Its been a pretty uneventful week, medically, which is never a bad thing. Im on the last few weeks of the steroid (hopefully) and have my follow-up gastro appointment on Tuesday morning. I've been feeling pretty good, noticeably less so now that I'm on a smaller dosage of prednisone but still manageable. Im anxious to start my new treatment this week! Not only am i starting the new treatment, but I'm starting my new job! Im going to be a nanny for an absolutely adorable 4-week old boy! I can't wait to cuddle him and watch him grow. Because I had nothing going on last week i decided to make a spur of the moment trip to Athens, Ohio to visit my sister at Ohio University. I was too sick to visit on siblings weekend so i decided to surprise her and visit on Wednesday. From NYC it's about a 9 1/2 hour drive. I despise driving and any long trips we've ever made River has driven the entire time. The few times i drove the 3 hours between Buffalo and Cleveland were like pulling teeth. That being said, I was super nervous about driving to OU and went back and forth in my head if it was worth it. In the end, Kyra and River convinced me to do it and looking back I'm so glad i did! I left around 10 Wednesday morning and I made sure to take my pills before i left (I usually take them around 1pm). After a long and boring drive I safely made it to Athens and Kyra was able to start showing me the BEAUTIFUL campus. For anyone whose never been, its in Southern, Ohio on a gorgeous hilly terrain. At UB, where i went to school, our campus was literally an eyesore. The buildings were all modern and in a row and there was nothing pretty about Amherst, NY. Loved the school, but sorry UB, you have nothing on OU (other than the lead in MAC east basketball, go BULLS!) So we had a pretty relaxing night, just the normal sister shenanigans. Thursday morning we wake up and i go to take my pills...low and behold i forgot to take wednesdays. I knew this would completely mess up my system, (which it did), so i tried to compensate by taking a few extra steroids.  Looking back, I have absolutely no clue in the world how i survived freshman year of college being as sick as i did and living in a dorm. It is so inconvenient for someone with crohn's to have to share a public bathroom with an entire floor of girls. Not to mention that with my luck, every time i really needed to use the bathroom, the cleaning lady would have the bathroom closed for cleaning. This is something that happens to me alllll the time, its so frustrating! Kyra is really understanding about my situation though and put up with me running to the bathroom every hour the day after i forgot my meds. Im so beyond being embarrassed about my disease, i no longer try to hide needing to go to the bathroom so often. Kyra and her rookie Alyssa took me to the dining hall for lunch on Thursday. Dining halls are one of the things you bitch about when your in college and you have to eat it everyday but once your an adult who actually has to pay for let alone cook for yourself and your family, they are like a giant buffet of possibilities! My favorite part was obviously the fro-yo bar, which i made Ky get me everyday. We did a nice walking "tour" of Athens because it was so warm out and Kyra showed me all the cool places on campus. I really liked how at OU everything is pretty much in walking distance...food, bars, stores, dorms, classes, arenas. At UB you pretty much had to drive everywhere. Thursday night we had a wine movie night with Kyras friends, who I beyond love. They were literally hysterical and its easy to understand why she loves college so much! Friday we watched the disappointing USA/Canada hockey game and after the way it ended we decided we needed to play with puppies at Petland. I don't support pet stores that sell puppies because i think it is so inhumane to keep dogs locked in a cage 24/7. The only reason I decided to go is because its not the puppies fault, and people who come to play with them is the only social interaction that these poor babies get. The petstore lady was pretty rude and snapped at me when i asked her how often they got the puppies outside or for walks. Her response to me was "Never. We don't want them to catch a cold or hurt the pads of their feet". She's lucky i didn't get around to asking her where they actually got these dogs...Anyways, we played with a bunch of cute pups and gave them extra loving. Friday night Kyra and I went to the local brewery where there was live music and split a flight of beers and a delish pizza. Saturday morning it was time to drive back to New York. Goodbyes with Ky are always hard, but seeing first hand how happy she is at school makes it much easier. The drive itself was pretty easy, and i only had to stop once to use the bathroom/get gas which is a major accomplishment, wahoo! I did hit about an hour of dead traffic in Maryland for an accident which really sucked, but the important part is that in the end I made it home safe to my 3 boys, who were all very excited to see me :) Today was full of relaxing, yoga, the dog park, baths for the dogs, and pulled pork for dinner mmm. 

Big week ahead! Lots to look forward to, C