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It's been a tough week. On Friday we drove to North Alabama to see a football game and stay overnight w/ family. The game turned out to be fun. I did have one weak spell but it eventually passed.

We got to bed after 12:00 which is late for us. It took me quite a while to get to sleep. I then woke about 2:00 and went to the bathroom. After that I couldn't get back to sleep. I got up and read. I did doze off around 5:00 and woke again at about 7:00. I then read some more and drank instant coffee until someone else got up.

I was a little off all morning. We eventually all went out to lunch. That was nice. After that the two of us started home with a stop at the Ave Maria Grotto at St Bernard's Abby. I have never seen it and am glad I finally got to. It's amazing. It was an easy, pleasant walk in a wooded area.

After that we headed home. By the time I got home, I was feeling buzzed and grumpy. After a while I started with the all over pains and achiness and a headache. Of course I had trouble getting to sleep so I took something.

The next day I wasn't doing as well as I had been before the trip. I am tired, don't feel well and can't get going. I'm also getting a little depressed. This is when I received the letter to inform me that my claim for Long Term Disability Insurance had been denied largely because my doctor did not respond to 3 voice messages. Since then I've been worse. I am trying very hard not to let this keep me down but it's taking all I can do. I'm at the point that I'm tired of fighting it and just want to curl up in bed and be miserable. I'll keep going and doing as much as I can but it's awfully hard. I am fortunate that I have family that will never let me get too deep into a Pity Party.

It's particularly hard to have to deal with the main thing that's causing this depression & malaise (other than the obvious illness). I have been working on an appeal letter and today will have to call the doctor's office and deal with the enormous hassle of trying to get what I need from them. I love my doctor but dealing with her office is a major stress.

I'm having some pain in my chest/ribs/lungs????. It just feels achy. Maybe a bit of pleuracy(?). I'm also trying to get my medications but apparently the prescriptions I sent to the pharmacy haven't gotten to them. (It appears they may have changed the address w/o letting me know.)

Lupus is hard work.