Thanks, diane.  Walking has always been my joy and I'm glad my feet will
co-operate these days as long as I wear quality shoes.  This aching in my
legs is infuriating.  It's like folks describe with PMR, in fact I wonder if
maybe I have that and the low albumin is a different issue altogether.  Well,
at least my doc is attending to it and I should find out about the labwork
soon.

A friend from church is going to till our garden area for me/us in the next
couple of days as this has left me unable to get the soil ready.  Hopefully I
can get the seedlings planted once Tom gets it tilled for us......

Amen!  someone we know tilled the garden for us while we were gone, so now I
only have to find the energy to get the seedlings in the ground.  Figures
that I'd start the seeds when my energy was relatively good!  LOL

Mike has said he'll help me plant but with his gardening experience, I'll
have to supervise him!  LOL

ah, well then, you'll get a chuckle out of this story!  Mike and I have been
camping together for 15 years now, both having had a lot of camping
experience before we met.  We have always been flat out anal about always
putting the food back in the car after eating so we KNOW it's safe from the
critters.  

Sunday evening, it was about 40 degrees with a wind in the 20-30 mph range.  
We were both COLD and exhausted (Sunday being a working day for Mike).  You
guessed it, we spaced out and forgot to put the food away.  About 1 am, we
heard these noises - at first snorting sounds.  Something was definitely in
the food.  We knew it didn't sound like a bear, but couldn't tell what it was
and we weren't about to step outside the tent!  Taht was our first shot of
adreneline.

Further listening convinced us it must be some small animal(s) as it/they
seemed to be picking through the dry goods.  So we figured what will be, will
be and we might as well go back to sleep.  As we're drifting off, a dispute
arose outside with sudden loud, violent hissing.  Boy, did we jump!  LOL
Second big shot of adreneline.  Finally managed to drift back off.

Mike woke at 6 am, at sunrise, and had to see.  ALL of the Crisco had been
eaten, the 3 pouches of pancake mix were scattered everywhere, two boxes of
couscous were partially eaten, yellow rice mix was scattered, but not eaten
(chipmunks ate the rice while we were off breakfasting) - things were just a
mess, with pancake mix in and on everything.  I went back into my sleeping
bag for a while as Mike started a fire.  I returned a while later, unable to
go back to sleep.  After cleaning up a bit, we decided to drive into town to
eat as the critters had been all over the dishes, too.  At this point we were
thinking raccoons.  Later we read some stuff about common wildlife in the
park and decided it must have been pine martens (a type of weasel).

We ate out the whole two days - Mike insists on washing everything in
"scalding water" before using it for eating again.  Had a great dinner up
there, though.  And a lovely day at the falls and at a point of land that is
afamous birding area (we aren't birders, but it was interesting).  After our
cold and interrupted sleep, we took two naps during the day, morning and
afternoon.  I felt surprisingly well all day - we figure it must have been
those big bursts of adreneline during the night!  I did sleep at least half
the way back Tuesday while Mike drove.

We still can't believe we made a neophyte mistake like leaving food out.  At
least this was relatively painless.  Had it happened on day 1 of our planned
week up at Copper Harbor in July, it would have really hurt us.  And, of
course, we could have drawn a bear rather than a marten.  All in all, not too
bad a way to be reminded again to be anal about the food!

Enbrel, only.  Off mtx thanks to this strange albumin level.  Also off
lipitor due to it for now.  sigh...........  Lining up the docs.  Didn't help
that I saw my RD's PA on my last visit - only the second time I've seen her.  
They must have been really swamped as right now he generally wants to see me
himself until all of this is resolved.

All those eyars of dancing as a kid are the only thing that's kept me moving
as I learned so much about stretching.  I'm stretching every time I turn
around it seems.  When I scooted down into my sleeping bag Sunday night, my
calves cramped up severely.  By late today they were finally easing up, after
two and a half days of constant stretching.  LOL  Mike had to wait on me
enough when walking around the falls, that he finally started stretching some
himself!  LOL

The falls were/are simply beautiful.  We're planning to return in other
seasons as this is one of the few state parks that is open year round.  Ya
know, I've never questioned Mary Z's determination to keep paddling or yours
to keep dancing as I'm the same way about camping and hiking - though I
couldn't hike this trip.  I have to get that outdoors time.  But....... this
trip I actually could see some benefits to trailer camping over tent
camping..........

(I'll get some pictures posted after I get through this next weekend.)

An easy answer would be nice...........  I fear it isn't that clear of an
increase throughout the day though.  Actually, fatigue wise, I'm usually
ready to go back to bed about 2 hours after getting up!  I stay up until
early afternoon though, so I'll sleep better when I do nap.

My PCP does have me keeping a symptom diary until I go back on June 6th.  My
labs last week were mostly normal -Albumin still low, but it has come up
considerably since April so maybe there is still hope.  I'm still much
tireder, but it isn't quite as awful and pervasive as it was for 5 weeks or
so.

It's probably not a Vit D problem though unless I'm really not absorbing it
for some reason.  I take Calcium with D 3x/day already, being osteopenic and
not wanting to lose more bone before I even reach 50!

{{{{{{{{{{{{{Nann}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Sorry to hear you have been having such a rough time of it and for so
long too!

Praying that things settle down soon for you and stay that way for a
good long time.  

I imagine the crazy changes in weather we have been having certainly
don't help you cause much!

Hopefully the next time you see your RD he/she can make some suggestions
how to get you in a better place and to feeling better.

Hugs to both you and Mike and do try to take extra good care of
yourself!!!

Hugs,

Donna G

Hiccup, LOL ;-)