More good news...

Don't think if I have bad news that I won't post it...

But I went in for another echocardiogram Wednesday and the tech says that my pericardial effusion is down to one centimeter, the smallest it has been since I have know that it existed. Probably in years.

Woo Hoo!

What this means is that I can start lowering the prednisone dose, which means I can also start getting off the insulin, and stop having bruises that make me look like I've been beaten about the thighs from the needle sticks.

This may mean the Cellcept is the next step in the tango. The theory is that the effusion is resulting from inflammation caused by autoimmune disease. If they can reduce the autoimmune inflammation by suppressing the entire immune system, then the effusion will stay gone, without the side effects of prednisone. However, that means that I'm going to catch every bug that comes around. But that's a possibility with the prednisone as well, so it doesn't seem that this switch will impact my need for Purell.

In other news, I think my next door neighbor is possessed of the Devil. No, not George Bush, either. More at 11.