Lupus and Medication: Tapering Cellcept

In my quest to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, I tried another new recipe last week. 

And it was a fail. 

Not a complete fail. Just one that yielded flat, thin, cookies with heavy notes of caramel and not enough chocolate. They're not awful...but they were predicted to break the internet. So I mean, come on. 

And they're definitely not as good as my chocolate chip cookies, which, if I don't mind saying, are mildly famous around these parts. Or used to be, back when they were highly requested at school pitch-ins and bake sales.  

Compared to the Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe, I add a little extra flour, I don't pack the brown sugar, and I never skimp on chocolate. My cookies are big and fluffy and dense, all at the same time. Tate's thin and crispy, they are not. But to my sweet family, they are the most perfect cookie I've ever made. 

Why I even think of messing with it, I don't know. After this latest batch, my youngest daughter made me pinky promise that I would only experiment with other types of cookies. She pleaded that if I make chocolate chip, they have to be my original recipe. 

Don't mess with what works, I guess. 

Which has always been my thinking on my dose of Cellcept.  I have been on Cellcept for years now, flare free, healthy, and happy. My doctor for over 20 years believed that there was no reason to change what was working so beautifully. Having had lung, heart and kidney complications in the past, he and I both agreed we liked the status quo. 

But when I started with my new doctor about a year and a half ago, she asked me to start considering the idea of a taper. 

I told her I wasn't ready. 

Because I wasn't.

She asked again about 9 months later. I still wasn't ready.

But when she asked about a month or so ago. I said let's do it. I was ready. 

I think I was inspired by watching Deirdre overhaul her diet, accept new realities, and add supplements to her daily routine to address deficiencies that are making her feel crummy. I think there might be room for change in my routine, too, particularly since my doctor is advocating for it! 

I know what I'm currently doing is working. And I definitely don't want to mess that up. But I'd like to see if I can do this living well thing on less medicine. 

I've cleaned up my diet.

I've reduced my stress.

I limit my sun exposure.

I listen to my body and give it what it needs - which usually means extra sleep at often inconvenient times during the day.  

I'm ready to move forward. I'm ready to mess with perfection. 

I think my chocolate chip cookie recipe is safe for now. I found something else to tinker with in the meantime!