every night after work last week, i bitched and moaned to chad about how sore i was at the end of the day, and that i was waking up still sore. i attributed it to being out of shape and lifting large animals all day - i have gotten used to aching knees, although lately my elbows had been hurting as well. last sunday, i noticed while showering that i had hives on my legs. they weren't overly itchy, as long as i didn't mess around too much with them, so i didn't worry about that, either. by thursday evening, when they hadn't gone away, i thought a trip to the doctor might be in order. turns out, they're auto-immune related, as are the sore joints, as is the optic neuritis i had last year, and the raynaud's years ago...now i am awaiting test results for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and making appointments to see an auto-immune specialist in manhattan...things are never easy.