So my appointments on Tuesday were disappointing at best. My LFTs continue to rise, and my Crohn's is the most active it's ever been. I'm working so hard to do my best to stay afloat. Keeping Paleo, working out four to five days a week, things going smoothly at work... It's just frustrating.

I am going back on azathioprine. I will be on four immunosuppressing medications, azathioprine, Humira, Myfortic, and prednisone. I will also be starting antibiotic prophalaxis, in the form of Bactrim DS, for I am an opportunistic infection waiting to happen. I have also returned to 20mg prednisone until further notice.

On the bright side, I may be one of the few people who have lost weight after six months of prednisone therapy. Trying to find the positives here. I follow up with my GI in one month, and hepatologist in two. Come on complete immune suppression (never thought I would say that in a million years). I'm not going down without a fight.

Tomorrow morning, I will be getting my monthly blood work. I'm nervous. How is a girl, whose had hundreds of vials of blood drawn within the past year, nervous about blood work? It's all about the numbers. If my LFTs aren't normalized, or at least signifcatly decreased, it will mean that I have "failed" another medication. The only problem is that I'm running out of options.

I know it's not healthy to worry or to fear something so small. I know that my life can't and shouldn't revolve around a single blood test. I just want to be prepared. This time, we spaced my appointments two months apart, with two sets of blood work. Last months blood work has been the worst since initially starting immunosuppressive therapy for AIH. There are only two medications left (and they belong to the same class of drugs), that I can try. There is also no way possible, that at this time I can discontinue the prednsione, not with my LFTs climbing. Initially, I was only supposed to stay on prednisone for six months. At this point, even if my LFTs go down, I will end up staying on prednisone for some time. This means I will be needing a DEXA scan, to get a baseline for how my bones are doing, with long time steroid use.

I need to quiet my brain. Tomorrow will come and go, and I will survive a mere needleprick. just got to try my best to stay optimistic.