The verdict

Met one of my two new specialists Tuesday. This guy's name is Paul Houk and he is the Physician's Assistant to Dr. William Peterson (If you are a CSI fan, you will recognize the name, although Grissom's real name is "Petersen")--anyway, I caught it the first time I heard it--geek that I am.

Paul was in the office with me for an hour. We talked, extensively, about what I had been through, the stress levels in my life, the likeliness of anything stress wise changing (that would be a NO because I LOVE my life the way it is). His wife has this too, so he has first hand knowledge as well as the book knowledge. Becky had taken all the blood tests except the one that showed what degree of inflammation/ infection was going on in my bowels. Well, he just called. Normal is .3-.6. My tests came back 3.3--not a huge shock, we knew things we not good right now although they are better than they were. He said as long as I am not having signs of a flare to keep taking my prednisone and keep my appointment for the 20th.

I am very, very happy with Paul. I meet Dr. Peterson on the 20th, hope to be as happy with him. I finally feel like we have some direction and I confirmed some fears that I was having. My aunt had colon cancer and my mom had a cousin with UC that turned to colon cancer. Not to mention that Mom has had a lot of her own bowels removed because of adhesions. Not the same, but still bowel problems nonetheless. We need to keep me from having flares if at all possible. Every flare increases the risk of the cancer. Paul told me though, if I think I am going to be going through something overly stressful, like an unbelievable deadline, which happens a lot, to call him and we would start some preventive measures. I like that and feel like that too, is a step in the right direction.

Right now, I am battling a stupid cough. Don't know where it is coming from. Last Saturday, my throat hurt, really bad, but it quit hurting by Sunday and by Monday I was doing the coughing thing. It was so bad yesterday I thought I would cough up a lung. I slept in the recliner last night, because it gets worse when I lay down. I am taking Tylenol Cough and Cold because I am afraid to take anything other than Tylenol based OTC's with the UC.

I have a crazy 10 days, gotta whip this. The UC is doing so well, I am just really aggravated that I am being pulled down by what is apparently a cold. Hopefully nursing myself back to health today will do the trick.