I know it’s been weeks since I posted anything on this blog. The end of the year is always a bit of a blur for me, and this year is no different. Mea cupla.

Halloween rushes into Thanksgiving, and then there’s a rush of birthdays and anniversaries for me before Yule gets here. Add in the end-of-term school projects and shopping/knitting for presents before Yule and people pestering me to start my holiday baking, and it’s a recipe for craziness. I have one more school project due in two days, and then I’ll be done until January 9th. So Saturday will be the start of my holiday rush and I can start catching up on sleep.

During nursing school, I thought I would never be so happy as when semesters ended and I could catch up on sleep. All I can say now is #gradSchoolSucks. In fact… https://twitter.com/#gradschoolsucks In many ways nursing school was worse, but grad school is right up there.

I have another year to finish my Master’s program. Three semesters. Six classes. Forty-eight weeks of coursework. I don’t regret deciding to go to grad school, but boy has it been a slog. I have so many things piling up that I want to do, and I’m tired of saying “I’ll do that in 2018.” But if I try to add things into my schedule now, I’ll end up sick from the stress. Dare I say it again? #gradSchoolSucks.

In other news, things continue to go well after my weight loss surgery. I’m now about 3-1/2 months out, have lost 62 lbs, and am having wardrobe crises regularly. So far I’ve been able to avoid going clothes shopping, but that won’t last much longer. I’m able to eat pretty much anything I want, though things with a lot of sugar and/or fat I have to be very careful of. I’m also still working on slowing down when I eat, because it makes me physically very uncomfortable, and the habit of wolfing one’s food down is hard to break. I’m getting to the gym about once a week, and am trying to ramp that up, but #gradSchoolSucks.

My RA/PsA is doing much better now that I’m back on my meds. And while my inflammatory factors are still a bit elevated after the surgery, they’re low enough that we are no longer considering biologic therapy, which is a good thing. We may still have to raise the dosage on my current medication and/or add in a second medication, but that’s preferable to biologics if it will work. I finally ordered a splint for my thumb that has let me get back to knitting. My blood pressure is back into normal ranges after we stopped the medication, so all of the health indicators are heading back in the right direction.

All in all, life is good, if way too busy. And #gradSchoolSucks.