Yay! Good things have started rolling my way this week. The blood count numbers were improved significantly when the doc did an in-office test on Tuesday, so the iron pills are doing their job. I still do have some deficit to make up on that score, but I trust that as long as I keep following physicians' directions and eating as I should, I'll keep gaining ground.

Also, the new pain med finally got into my bloodstream enough to catch up to, and surpass, the various knee and hand pains that I've had since stopping the NSAID. It took a couple days' worth of taking the new med in order to accomplish that feat, but the end result is an improved Quality of Life.

My energy level has improved, too. I'm not exactly bouncing-off-the-walls energetic by any stretch, but I'm not wilting-on-the-floor wiped out after reasonable amounts of activity, either.

It might be as big of a cliche as there is, but I'm taking this new year and treating it like a clean slate and an adventure. I'd have had to hit the "reset" button and start fresh health-wise no matter what time of year that blood test result came through, but it just so happens to have taken place around the New Year, so that adds a bit of potency to my determination to start fresh.

So I'm starting over health-wise, not just as a New Year's Resolution, but out of necessity. And as I feel the physical improvements from the health-related changes, I am going to do my darnedest to use that newfound energy to brighten my life mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Consider it my way of making lemonade out of that giant-sized lemon that unexpectedly came my way right before Christmas. I mean to come out of this as a better and healthier person, for the benefit of both me and everyone around me.