Christmas is coming!

Well I know, you know its coming but ....its coming!  the Marbardis are coming up to play with us and we might have a house full here as a central place to host folk but we are still working out the arrangements. 

Bluey  is going to work right up to Christmas Eve but I'm off now until late in January!  I've started doing things for the holidays like I've finished my christmas baking..... that's going to the stores buying stuff and putting them into  tupper ware in nice groupings and dropping them in the frezzer only to be discovered in March of next year. Oh I do a Christmas cake... Step One: take the local fundraising cake, this years its the Lions cake, soak a cloth in rum and wrap it up in the cloth and then plastic wrap. Step two: open it up every few days, add more rum and mavel at what genius you are, rewrap. Then when the season is upon us serve up delicious cake that no one around here likes but I find totally delish! And I get lots of it.  What is it about Christmas cake that people really love it or really hate it?

Did I tell you I played Santa at the Neighborhood Centre Volunteers party last Monday and got asked to come back to the Limited Hours Child Care Centre on Wednesday. The Child care is the gig that started the santa business in the first place, but I haven't done it due to health and then they wanted a less confronting image for the little kids so have they have had an Elf do it the past couple of years. I was an old bushy santa with my red and green hawaii loud shirt. my red shorts pulled up to my arm pits with this big black belt across my big belly (no padding needed unfortunately) and black slaps on my feet.  So the director of the center though it might be less confronting.   I had the whole beard hair and hat going as well. I only terrified one child and  a couple others stayed back but some were pretty cool and came right up. Its way fun.  

At the volunteers party I had the same dress but they didn't really have anything for me to do so I greeted folk and had this big empty bag so I sort of did Prednisone Santa and went around collecting purses  and the crackers off tables.  "every year its give give give but this year its all about santa getting something." I thought I was hilarious and some others thought so too but some were still trying to fathom a Santa Clown figure.

We are off to the "The Correct central Queensland city" (Wright-McKay's) for breakfast, then we are all going to see AUSTRALIA the movie at 9:30

Why am I up at 6:00 am blogging? because Floydd was up for his walk at 5:00! I'm getting some good walking and lots of time in the mornings to do things, but I'm beat at night.

more later

Chris

I have new news

We went to Brisbane overnight last Thursday and stayed with Jo at a conference then drove into my doc appointment on Friday and came home that night. 

Two steps forward one step back.

I'm starting to ramp down the prednisone (the one that makes me make Bluey crazy) it will take four weeks to go to zero. And he took me off the lasics (the one that makes me into a fire hose) unless I am retaining water so two pills off ...but one new pill!  Another type of immunosuprression so i'm on three for a few weeks then back down to two kinds.  This new one is to help my body get off the prednisone and I'm guessing I will get weaned off that later, I hope.

So prednisone boy is going away. I'm not unhappy about that it is nice to have lots of extra energy but it puts my body in fight or flight mode all the time and that's not good. The prednisone also messes with my blood sugar (makes it high) and it increases appetite so I'm doubly screwed. 

I met a lad in the clinic this time that seemed to be a teen but has Downs. His name is Ben and I expect that it really sucks being at day 35 of his BMT. I at least understand some of the reasons for all this stuff that goes on but he just knows he has to do these things and that he feels bad. He liked my loud shirt.... it's the 'skeleton'. The nurses got me to model it for him because he asked about it from a distance. So I showed him and then gave him the shirt. 

This could be my new thing. Buy the way Chip at this web site

has great loud shirts by mambo. And you can see the skeleton shirt here.

Anyway Chip is making me a deal on two new shirts so its like Christmas. I'm off at the end of this coming week and plan lots of blogging. Yes I know you've heard  that before. .....We'll see!

more later 

Chris