Today was my last day of prednisone! Hopefully they will have done their job and I won't have to do that again.....oral steroids are NOT fun.

It is interesting to me that I am feeling so much better. My eyes are still bothering me and towards the end of the day (usually by about dinner time) I seem to have had it....but it seems that the longer I am off Avonex the better I feel (especially emotionally). I am more aware of my MS as my symptoms are more obvious; but I am able to be myself.....to be happy. I think that I would rather be happy and aware of my illness (twitches, headaches, and all) than unhappy and unable to live my life in a way that I am able to be me (if that makes any sense). Of course I don't want to continue to become more disabled, but living life to its fullest....being happy is maybe a little more important.

Next week my son returns to school. He will be in the 6th grade....that is crazy to think! He has started football and is having a blast. He is doing really well at it. They have practice every M, T, Th, and F for two hours and then games every Saturday. His first game will be this upcoming Saturday where they will have a jamboree. All of the teams in the area (aprox. 20 teams) will show up and play against each other, each team playing two games. Nate is on the Dolphins and will be playing against the Huskies at 1pm and against the Raiders at 2pm. It is so cute how seriously he takes all of this. They were assigned their positions yesterday and he was put as the tackle guard, which I was kind of surprised of because I would have thought that the tackle guard would need to be one of the stronger, bigger kids. Don't get my wrong, Nate can be tough and he is very good at tackling...but he is quick and throws far. He is one of the fastest runners on the team. He was happy with the position he got though and said that he does get in a lot of running anyway, so that is good! I guess my problem is that I just don't know enough about football....I guess it is time to learn, lol. :)

His 6th grade orientation was today and he got his school schedule. He did not get into art this quarter, which was too bad because he is so good at it, but he did get into band....which he is really excited about. He is planning on learning to play the bass guitar. He was considering the drums, and it was a toss up between the drums or guitar but after going to the music store and talking to the band teacher he has decided the guitar would be better. I am sure that my neighbors will be thankful for that! I also think the guitar will be of more benefit to him. It seems to me that everyone I know who learned to play an instrument in school did not stick with it unless they went on to study music (which very few people do), unless they learned the guitar. That seems to be something that sticks better and so I figure maybe this will turn into a good investment (and trust me after finding out how much all of this costs today...that is just what it is, an investment).

I was planning to go to a NMSS function this weekend but decided against it based on two things. The first being that this weekend is Nate's first football game and I want to be there to support him and the second being that I am not sure I should try to drive to Seattle when my eyes are still not quite right. Fortunately I will get the information from the program anyway. It turns out that the national offices will have people at this program to interview people with MS and videotape the program. They will then use it as an educational tool for all NMSS chapters. They are going to go ahead and get me a copy of it once it is finished since I was unable to attend.

I don't have a whole lot planned for this week....just getting Nate ready for school next week and continuing to try to recover. Justin will be here tomorrow and is staying until Sunday. It will be good for Nate to spend some time with him before school starts and I believe that we will be going to the Benton Franklin Fair to check out some of the exhibits. It will just all depend on how I am feeling and how HOT it is outside....it was 100` again the other day. Hopefully it won't be hot all week!

Well, I hope that all of you are doing well. Please take care of yourselves and don't over do things. Have a good week!