Thursday, December 1, 2011

ETC.....

I had a diagnosis.
My husband and I had no clue what it meant or would mean. 

I went to the appointment with the Rheumatologist I was reccomended to see.  He was awful! He explained to me you see.... I was a big baby and needed to grow up and deal and understand pain was my lot in life and deal with it!  REALLY!  I was shaking listening to this crap!  HOw dare he?  I was sitting in his office staring at this man with my elbows flared so badly they looked like aliens would burst out at any minute!  He had to gall to yell at me and tell me to grow up!?  I went off.  Now you have to understand me a little here... I do not deal well with people getting in my face and putting me down or talking down to me at all!  So I told him he would never see me again and I also added a few other choice metaphors in the there for effect.  LOL!  So I left.  I didn't know what to do now.  Who to see or where to go for help.  My family doctor was giving me celebrex and prednisone only.  Wasn't helping at all!   


I got a name of a Rheumatologist out of Indianapolis who came to our town once a month to see patients.  He was highly reccomeneded on many lines.  I was scared to see him!  LOL!  I went anyway.  Of course!  I wanted to know what was happening to me and wanted to know how to get rid of the pain!  


Dr. Ski.  That is short for his name.  Very short! He had a very long name that was difficult to pronounce.  Now. I was diagnosed at 35.  I am now 37 at this point.  Two years into this and still haven't made any headway for treatment. No education either has been offered to me.  


Dr. Ski was wonderful.  Very smart and knew his stuff about RA!  
He sat me down, examined me and re did the blood work to make sure of the diagnosis.  Diagnosis correct.  Rheumatoid Arthritis.  


He informed me RA is an Auto Immune disease.  Huh?!  He went on and explained how my immune system has a flaw in it that is causing it to attack my body as if it's the enemy it needs to kill. He began me on methotrexate.  Not a fun drug.  Do you know methotrexate is one of the main drugs in Chemo therapy used for treating Cancer?  Yep.  Sure is.  So I was on Chemo!  He also started me on plaquinil,.  Wasn't enough.  Still having great pain and great flares.  


During this time with Dr. Ski. I began to feel ill.  Like stomach issue ill. I had no idea what it was and it was not fun either. 


I was in for a shock!  A shock that would rock my world!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The beginning

It began at age 35.  Maybe it began then.  I can look back before then even as far back as my teens and see signs of this awful disease.  
     Stay at home mom of 2 boys at the time.  I didn't have to work.  My husband owned and ran his own business successfully.  I had gotten ill with what we assumed was the flu.  The next morning I could not move out of bed without screaming.  We just thought it had settled in my muscles as well.  The third day....... more dire pain.  My husband was tired of it and put his foot down and made me go to the doctor to find out what was going on.  He had to dress me, put my shoes on me, tie them. help me in the and out of the car.  Help me walk into the doctor's office.  I couldn't walk without crying.  It was awful.  The doctor did a blood test as she assumed for some reason it was gout.  Gout!?  That threw me.  She said the other possibility is Rheumatoid Arthritis.  She finished by saying further..... you do not want it to be RA.  It's a devastating disease that takes your life away bit by bit.  That scared me.  But, she was convinced it was gout.  When the tests came back with negative for gout and very positive for RA, I fell apart.  I had no idea what the diagnosis meant or was.  I remembered what she had said about I didn't want that for me.  
     I had a diagnosis.  That's all I knew.  I had no idea what it meant, or what it would mean in the coming future for me and my family either.  I was so upset.  I already had been dealing with diabetes type 2 since age thirty, hashimoto's disease, which is Thyroid disease, since late twenties and polycistic ovarian syndrome as well.  Now, I had a new Auto immune disease to add to my list.  A scary one with no answers and no one who seemed to know how to help me either.  


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