Update from the Dean Household

The kids are out of school for the next two weeks! They are very excited. We have had a lot of excitement this year...so I am most excited about having next week off! I could use a little peace and quite.

I started the stage down to 15 mg of prednisone last week. We once thought this would be my maintenance dose, but I am a bit of an over achiever! I am not shaking, rattling, or rolling...therefore...the music plays on! I will start another stage down to 10 mg next Monday.

With each stage down, my body has resisted a little more. We may end up raising the immune suppressants, but for now, we will leave it alone. My energy takes a big hit, my blood sugars actually raise, I get migraines, my motor skills suffer and then I usually get very sick to my stomach. Let's just say, everything gets angry! It is worth it though to know that I am making progress. My dream is to be off the steroids completely and find out that the insulin can go away also.

As you may have read in my last blog, Bradie has been having trouble with her vision. She had an MRI, but it did not reveal anything. They scheduled her with a pediatric neurologist for Feb. 22nd. There is a shortage of pediatric specialists in our area, so it takes that long to get an appt. One of her teachers told me last week that she had noticed Bradie struggling and was wondering what was going on with her. It was nice to hear that the teacher was paying attention.

When we registered the kids for school, the counselor sent home a list of support groups that they would be offering. I accidentally signed my kids up for grief counseling. I planned to have them removed from the group, but the counselor said Bradie has been talking about my illness and really opening up to the group. There are kids who have parents fighting illness and some who have lost a parent. It is nice to know that Bradie is talking to them. She hasn't mentioned it to me at all.

The stress of the holidays, my illness, Bradie's problem, has finally caught up with John. He came down with a case of the shingles. Please keep him in your prayers. He has been a rockstar through all of this. He did actually take off a few extra days this season, which is the first time since we have been married. He took the kids to see Avatar and seems to have had a great time.