"Lightfoot" Christmas
The family gathered at my parents house for Christmas Sunday at noon. My Mom had worked all week on the meal and it was delicious!! I didn't even have a favorite...it was all good. The kids were so excited about their gifts . I can remember the feeling as a child of being excited about all my gifts to open. We started having them open them one by one but it didn't last long with a 1, 2 and 3year old. They didn't understand the purpose or the meaning of you need to wait!

Rhebeca

Jacob
We were sure glad that Jacob and Kristi could be here from Memphis for Chrismas with us this year. They have to fly standby so coming at this time was perfect for them. They are going home this morning...I said goodbye yesterday and as always hated to see them go. I think I cry everytime they go home:(

Only missing one!
From left to right: Rhebeca(8) holding Kaleb (1), Tyler (6), Kael (3), Jacob (2). The only way I could think of to get them all together like this is to have them sit for a picture BEFORE presents. Then there's that incentive of...the picture's over...let's open gifts! Caden had pink eye so he didn't make it Sunday.

Jacob, Tyler and Kael
Tyler is kind of the unofficial boss:) He is the oldest of the boys and the little ones think he is wonderful.

Kaleb, 1 year old
Kaleb enjoyed his day. He is always getting accidently pushed down or shoved into something but bounces right back up with a smile. He's a tough little guy unless he can't find his Mommy. He is such a cutie.

The swelling has never gone down in my feet and ankles since I saw my general practitioner a week ago. By Tuesday night they were swollen bigger than I've ever seen them and I was in such discomfort. I have had enough pain in my back and neck that I wouldn't call the swelling extremely painful but it sure was uncomfortable. I called the rheumatologist on Monday and she wanted me to start back on prednisone so Monday afternoon I took my first dose of prednisone...again. But by Tuesday morning...like I said...the swelling was worse than it's ever been. I talked to Kristi, our daughter, and she thought I should go into the ER and they could get me a water "pill" through an IV to get some of that fluid out of me. Instead they ran all kinds of blood tests and a urine test. He didn't seem too eager to treat me. He (the ER doctor) came right out and said I have too many problems and am on too much strong medicine for him to feel comfortable even giving me something to reduce the edema. I thought...oh Great!!!...$150 to come in for some blood tests.

I did find out though that the liver enzymes were still a little on the high side. I faxed the test results to the rheumatologist on Wednesday but haven't heard from her het. I did go in to see my general practitioner today. He couldn't believe how much fluid I was retaining....he could see it w/o even looking at my feet and legs. He took me from 1 pill a day to 4 water pills a day. It started to help yesterday but I'm waiting to take it till after my pump refill today. Otherwise we will be stopping at every gas station along the way to use the bathroom.

I hope the doctor will listen to my frustrations about my pain levels today when I get the pump refill. I have this feeling that he will be in a hurry to get out of there because they changed my appointment from 11:30 to 9:30. Although, I am learning more and more to speak out and let them know my condition. It does me no good to try to be a "good" patient and continue on in this horrific pain.