My beard is coming in nicely.
Yeah. Prednisone. Steroid-induced hair growth all across my body, including my face. Fortunately for me, it's happening as I'm tapering off (two and a half more months of the stuff) and also fortunately I have thin hair that is generally light in color, so it's not blindingly obvious. But I'm definitely growing a lot of hair all over my body that I've never grown before. I'm finding it very uncomfortable. I do hope it goes away quickly once I'm off the steroid. There are so many side-effects I hope go away quickly.
Since I last wrote, I've had up days and down days, but mostly up. My back pain has come and gone, but the doctor worked out what was most likely causing it and the medicine is now working to... um... relieve the pressure. Let's just say it seems to be working, and that's good enough for me. I do have more tests scheduled just in case, but I have been able to move around more freely the last few days, including getting up and down the stairs. I've been trying to take my lunch downstairs whenever possible.
Hubby-Eric continues to hit it out of the park as far as food goes. This morning he made a breakfast casserole that was just amazing. He's also made kidney-friendly sloppy joes, tacos, spaghetti, fettuccine alfredo and rice pilaf. And I'm probably forgetting some other awesome meals he's made. Extra servings get saved for lunches, which means I'm well-fed pretty much all the time. I seem to have stopped losing weight, but I'm ok with that for now. I've gone downstairs for lunches, but I find I'm still a little too weak to make my own lunch most of the time. I can start, but I tend to get very tired very fast and Eric takes over. When Eric had a Zoom conference during lunch one day, I managed, but it took me a LONG time and I had to rest between steps, meaning the meal was cold by the time I was able to eat it. Ah well. Progress is being made.
Inkwell continues to monitor my situation, and frequently pushes my laptop off my lap so he can sleep on me. I'm a glorified pillow to him. He swats away my phone if I try to play with it while he's on my lap, as well, which can get annoying. He's a very confused cat - he can't figure out why I'm so weak and tired. And he is always shocked when I make it downstairs. He also makes sure that both Eric and I are awake and up by 5 am every morning. His meowing does not have a snooze button.
While I'm improving physically, my mental state has been all over the place. I continue to have memory dumps that are nearly hallucinations due to the Prednisone. There are moments I feel like crying for absolutely no reason, and times I laugh without knowing why. The mood swings are awful and disturbing. I hope they go away when the steroid goes away. I still cannot handle reading or watching the news for more than a couple of minutes every hour or so because I get angry/sad/happy/insane and lose all sense of perspective. The raw thoughts that surface bother me immensely. I'm trying to keep tabs on everything that's happening without going insane - which would be hard enough if I was healthy.
My solace continues to be my friends on Facebook, Twitter and Twitch. I spend a good bit of time watching SophieFatalTV on Twitch because of the positive attitude the hosts present. My friends on Facebook tend to post awesome stuff. And Gail Simone is a shining lamp on Twitter, along with current Aquaman writer Kelly Sue DeConnick. With all the crap going on, I can still find some good in the world with my online friends.
In short, life is going well. I have some bumps and tough spots, but I still feel extremely lucky. I'm in a better place than a lot of people, and I'm continuing to improve. With luck, I'll improve a LOT more in two and a half months when I'm finally off this awful medication. Time will tell.
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