Half Full Friday and Blog of the Week

It's Friday which means it's once again time for Half Full Friday, my favorite day of the week, where I once again get to reminisce about all the things that made me happy in the past week. Eyegirl has returned from her wonderful wedding adventures but won't begin posting again until next week. However, if you want to join in the fun  (and I can tell that you really, really do!), please feel free to play along!

~I'm happy because...

I made a little extra gas money from my yard sale!

I got a card from Katie!

I got a postcard from Melly!

Chico's nails are finally all clipped! It was a struggle but we got it done.

I got to pet sit my mom's bird and fish again!  The fish isn't nearly as much fun but the bird is always entertaining.

We finally some got rain yesterday!  It's been a long time since we've really had much and last night, we got a real downpour.

My friend took me out to dinner to cheer me up!

Pretty much nothing has happened this week so get's right into this week's Blog of the Week.  I originally had another blog in mind for today but decided to use this one at the last minute instead.

Summer's Story

Summer suffers from  Dermatamyositis/RA/Lupus (Auto-Immune Disease) Multiple Connective Tissue Disease.  You may be asking yourselves what this is.  I've taken the definition directly from her blog.

Definiton of (DM) Dermatomyositis:  A chronic inflammatory disease of skin and muscle which is associated with patches of slightly raised reddish or scaly rash. The rash can be on the bridge of the nose, around the eyes, or on sun-exposed areas of the neck and chest. Classically, however, it is over the knuckles. When the characteristic inflammation of the muscle (myositis) occurs without skin disease, the condition is referred to as polymyositis.

Dermatomyositis is one of a group of acquired muscle diseases called inflammatory myopathies. The disease has a subacute (somewhat short and relatively severe) onset. It affects both children and adults. Females are more often affected than males. Dermatomyositis is characterized by a rash accompanying, or more often, preceding muscle weakness. The most common symptom is muscle weakness, usually affecting those muscles that are closest to the trunk of the body (proximal). Eventually, patients have difficulty rising from a sitting position, climbing stairs, lifting objects, or reaching overhead. In some cases, distal muscles (those not close to the trunk of the body) may be affected later in the course of the disease. Trouble with swallowing (dysphagia) may occur. Occasionally, the muscles ache and are tender to touch. Some patients develop hardened bumps of calcium deposits under the skin. Patients may also feel fatigue and discomfort and have weight loss or a low-grade fever.

If you want to read her story from the beginning, start here.  She talks about her tragic miscarriages, the birth of her beautiful daughter Kelcee, and the diagnosis of DM shortly after, in this post.

I love her amazing, positive attitude!  She refuses to let herself get down and depressed.  She knows she's just lucky to be alive (as we all are!) and absolutely will not let this disease to get the best of her.