Update!

It was almost one month ago (It will be a month tomorrow!) that I began a long 24 day detox to clean out my liver out and hopefully start to feel more than barely hanging in there.  For most of this time, I thrived off of rice, nuts, seeds, fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices and olive oil. Yes, I said, "THRIVED!" For the first few days, I felt no difference. I felt tired (my old norm), but took it easy and enjoyed lots of Skip-bo and coloring/ painting time with my kids. Then, a couple weeks into it, it was like I woke up. All of the sudden I was able to do things that I would not have been able to do one month ago. Like I could go work out hard at the Y and then come home, do 3 loads of laundry, bake bread for the family, play with my beautiful children AND make and clean up the meals. BIG stuff! At least to me  I have realized that my physical condition was deeply affecting my emotional self. I knew that my patience was thin and that I wasn't super fun to be around and my wonderful friend Mary noticed in the beginning of January that she had seen "an attitude change" in me. I knew I was grumpy! But without any energy, I could not exercise my creativity in any way. I felt trapped. I had ideas on what I could write, but could not physically sit at the computer and write them. I had ideas on how to organize or decorate my house, but could not get up the energy to do so.  I had never felt so weak in my life.
But NOW! Now, I am living life again. I do not feel perfect all the time, but I do feel good.  I still take a short nap in the afternoon (most days) but I do not wait from 11 in the morning until 2pm waiting for naptime, unable to do much else besides wait. Those days were rough...
Last week, Paige and I painted a mural on her new bedroom wall.  This was something I would not have been able to handle a month ago. I couldn't even manage to get to the store to get paint! But, we did it last week and I didn't have to ignore our house or our meals. This feels so good!

 And for those of you wondering what I eat now, I am pretty much on the same diet I have been.  I am eating fruits and vegetables (minus all nightshades, bananas, pineapple and asparagus), rice, nuts, seeds, olive oil, most spices, fish, and today I introduced oats.  I plan to introduce foods back into my diet every 3 days (just like you would to a baby) making sure that they do not alter the way I'm feeling. I will not be adding eggs, dairy, cane sugar, yeast, and the veggies/fruits that are off limits for 11 months at least. But I'm fine with that.  11 months until I take a blood test to find out if I still have Lupus. 1 down, 11 to go. Big hopes.