Diamond girl,

You sure do shine.

Glad I found you,

Glad you're mine.

-- Seals and Crofts "Diamond Girl"

On March 12 Kitty Cat Kate turned 3! She is a constant source of amusement, consternation, affection, energy, frustration and ethusiasm in this house and we celebrated her birthday with all the pomp and circumstance we could muster.

Which wasn't much.

I've not been posting, as many of you are aware, because I've been incredibly SICK for about 3 months. Sometimes things got a little better, sometimes a little worse. Since the last post things truly tanked, worrying us that I was heading for the hospital. By the time of Kate's birthday I was barely functioning. We canceled our plans to go to the restaurant of her choice and even postponed her birthday party. Tracy's parents came up to help with the Short People and brought a new tricycle, which seemed to lessen the blows, but I have felt incredibly guilty. Hopefully she won't remember, but I will.

We have just returned from Charlottesville and a second visit with the immunologist. He thinks I have something called Selective Antibody Deficiency with Normal Immunoglobulins (SADNI). It's pretty rare; rare enough that my other doctor said "Huh?"...he's never heard of this. We are running more bood tests for confirmation, and if this is what I have it may mean gamma globulin injections to help maintain some semblance of an immune system. Through all this I have gained a ton of weight, which may or may not resolve itself with treatment. For this reason I was referred to an endocrinologist who wants me to try a new med that should be FDA approved in a few months. Don't know if I will be up for that or not; we'll see.

In the meantime I am taking whopping amounts of an antibiotic of last resort that eradicates all bacteria in your body, including the good kinds. I have to eat 2 containers of organic yogurt a day and monitor my digestive system like a hawk or I could develop some pretty nasty diseases from the treatment. I loathe taking medicine and just realized I take more pills than my 90 year old grandmother. The antibiotic is working, though, and today I finally feel like I might climb out of this hole and feel better.

Needless to say, things here have been difficult, at best. I will say that it is nice to have a tentative diagnosis after almost 15 years of dealing with this off and on. And it is also nice to know that the DR doesn't think I have Wegner's Granulotosis, which is what one DR thought I had and can be fatal. The Short People and Tracy have been incredibly patient and our friends and family have been amazingly kind. Thank you to all those readers (I never knew how many of you out there read without commenting...I'd love to hear from you here!) who called or wrote. I also had many friends bring delicious healthy meals to help us through and so many friends who helped with the Short People in lots of ways both big and small. Thank you, thank you! And Kate, I will make it up to you...