Life continues. First I worked one day in a week, then two, then three. This week I'm going for five! I told my parents and sister I worked all last week so they would stop telling me I'll get fired. I'm still waiting to hear from the specialist about when he'll take my $500 and deign to see me. Under HR's suggestion, I've applied for just about every program available to people in my position: Family Medical Leave, California Family Rights, Medical Leave of Absence, Short-Term Disability, you name it. If I'm approved for all these things, my job and paycheck should be protected. Any promotions, on the other hand - well, I'll wait until they're handing them out again before I worry about that.

I've been resting a lot since my crazy Hollywood weekend. Sleeping a lot, not too much physical activity, taking it easy at work (learned the hard way to take the elevator not the stairs!). I feel better but I have been BORED! Can stay energized for longer periods of time. Most of the pain has faded. I no longer want to die. I feel like that's real progress. My tiredness comes and goes; during down time like meetings if I hold perfectly still my body will go numb (it sounds scary but it's actually relaxing, like sleeping from the neck down). Other than that my main complaint is that my hands shake and my muscles sometimes twitch. Is that not supremely weird? And annoying. I look like the neurotic spaz that I am.

Now I'm debating whether I should slowly increase my activity and hope for a commensurate increase in health while risking relapse, or stay on the slow going in hopes of a more complete recovery. Knowing me, when I'm feeling better I'll get excited about something, overdo it, and land myself back in bed. But I know so little about how this disease affects me, at least that will be a data point. Gotta stay positive.