Blame it on winter...

I haven't been online much this week. I have been trying to get some things done before my surgery next week. And taking care of a sick kid, and feeling the wrath of being off of MTX and ibuprofen. I am starting to puff up. I am sure it the lack of meds and the fact that after weeks of cold and rain we have had a few beautiful days, only to be followed by more cold and rain this weekend. Something about all the changes in the weather seems to really cause the RA to flare. Guess I live in the wrong place, huh? There is a saying around here that goes "if you don't like the weather in Houston, wait 10 minutes" and it is plain truth...except from June through September...then it is 90 degrees or more and steamy like a steam room at the spa. Good for sitting in the shade with a cold glass of tea and terrible for putting on make-up, trying to do anything more with your hair than a ponytail, and attempting to look nice going anywhere. I have always loved the cold, cloudy and rainy days. Curling up on the couch or bundling up in sweaters and hats and going out to get rosey cheeks in the crisp air made me happy. I dreaded the hot summer days. But, it is official..after 32 years of loving the cold, I have officially declared war on winter weather. I am so ready for some hot sunny days. I cant spend any amount of time outside while it is cold and so now I want the warmth so I can sit outside by the river and watch the boats go by. Today is sunny and in the 60's. The water is glistening in the sunlight and my dogs are stretched out on a sunny portion of the rug on the back porch. Tomorrow, the rain returns.
It has been a little over a week since my spinal injections and I haven't had any migraines this week, but my neck has been so stiff and my shoulders and under my shoulder blades are stiff and sore and pinch with every movement. I am to call my docs office on Wed to give the official 2 week report. So I guess I will see what happens in the next 5 days.
Knee surgery is on Thursday. Blah. I am not looking forward to the recovery period. The first 4 weeks is hell. But I am ready to get it over with. I have been doing everything I can to try to improve the rest of my health issues in the hopes that the RA will behave. If not than I quit..can I quit? Can't I just say I don't want this RA anymore and give it back? eh...guess not...oh well..every little bit helps I guess.
I am just looking forward to springtime...thinking my knee should be better, my neck hopefully will be better, and maybe the RA will be happier with warmer weather..So that is it..I am blaming all the bad on winter and need spring to come on..
Next Friday is Groundhog day...wonder if we are gonna get an early spring?

Well here it is...

Well as I last left you I was in misery and waiting for my doctor to call me and let me know what I should be feeling and expecting. He said that it was normal to feel really sore after the spinal injections and that in my case, my muscles were so tight that he wasn't surprised that they were so tight. So I took some pain medicine and a muscle relaxer and put an icepack on my neck...and then repeated a while later and got some sleep.
Doc did say that it would take between 24-48 hrs for the meds that he injected to absorb in my body and start giving me relief. So yesterday am was 24 hrs, and I was probably at a 4 on the pain scale. Not bad enough to take anything, but I didn't do much either. By last night only the injection sites hurt. Today, I have my usual stiff neck back. So we will just have to wait and see how things pan out over the next 2 weeks.
My hands and feet hurt again...more rain must be on the way. LOL...like an old weather vane. And that is it. I am way more rested today than I have been all week. It was a long week and I had a bit of an emotional meltdown yesterday. So I am feeling a lot better today.
One day I will win the lottery and all my problems will go away. If I had to choose between RA and millions of dollars...I would take the money. I could deal with the RA if I didn't have to stress over every dime every damn day of my life.
Yeah..call me shallow...but it is the honest truth.

I Did It!

Well..I had my cervical spinal injections today...and I survived! LOL! I was really nervous that it would hurt, but they gave me some IV drugs (versed) to help me relax and then they just numbed the site on the side of my neck locally with a shot of lido. The doc put a needle in my neck and was using a fluoroscope to guide and take pictures. He poked around and asked things like "can you feel that in your arm?" After a few minutes he did the other side. The only thing that hurt was the numbing medicine that he put in and that was mild and very brief. I was ready to go home after about 1 1/2 hrs in recovery and I was very lucid.
I wasn't really having much neck pain today when I went..mostly b/c my legs and feet were just so damn bad. But now my neck and shoulders are stiff and I have a terrible headache. The usual for my neck pain when it is acting up. I think I am going to call the doctor on call tonight since I don't remember what exactly they said about this and the paper they gave me is a bit unclear. But, I don't think it worked as a pain reliever...so I hope at least the pictures will tell my doctor what to do next.
I am just glad it is over and was not bad...and I am so thankful for all of my online friends that sent out the good vibes and prayers for me today...It worked y'all...y'all got me through this and I am so lucky to have each and every one of you rooting for me!
I will update when I talk to the doctor.

I have found a cure...

Okay....at least a temporary one....I have been watching American Idol..and laughing so hard. That is one way to get through a bad day. Watch AI with all of the weirdos, freaks, and goobers...and you will get some of the best medicine possible...laughter.
I enjoy watching the talented singers perform, but always get a good chuckle at the bad ones. This year they are out doing themselves with all of the horrible singing, funny outfits, dancing, juggling...and rolling on the floor. And then, you get to watch them yell at the judges, curse at the camera, and get escorted out by the cops. It almost reminds me of a night at work in the ER...as a matter of fact, I was thinking earlier that I bet the ERs in the cities are empty the day of American Idol auditions..all the freaks are busy. Only the really sick people to go to the ER. Think it is funny...I bet it is true. Oh well...all for a good laugh and a bit of fun.

BTW..if you are a country music fan, check out Nashville Star on USA network on Thursday nights. There is a website too where you see what it is all about. Jewel is the host, along with Cowboy Troy. It is a good show and last week was the first episode of the season.

A little bit of entertainment is always good for the soul.

Okay..it was the weather...

I have been wondering if I felt so good last week because of the Remicade or because we had spring like weather...well now I know...it was the weather. We are experiencing the coldest weather all year right now..and I am worse than I have been all year too. Actually yesterday when the temp was dropping was the worst. I was falling asleep when I was posting on the blog. So today I have had painful feet and hands and a little bit knees to. Yesterday my back was so bad that it was weak. I guess if I werent on MTX and maybe the Remicade I would be a lot worse..so that is something. But still, when I do have pain, no pain med releives it.
So Houston got lucky last night and the storm passed us up...no ice on the roads...but tonight, it is sleeting outside. We are not used to driving in this kind of stuff down here so I dont know if anything is gonna be open tomorrow. I just hope we dont get into a situation where we lose power or anything.
Anyways that is all for today...just hanging out at home...watching the weather and hiding under the blankets with the family and 5 chihuahuas and 2 cats....lol.

City Shutting Down

It looks as though the city of Houston and the surrounding areas are basically shutting down overnight and in the early part of tomorrow morning due to a winter storm that is bearing down on the usually mild southeast Texas. There are roads shutting down and schools closing. There is talk of icey roads and flood warnings.
With all of the cold and stormy weather my fingers are feeling stiff and sore and every time I move any toe or finger into a weird position it really hurts. I know I know....dont move them into weird positions. But I am talking about leaning my foot against the back of the couch or anything like that. I went to the doctor today and my feet were killing me. I couldnt wait to get out of there and take my shoes off. Tennis-shoes were just too tight today.
I also am so tired and there is no reason why I should be sleepy like this excepth the weather..
YAY winter!

Thars a storm a brewin'!

According to the weather report we are supposed to get some really bad icey rain in the next few days. Right now it is very sunny and 72 degrees outside. But my hands were really stiff this morning and they have been pretty good all week. I always wonder about this. Every time I have a few good days I will thing that the medicine is starting to work and then I realize that the weather has been mild. The temp will drop or some big rain and tornado storm will come and my body crumples. Tuesday the temp is supposed to be 50 in the morning and is going to drop into the 30s with an 80% chance of rain. Well...cant do anything about the weather. Guess I just will make sure my warm winter clothes are clean and ready to wear...after wearing flip flops and capris this weekend.

I started taking Boniva today. I have had Fosamax which really stuck in my throat and Actonel...which I could never remember to take. So I asked about the Boniva and my doctor gave my a perscription. It is only once a month so maybe I will be able to remember it. So far so good...

Bad blogger..long week

Well...I havent been very good this week about getting online...which is not the norm for me. But since my last blog I have been suffering with some wicked migraines. I also held a 7th birthday party for my son and then on Monday I went for my 4th Remicade infusion. I was planning on asking if maybe the dose needed to be increased because I dont really feel like it is working. I was suprised to find out that I already am on 5mg/kg. The usual starting dose is 3mg/kg....but my rd started me out a higher dose already because I didnt have sucess with Enbrel or Humira. So I am already at a high dose...so now what? What if it doesnt work? Do I just keep on taking it and see what happens....or move on to something like Rituxin? I am pretty nervous about the idea of Rituxin or Orencia...they are so new and I dont really want to be a guinnea pig. I think if the Remicade doesnt do anything than I am going to stay on the MTX and thats it. I dunno...I guess for now I just stay with the Remicade.
Anyways the combo of my neck problem...which is a slipped disc at C-5 and C-6...and the side effect of the Remicade has really been giving me some horrible migraines that are so hard to get rid of. Now for the new problem...I have spinal injections in my neck scheduled for this Thursday but I forgot about the co-pay...and I dont know if I am going to be able to swing the cost or not. I chalk it up to my lack of organization and the fact that I dont really want the injections. I mean..I want relief...but owie...needles in my neck...When I am feeling okay I dont want the injections at all but when my neck is really hurting bad I think I would do anything to make the pain stop.
I guess I am going to try and get them. Uggg...I suppose the injections are the lesser of 2 evils.
So that is what my week has been like..lots of headaches, lots to worry about, and unrelenting fatigue. The fatigue, I am sure, was contributed to by the headaches and the stress. Oh, yeah, and the fact that I just realized that I have not been taking folic acid. I havent taken it in months. I am not sure how I left out that little detail other than the fact that I have had a few periods of time when I was off of the MTX because of surgery or illness.
Well, next week will be a busy one, especially if I decide to procede with the injections. I will do my best to log on here and blog like a good blogger should.

Welcome to my Blog site!

Okay...I finally did it....here is my blog site. So for the first one I will tell you a little bit about myself. I am 32, I have RA, OA, and osteopenia. I also have a slipped disk in my cervical spine. I am currently on Remicade and Methotrexate for RA and when I remember to take it, Actonel for osteopenia. I have had one arthoscopic knee surgery in sept 06...and I have another one scheduled for feb on the other knee. I am not sure that the Remicade is doing its job at this point. I am getting ready to undergo some spinal injections in my neck in an attempt to get some relief from the pain related to the slipped disc and well....I guess I have a lot of things coming up soon.
I am an ER nurse, though I have been on medical leave for the past few months and I am not sure at this point when if ever I will return to work. Don't worry, I have plenty to keep me busy with 2 kids, 2 cats, and 5 dogs. Oh, yeah, and a husband too...lol.
I live in Texas and most people who know me will agree that I am very proud of this fact. I am usually a happy person considering all of the crap that I have to deal with and I have a pretty laid back attitude and a good sense of humor.
I am the creator of RAsushi, but I couldn't have done it with out the help of my friends Liz (Grammaskittles) and Katie (ArrisColwell). They have done so much of the technical stuff, and they are the ones who keep the RAsushi blog going strong.
This blog is just my journaling about my day to day thoughts and feelings on life with RA. I am a pretty typical person...and average girl. So maybe just maybe my story is someone else's story...and maybe I will be able to help someone deal with RA, or at the very least help them to ward off insomnia.