Arthritic Critic

Hope and I were playing a guessing game the other day. She was describing animals to me and I was trying to guess which one she was talking about. She described a lion, elephant, giraffe and then we moved on to this animal. "Mommy, what animal is pink?" I scratched my head and dug deep into the recesses of my mind and pulled out "flamingo" feeling pretty proud of myself. Hope giggles and says, "No mommy, this animal lives on a farm.." and before I could get my thoughts straight out of my mouth came, "PORK!" I guess I see most of the animals on the farm as yummy meat...oops!

Today we finally said farewell to my scooters and put them in the attic. It's been about 3 weeks since I've been back on my feet and it's getting easier everyday. So as I bid a fond adieu to my recent best-friends (sorry, Sarah) I will leave you with this story. About 3 weeks into my recuperation Joe and I were joking around and picking on each other, as tends to happen when this starts one of us pushes until the other is screaming for mercy. Turns out this time Joe managed to push me. I looked at him and said, "you better watch out, I'll hit you with a frying pan while your sleeping tonight." He then turned to me with a big smile on his face and said, "How will this work? Will you carry yourself down the steps, grab a pan, climb back up the steps, roll across the floor, run into the door with your scooter (of course taking a chunk out of the wall), back up over your foot and as your saying a choice few 4 letter words then run over the cat?" By this ...

Yesterday Hope and I were watching Food Network as a chef was preparing a meal. The chef was listing ingredients..."oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, scallions and hot pepper flakes." Hope stopped in her tracks, turned to me and asked..."Mommy, why are they putting POISON sauce in that recipe?"

I talk a lot about going to the doctor but I don't talk a lot about why I need to go. I was diagnosed when I was 2 with JCA...a million years ago my arthritis didn't act like RA and they didn't quite know what "category" I fell into so it was JCA for me. I spent most of my childhood in remission, battling flare ups here and there. I have one strong memory of having my knee drained while in elementary school and then I had a really bad flare when I was 19 that took us about 6 months to get under control. Fast forward to '98, we're under the impression I'm dealing with PA due to family history, I start taking Enbrel, I'm miraculously cured and I lead a charmed life until I give birth to my daughter in '02...and then things quickly start to go bad. In '08 I'm diagnosed with RA after an elbow surgery. Now please don't misunderstand me, I'm not dying but the last 3 years have been extremely difficult. If it's not one thing it...

7 weeks ago tonight I was getting myself ready for my ankle fusion surgery due to my RA. While I was scared and worried, I was quite blissfully unaware of how difficult the next 7 weeks were going to be. The surgery went pretty well and a week after the surgery the incisions looked good, enter a double dose of Enbrel and Arava on the side and the incisions quickly took a turn for the gnarly. It's 7 weeks later and I still have a scab on my foot that is trying to heal. Needless to say the incisions have really done a number on me...it's hard to believe something that ugly can be attached to my person. I've worked really hard to get past it and embrace my foot and hope it heals quickly. I could have never guessed that I would also have a new disease to deal with. The day after the surgery I started to used the bathroom a little more frequently than before...before I knew it I was using the bathroom 7 or 8 times a day. I switched my diet back to gluten free, added folic acid, ...

So this week I got my knee walker for my ankle surgery. The company delivered to my house, the delivery man came in to fill out some paperwork. At the end he told me that he had 4 silly questions to ask me..I said ok and the questions commenced. The first question was..."What year is it? And I totally blanked...and said, "I don't know what year the walker is....uhm, and if you are talking about my ankle, I was born with it, so 1970." After the guy got done giggling, he said, "Melissa, what year is it this year?" After I got done laughing I said, "2009!" Then he asked me who was president...I questioned if it was Obama...yes, I was totally doubting my answers now... The last two questions were..."have you ever been diagnosed with alcoholism or mental illness?" I answered, "no." (So yeah, I lied a little there...and no I'm not a recovering alcoholic). After he left I got to thinking, did they really need to ask the last two q...

"Melissa, the issue with your feet is OBVIOUSLY your rheumatoid arthritis. Let's increase your medicine, give you some steroids and consider a cortisone injection. You are obviously NOT in remission. How long do you want to try this treatment?" "A month?" "I want you back in two weeks for a check up." And at that point I had to physically restrain myself from hugging my new doctor...he's not someone I would go to for life (he's seriously about a hundred years old) but for the next three months, I can totally handle that. Oh, I almost forgot while I was checking out he came to find me and asked me about what I take for pain...and then offered me something... And then my chiropractor told me he would be happy to deal with my back issues and that was icing on the cake....of course this was after he rubbed my ankle for 15 minutes. Yeah, an all around stellar day for doctors!! My trust in doctors is going up at each visit...thank goodness....pardon...