Living with RA: Getting Worse AFTER My 1st Diagnosis

*** This post is part of my Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis series.

The alarm clock went off, signaling the beginning of another day. I slowly climbed out of bed and shuffled down the hall of our second floor apartment to the bathroom. There, I turned the shower on as hot as I could tolerate and let the water wash over my inflamed joints. The heat usually helped take away some of the stiffness.

4 different medications and two and a half years had passed since my first (unspecified) diagnosis of arthritis. I couldn't deny to myself that my disease was worse. A growing list of things I could no longer do made that clear:

• Unscrew a grape juice bottle for the first time.
• Unscrew a pickle jar lid that had previously been opened.
• Peel a potato with a knife.
• Quickly descend a flight of stairs.
• Stay awake passed 8 PM.
• Open my mouth wide enough to bite into a hamburger.
• Get up off the floor by myself.
• Squat down to talk to a child.
• Kneel on the floor.

By this time Joel and I had been married for 3 years and I wanted to start having children. But I was afraid. Questions filled my mind:

• How could I care for a baby all day alone when I couldn't screw on the lid of a bottle?
• How I would I tie a toddler's shoe or zip up a coat when I couldn't kneel or squat?
• How would I keep up with an energetic preschooler when I was sleeping 8-10 hours a night and napping 2-3 hours in the afternoon and still felt exhausted?

In the spring of 2000, relief for my pain and answers for my questions came about in the oddest way.

Because of severe TMJ, my dentist sent me to an oral surgeon. The oral surgeon just happened to be knowledgeable about the different kinds of arthritis. After examining my jaw and seeing the joints in my hands, he suspected I had Rheumatoid arthritis, NOT osteoarthritis, the most common form and what athletes and seniors get.

He scolded me about not seeing a rheumatologist (a specialist in the field of arthritis and related diseases). He also explained that I probably had RA, which affected my immune system and needed very different treatment than osteoarthritis. He even went so far as to call my primary care doctor and tell him I needed to see a rheumatologist!

On the next visit to my P.C., he handed me a referral to a rheumatologist in my area.  And that was that.

Once again I had hope that the pain and fatigue would go away and that my "Can't Do" list would become a memory of the past.

Disclaimer:  I am not a doctor nor do I pretend to be one on TV.  This post is intended to tell my experiences NOT to serve as medical advice.  If your symptoms sound similar, please consult a physician.

Disclaimer: I have not been asked by a pharmaceutical company or any related organizations to write these posts. I have not been compensated for these posts in anyway (including money, medication, or medical treatments). 

25% Off at Hearts at Home!!!

 Everyone loves a good sale, Right? We'll let me tell you about a great one:

It’s a Hearts at Home

Black Friday after Black Friday Sale Dec. 7-11

Did you sleep in on Black Friday? Did you drag yourself out of bed, but still miss out on some awesome deals because you were standing in line too long at one store? Do you still have shopping to do, but dread the crowds, traffic, and cost? Let Hearts at Home help!

Their Black Friday sale has been extended to the week of December 7-11. Shop in the convenience of your own home and receive an unprecedented 25% off all of Hearts books and merchandise. They have great gifts for everyone in your family.

Find gifts for friends, teachers, bible study leaders, bus drivers, and everyone else on your list. You may even find something for yourself. This is a great time to stock up on all those Hearts at Home books you’ve been wanting to read.

Let your family know how much you would love a Hearts at Home gift certificate so you can use it for your Hearts at Home conference registration and/or Mom’s Night Out tickets.

Go to Heartshoppe.com, choose your gifts, and enter code “HEARTGIFT” upon checkout. You will receive 25% off your total purchase (before tax and shipping).

I also want to fill you in on a couple of other great opportunities!

Be sure to check out Jill Savage's blog this month (she is the founder and CEO of Hearts at Home). She is doing one giveaway A DAY through Christmas.

And, if you stop by the Hearts at Home blog December 8 - 11, you will have an opportunity to win a Heart's at Home prayer journal. The prayer journal is a brand new resource from Hearts at Home.

Merry Christmas from Hearts at Home!

Disclosure:  This post was provided in its entirety from Hearts at Home.

Decorating for Christmas 2009

There was a time when our Christmas tree went up a week before Christmas and came down, well, whenever I got around to it. But now we have children.

Children who have wanted to play Christmas music and put up lights since the beginning of November!! (I refused until the day after Thanksgiving. I'm a purist about that.)

So, for what MUST be a record at our house, Joel and the kids carried up our Christmas tubs Sunday afternoon, we turned on the Christmas CDs and started decorating our tree.

Yes, I realize it's kind of a sad, little display. I promise I have a 6 foot(ish) tree stored in the basement.

But I ask that you keep in mind the smallness of my living room and the smallness of my Sammy Boy.  He's only a year but he walks. And can climb one step.

I'm afraid a full size tree sitting on the floor would be our undoing!

Living with RA: The Beginning

*** This post is part of my Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis series.

It was August in Arkansas. And that meant heat and humidity. The air conditioner in the living room hummed day and night attempting to cool the small house to comfortable levels. Each morning I slowly rolled out of bed and gingerly walked to the living room where the temperature and humidity were at least tolerable.

My arms and fingers, swollen until I almost couldn't wear my shiny new wedding ring, remained numb for the first hour of each day. My ankles and feet barely squeezed into my sandals. Though only 22 years old, I moved as if I were 80. We (myself, my mom and my husband of 3 months) assumed that the swelling was a combination of birth control pills, heat, humidity and too many sodas. So, I stopped taking the pills, cut back on sodas and hoped cooler weather would make the swelling, numbness and pain go away.

We didn't know, then, that the weather, Pill and sodas were secondary causes. The primary cause of my mysterious ailment was Rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic disease in which the body's immune system attacks the lining in the joints. But I'm getting ahead of myself; a specific diagnosis wouldn't come for nearly 3 more years.

Later that fall, now 23 years old and living in Rhode Island, I visited a primary care doctor. He said that I had "arthritis," didn't specify which kind, and prescribed a medication to treat it.

Arthritis didn't seem all that bad. After all, my Grandma always talked about arthritis in her hand and my dad complained about it acting up in his knee when it rained. It didn't feel scary at all. I had a name for my illness and a medication to treat it.

I left the doctor's office feeling confident and relieved. I thought I would just take a little pill each day and my body would be back to normal.  That the inflammation in my hands would disappear and I would jump out of bed each morning.

Boy, was I wrong! But I'll tell that part of the story in my next post.

** Photo from 1998. Taken in Massachusetts.

Disclaimer:  I am not a doctor nor do I pretend to be one on TV.  This post is intended to tell my experiences NOT to serve as medical advice.  If your symptoms sound similar, please consult a physician.

Disclaimer: I have not been asked by a pharmaceutical company or any related organizations to write these posts. I have not been compensated for these posts in anyway (including money, medication, or medical treatments). 

Thanking God for the Puddles

For almost four years I have routinely found myself on hands and knees scrubbing the floor with a towel after one of my children failed to make it to the toilet in time.  I'm sorry to say that usually I'm scowling, issuing words of reproach, and am anything but thankful for the situation.

But this weekend was different.

Maybe it was because we had recently celebrated Thanksgiving. Maybe it was because we had recently visited with friends who had to make a really hard choice for the benefit of their daughter. Maybe it was because we had recently received letters from the children we sponsor through Compassion.

Whatever the reason was, as I toweled up a puddle of pee, one more time, instead of reproaches I found myself saying thanksgivings.

Thank you, God, that my daughter can learn to be potty trained.

Thank you, God, that my daughter is healthy and can make pu on the floor as she plays.

Thank you, God, that I have towels to wipe up the mess from the hard wood floor.

Thank you, God, that I have a floor to wipe.

Thank you, God, that I have a house that's warm and comfortable for my family.

Thank you, God, that we have food and never go hungry.
Thank you, God, that we have indoor plumbing.

Thank you, God, for all the blessings you have given me that I take for granted every day.

"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. 
Praise the LORD!"
                                                 - Psalm 150:6

What are we doing these days?

When we aren't training the littlest cowboy...

Or hunting pirates...

We're kicked backed reading or...

falling asleep trying to.

Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis

I mentioned briefly in my photo shoot post that I have Rheumatoid arthritis.  That may have surprised some of my regular readers since I haven't written about my life with RA on this blog.  I'm changing that now.

As a newly diagnosed patient in 2000, I scoured the web for information about Rheumatoid arthritis.  Other than the Arthritis Foundation, I didn't find much.  And other than in their forums, I didn't find ANY personal stories.

So, for my regular readers and any newly diagnosed RA patients who have stumbled across my blog, I am sharing my story now.

Rather than create another label for RA, I'm going to use this article as a list of all my disease related posts.  As they are published I will link to them from here.

• Photo Shoot at My House!
• The Beginning
  
• Getting Worse AFTER my 1st Diagnosis
  
• 2nd Diagnosis
• The Difference Enbrel Makes for Me
  
• Pregnancy and the Disease
• Living with Chronic Illness and Faith
  

If you have any questions feel free to comment or email me. 


Disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor do I pretend to be one on TV. This post is intended to tell my experiences NOT to serve as medical advice. If your symptoms sound similar, please consult a physician.

Disclaimer: I have not been asked by a pharmaceutical company or any related organizations to write these posts. I have not been compensated for these posts in anyway (including money, medication, or medical treatments).