Saturday, November 14, 2020

SIX WEEKS INTO HUMIRA TREATMENT

Well, the election ended up being a little closer than my prediction, but I'm going to go ahead and call it good as I whistle and walk away!

The other night I had my fourth Humira injection, six weeks to the day of my first injection. The treatment is going really well. The "sorta" headaches I had when I first started have completely dissipated. There are no other side effects that I am experiencing. So that's very encouraging. When I was rocking and rolling on leflunomide I had my arthritis in remission without any side effects as well. My hope for Humira was to achieve that same thing, and it seems to be coming to fruition.

I'm not going to declare 100% remission yet... I have to get my mileage back up and make sure everything holds up. However, I think I have a pretty good shot of that being the case, given that Humira is a more aggressive treatment than leflunomide and methotrexate. It would be really weird for them to work great and have Humira come up short. But who knows! I am back up to eight miles on my "long" run... I think once I am running 10 or 12 on the regular without any issues, it will be pretty safe to call it a success.

As for the injections themselves, I just want to mention how freaking easy they are again. This last one I literally did not even feel. Normally you feel a little something, but I honestly could not feel it at all. So that's been a huge relief. I haven't had any bad injection site reactions or anything like that after the fact either. With the injectable methotrexate I was coming to dread the injections... I honestly could not care less at this point with the Humira.

The only thing I really seem to be fighting is the weather. Daylight Saving Time just ended, meaning all evening runs are in the dark now. Oregon weather has switched to "winter" mode, which means a lot of rain I am trying to work around as well. I just don't have the motivation to get out there when it is cold and wet. This is a tired, old song though, nothing new. Most years I at least had a race to look forward too, however, with the pandemic, obviously those are all gone. So for now, each time I get outside and do a run it is a small victory. As long as I can keep getting out there three times a week, I'm calling it good.

P.S. My liver tests are back to normal and I can drink again. Not that I'm a huge drinker, but it will be nice to at least have a beer here and there again.

Sunday, November 01, 2020

2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION PREDICTION

Well, it's time for this exercise in futility again. Every four years try my hand at predicting what will happen during the election, failing miserably half the time (2/4, 50%). I try to get my prediction up a few days early and have a couple differences from the "conventional wisdom" (which these days, is mostly 538).

If you want to look at the older ones, here is 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016. Below is this year's prediction. My next post will be back to running and how Humira is going as I just had my third injection on Thursday.



There it is. As of right now, the differences from the 538 model are Iowa going for Biden and Georgia going for Trump. Also, 538 is saying an 8 point margin nationwide for Biden, I'll go with 9. Tipping point state will be closer though, so it's clenchin' time!

Electoral Vote

Biden/Harris         341
Trump/Pence        197

Popular Vote

Biden/Harris         54%
Trump/Pence        45%