return from hiatus

Is a hiatus still considered to be a hiatus if it's lasted for 17 months? As I pondered that earlier, I remembered that Family Guy was off the air for nearly 18 months before it came back, better than ever. Then again, it was canceled and then revived, it wasn't just halted for a half a season. Obviously nobody's "canceled" my blog or forced me to stop posting; I've just become so busy with life that I've lost all motivation to write about it.

A friend of mine - who blogs for an Irish e-magazine and actually gets paid to write about her life - told me one night recently that she had read through my blog, and thought I was a decent writer. The idea has been pushing its way into my thoughts when I read blog posts from others, and particularly when I feel the need to blather on about my various ailments without shoving it in everybody's faces on Twitter and Facebook. Living a chronically ill life is isolating at times, and although there's a great community of chronically awesome people on Twitter, I don't think it's necessary to bombard them with every last detail.

Writing this blog gives me the satisfaction of a one-sided phone conversation without the guilt.

In other words, I'm back, just like Family Guy. (Let's pretend it just came back now rather than 8 years ago.) Not necessarily better than ever, but I'm back nonetheless.

Here is an update from my last post, in bullets this time:

• I didn't get into nursing school. I did take some more prereqs, but that's where I left it. I'm okay with this right now. Gives me room to explore other options.
• I did run that 5K distance! In fact, I ran in a timed 5K last May, and did it in 32:33.
• I have been on and off Enbrel for 18 months. I've taken a week or two off here and there for various mild illnesses, 4 weeks off this past summer due to an antibiotic-resistant jaw infection (3 antibiotics and no improvement until urgent oral surgery to remove the offending cyst), 6 weeks off in December and January while I fought some upper respiratory infections, and a self-imposed break because I've been getting facial rashes that could have been related to drug-induced lupus. (They don't seem to be, at least I haven't heard back regarding my latest bloodwork.) I haven't been on MTX since mid-December and I haven't decided if I want to go back to it.
• I found a new rheumatologist after being seriously dissatisfied with my old one, but that's a different post for a different day.
• Susannah is 6.5 now. Emily is almost 4. The party we threw for Susannah's 5th birthday turned out well; Emily is still not fully potty-trained. Funny how certain things go by so quickly, and others seem to drag on forever.

In a nutshell, some things are the same, many things have changed.

Oh, and it was snowing on the second day of spring. Bizarre.