Just hoping

So.... my life is so busy I can't even sit down and write about it.
I started babysitting my sister's youngest daughter. She is a sweet baby and she's very easy to take care of. She has fat little legs and pretty eyes. I love how she falls asleep in my arms! R doesn't do that since he figured out that there's a whole world of things to dig in and look at and/or taste. He and LittleK come along to my sister's house, weekdays from 8am until1pm.
My brother and his girlfriend are waiting for their baby to be born! Its due date is February 10th. They're also staying here at Mom's house, and his sons come to stay every weekend, from Wasilla.
I think the mood around here could be described as quiet anticipation, except for when the pack of cousins is running around screaming.
I need to fill in the details of my trip to Denver & Laramie. I left here Sunday, January 21st. It was strange but also comfortable to be back there. I left LittleK & R here with my parents. Monday morning after dropping T off at school, K & I drove to Denver and I had tests done, including: a V-Q scan, chest xray, pulmonary function tests, and an echocardiogram. I haven't seen the results for any of those except the PFTs. We spent the night at Angus & Olive's B&B... Tuesday morning I had a right heart catheterization. It's basically a long skinny tube inserted into my jugular vein and pushed along to my heart where specific pressures are measured. I don't have the official results yet, but I think it did show a decrease since my last echo in September. We talked to the PH specialist, Dr. Voelkel, who told us it makes sense for me to transfer my care to the specialist in Seattle. He also recommended a couple of medication dose changes and suggested Remodulin or Rituxan as possible new therapies. I spent the rest of the week in Laramie (hey ladies!!) relaxing, visiting, and making Girl Scout swaps with T.
Since coming back to Anchorage, I've seen an ophthalmologist, optometrist, pulmonologist, and I met ANMC's new rheumatologist. I finally met Susan, the case manager in Internal Med whom I've been harrassing over the phone since November. The opthalmologist put a new punctal plug in my funky right eye. The pulmonologist is planning to put me back on an immunosuppressant, specifically Cytoxan. She said it's been shown to completely eliminate PH in some patients with Lupus & PH. She also explained that what I have is not yet massive scarring but (possibly reversible) inflammation of my lung tissue. I haven't felt this hopeful in a long time.
K and T have been busy in Laramie. Today he was putting up moulding - I wish I could've seen that. T's new project is dog-training. She ordered a whole kit for it through the school book order. It's probably working out great, since it's been so freezing in Laramie that the dog actually gets to be inside. Our girls have always been into Super Bowl parties: making menus, preparing the food, making decorations for the house, etc. So that's next on everyone's list.
Well, if you just can't get enough of my jaw-dropping eye-popping life story, come back next week. I may even get to show pictures of the new niece or nephew... if not you'll just have to settle for some shots of my new post-prednisone hairdo.