Hi everyone!

I know it has been a long time.  Sorry.  Life's been very busy.

As DeeTee mentioned, we are in our own home now and our son is on a mission
in Oregon.  He is currently serving in Sutherlin, Oregon, a small town on
the west side of Oregon south of Eugene.  He is loving his experience and
will return home December 5.  We can't wait.

Amanda has had a very rough year.  She has been diagnosed with FSH
Dystrophy, an adult onset form of muscular dystrophy, as well as polycystic
ovarian syndrome and small fiber neuropathy.  She is in constant
debilitating pain and we had to hospitalize her for most of December.  She
was in the rehab unit at Kennedy Krieger Institute (part of Hopkins) under
their pain management protocol.  She is coping much better now and returned
to school full time this week.

Wendy is doing well.  She is now the director of the audiology program at
Gallaudet University and is very busy with those responsibilities.  The
university appears to be winning their accreditation battle and there
haven't been any riots for a while now, so we hope that situation will be
good for the near future at least.

My body continues to try my patience.  In July I was having chest pains at
church and decided to go to the ER.  It turned out that my blood sugar was
over 500.  At least my heart was fine.  As it turns out it isn't traditional
Type II diabetes.  I have a strong family history of T-II, so we check
regularly.  I'd had my A1c checked just two months earlier and it was
normal.  But my liver enzymes were high at the time.

My doctor thinks that whatever was causing my elevated liver enzymes damaged
its ability to regulate blood sugar, causing it to spill sugar into my
blood.  Since that time I have lost over 50 pounds, cut back on my Arava,
and added glipizide to my med mix.  The result is normal liver enzymes and
normal blood sugars.  Cutting back on the Arava did cause my RA to flare, so
we increased my Humira to once a week, instead of every two weeks.  Now I
get infections constantly, but I am managing OK.

I am currently working for Indymac bank as a loan officer, but I don't know
how long that will last.  Every day they seem to be cutting something else.
It's the nature of the industry right now.  What crazy times we are in!!!
Anyway, I have a head hunter trying to find me a writing position and she
thinks she has found one for me, so keep your fingers crossed.

I will try to pop in now and then.  Thanks for still thinking of me.

Walt