl

Well, the pineapple casserole is long gone. I haven't had nearly as many culinary adventures as I thought I would since my last update, but I'm sure there are more to come later this week. With pictures, now that I've figured that out. :o)

I've been wonderfully busy since I last updated! These days, my week normally consists of class Tuesday and Thursday nights (and therefore doing homework most of Tuesday and Thursday afternoons), breakfast with my dad and a trip to the farmer's market Saturday mornings, and a near-weekly lunch date with an old friend one other day. That's about it. Well, I do other things, and all that excludes such sexy activities as treatments, laundry, cleaning, dog-walking, etc, but I still tend to feel like my life has gotten a little light on the structure, as well as significance...in a Type-A, "what am I accomplishing?" sort of way; not to say my life doesn't matter - no lectures, please :o)

I'm finally getting to a good place about this more laid-back, day-by-day imposed approach though; I'm not at the place I was earlier, between the Sinus Kerfuffle of Near-Death 2009 and starting the paralegal program, where I was ready to chew my own limbs off just to feel like I was doing something tangibly productive and completely insecure about not having the rest of my life figured out and started at 22.5 years old. At the same time, I'm glad I'm not an closer to the other extreme, of just taking... each... day... one... at.... a... time.. and... I'll... see... what... tomorrow.... brings... because, for me, not having some set things to accomplish, big and small, and an imposed-if-fictitious-and-arbitrary deadline for their accomplishment, seems to lead down a path of lots of wasted time. Even if I come up short of my goal, or my deadline gets, ahem, adjusted a bit, I think it's better to be constantly striving forward than to get so wrapped up in being "present now" that you forget that your future, and what will be your past, is nothing but a compilation of lots of little "now"s. I'm just at a really balanced place, of yes, wanting to make each day count, relationally/spiritually AND pragmatically, but being content and secure with a certain element of uncertainty, and appreciating the time to "stop and smell the flowers." Or, in my case, "take a long lunch with a friend" or "bake a random casserole."

So last week was the perfect, busy combination of future-focused productivity and taking time for now. Tuesday, I took my 9-year-old cousin on a special "girl's day" to Build-a-Bear and lunch at P.F. Chang's, and it made both her day and mine. Wednesday, I drove uptown to have lunch with 2 girls who work at the law firm I used to intern for, and picked their brains about what it's really like to work as a paralegal. I got some great information and had a great time catching up with them...plus my lunch was great :o). then Thursday, I GOT MY PICC TAKEN OUT! and I worked on getting ahead on my assignments for class since the next few weeks are going to be a little crazy and, well, just because we have a lot of them available now, and I could. I went to a celebration for a close family friend and guy I babysat who graduated high school this weekend. Then Saturday I had a mock interview for my class in which I got some great confirmation on some hunches I have had for a while, but was afraid to acknowledge and really go after. That night I met up with an old friend I haven't seen in years at a local wine bar I love, and we hung out and talked for nearly 4 hours before realizing how late it was.

Seriously, it was a great week. I feel like a new woman since starting prednisone; not only am I breathing *fabulously*, better than I have in months, it seems, but I just feel amazing overall; I have (seemingly) boundless energy, and I've been extremely focused and productive without feeling manic or over-caffeinated. I don't ever remember feeling this way on/because of prednisone, but it's the only variable that's changed, so who knows. Even better, I haven't had the normal hypersensitivity that I usually do, and my sugars have been amazingly stable; they usually skyrocket on steroids (although, I had been going insanely low - ie, in the 30's - before starting the prednisone, regardless of whether I had eaten waffles and syrup or uncured bacon and wholegrain toast...so the jury's still out on what's going on in that department). I'm hoping that this whole, "feeling better in every way than I have as long as I can remember" bit is simply because I'm finally getting healthy (and not indicative of some kind of adrenal issue that's been ongoing before starting steroids, or something like that) but for NOW, haha, I'm just happy I feel so good!