Holiday shopping is (mostly) done, Christmas cards are mailed out, and today we laid grave blankets on all of my relatives on my mom's side buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, followed by lunch with my cousins. It's odd to say that going to the cemetery is a fun day, but we trade stories, catch up with each other, and generally have a pretty good time. My youngest first cousin just turned 60 in November and has a new condo and new job, and I'm so happy for him! His daughter is graduated with her masters and going into child psychology, and although I know it's a tough field she seems to really like it which is awesome.

 Overall it's just been very busy for me, hectic at work and still sleep disordered, although I asked my hepatologist about it and he reassured me that it's not due to liver and ammonia buildup since my cognitive functioning is not impaired. Still, I keep going and hope that some day I'll be able to get decent sleep again.

Thursday we're having our annual holiday party in NYC, which makes me nervous since last December led to a terrible dizzy spell and subsequent ER visit rather than making it to the restaurant. I was still too sick to make it to the other bi-annual meetup over the summer, so this will be the first time I'm making it back since last year. I'm still prone to random hot flashes and bouts of exhaustion following them, so I'm hoping I don't get one and carrying protein bars since there's not much else I can do.

I'm also going in later instead of trying to work a full day then do dinner, and basically face a 20-22 hour day vs. going in closer to the dinner and knowing that I literally have put in that time and then some over the years to make up one day where I do minimal work.

I hope everything goes smoothly. I just have to work on starting out well-rested in addition to preparing for the worst. My MELD score is down to 16 from a high of 30-something in May, so I'm healthier at least.