Esther and Ben were two of the soloists in the Four Seasons by Vivaldi played by their high school Symphony Orchestra last night. Esther is soloist in the first movement of Winter and Ben is soloist in the last movement of Summer.
The video is below (click on it to play)
I saw my Crohn’s doctor yesterday and she said I could reduce my methotrexate dose from 25mg a week to 15mg a week!
At my January visit she’d said that might be possible at this one if I was doing well. I had blood tests a couple of weeks ago and my CRP was “under 5″ which is the lowest it has been in any recent tests! (The normal range is 0-8). Also my symptoms have not got worse since January; I think they are a little better. So I was hopeful that my doctor would let me reduce my medication more as planned and she did.
I’m having blood tests again in 6 and 12 weeks and seeing her again in 3 months.
I saw the holistic doctor last week (actually the nurse who works with her) and she was very pleased about my CRP.
I’m continuing on the same supplements (except I switched to Healthy Trinity capsules instead of the same brand of probiotics in powder form). I’m still mostly gluten and dairy-free but sometimes I have cheese. I’m also eating some tomatoes, citrus, red meat, peanut butter, walnuts, and some food with a little sugar in (gluten-free granola) – these are foods I was avoiding a few months ago. I don’t think there’s anything I react to in minute quantities, so it doesn’t seem like I need to worry about a little of something on my ‘avoid’ list now and then. The main problem is that ‘a little’ is less defined than ‘none’ and can tend to creep up and up.
I’m having massage every two weeks or so, which may help and is enjoyable even if it doesn’t 
.
Esther played the first movement of the Barber Violin Concerto in a violin recital last weekend, with Ben accompanying on the piano.
In November Ben recorded himself playing the first movement of the Waldstein Piano Sonata by Beethoven to send with college applications. Both videos are below (click on them to play)
Today for the first time in over 2 years I didn’t inject any medication. I saw my doctor a week ago and she said I was doing well enough that I could cut back my Humira injections from every Monday to every other week!
I was sooo glad to get back to ‘real food’ again after the 3 weeks shakes diet. I went back to my restricted diet (gluten, dairy and sugar free; no coffee, caffeinated tea or carbonated drinks; also limiting red meat, corn, soy, tomatoes, eggs) but it seemed like luxury compared to only having shakes and clear soup.
It didn’t seem like the shakes diet dramatically improved my health, but it certainly didn’t make it worse. In general I think the diet and supplements I’ve been taking since late September have been helping. I’ve been having regular blood tests to check the supplements aren’t causing any problems. I’m pleased that my CRP (an inflammation marker) has come down since late September and has even been ‘in the normal range’ a couple of times recently.
I’ll be seeing my doctor in a couple of months to see how I’m doing on less medication (and the diet and supplements).
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