Bittersweet

So this week has been strange. 

It's the last week of school, so I have had to take down all the decorations in my classroom and say goodbye to my kids and my coworkers. Only not really goodbye, because I'm teaching summer school, so I'll see a lot of my coworkers for another month (and two of my kids.) Also only sorta goodbye because I don't have a job yet for next year. I was the only probational teacher at my school who was cut due to budget issues, but one of 181 district wide. They have now hired back 87 of us, according to the TV, but no word yet on me. So as I stood up in front of my peers at out luncheon, I wasn't ready to say goodbye because I really firmly believe I'm coming back. But I don't know for sure. Regardless, I have cleaned out my desk in the meantime. 

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Now, I'm sure you are all eagerly awaiting my lab results. Right? (Thanks, Mrs. A, for the concern.) Well, I don't have the full print out but I know two key numbers. First the good news is my bloodcount is 12, so I'm not all that anemic. Not great, but not dangerous, either. But then there's the creatinine, which was 2.44. That's up from last month. 2nd "up" number in a row, after about 6 months of consistently "down" numbers. (Cheat sheet: creatinine is a byproduct of muscle tissue breakdown, it's filtered out by kidneys, normally you have less of it in your blood, but if your filter doesn't work, you have more of it. It is a pretty standard measure of kidney function.  Healthy = under 1.2 mg/dl. )  I was at 1.8 (36%) when this all was discovered Dec of 2009, 3.5 (17%) at my worst in August 2010, and was at 2.1 (32%) two months ago. So now I'm back under 30% and I am seeing my trend of "better better better" turn around. Not that I should complain about 26% function when I have felt 17% but I am worried that this trend is going to continue and I am going to get very very sick in then next three to six months. I base this prediction on what patterns I have seen before, though, really I have no clue since we still have no idea what is going on. In the meantime, I have to get a little more strict on my diet. I'm not sure that my diet will really help anything,since an autoimmune disorder will not be slowed down by lack of sodium, but it's my way of doing penance in hopes that I will tip the scales toward "she deserves to get better." So I'm drinking a lot of water and trying not to fret when I feel strange pokey pains in my lower back. Only time will tell. If you're the praying type, I could use it. 

Onto other things. We almost got a dog this week. Or, rather, she almost got us. On Monday evening a precious yellow lab puppy (less than 6 months) showed up in our backyard.  She dug under the fence to get in. We drove around and posted signs, hoping that her family was looking for her. Nope. So, being the saps we are, we bought some food, patched the fence, and let her stay over night in the yard. By morning she was gone. Not the end of the story. She came back in the afternoon. Sexy Lawyer Man fixed the fence again and we fed her and let her stay another night. We had a long tearful (just me, really) discussion about whether or not we could really afford and care for a dog right now, and decided that this was not a good time with me being out of a job (maybe) and him still in school, and a good chance of big ugly medical bills looming. Wednesday we called all over town looking for a no-kill shelter that would take her, but no one would. Eventually he had to take her to the Waco Humane Society. They seemed confident that a cute, healthy, sweet puppy like her would be adopted really soon. I hope so. She deserves a good home. Preferably one without potted plants. I didn't really want okra after all.