Category Archives: rheumatoid arthritis

Okay… I shouldn’t let this bother me… I know I shouldn’t… but it has been a long enough day already… and a bad enough couple weeks… that rude people are just bugging the crap out of me.

I’m sitting outside of the rheumy’s office waiting for it to be 1:30 when they unlock the doors. In the chair across the hall way also waiting on the same office (all rheumy all the time) are two PLEASANT Hispanic women (mom and daughter) who don’t think any gringo chicks could possibly understand what they were saying decided that I was THE most hilarious thing on the planet. I am not your "typical" chick (had that discussion this morning when one of the guys from work was hunting nail polish remover to take tar off of his fingers). I don’t really usually care a lot what people think of me (although there are days…).

Today was a not so great day. With the rain from Hermine coming in waves and dealing with the challenges of traffic and flooded roads. With the finding out that storage subsystems don’t like getting dripped on from a leaky roof. With the hunch that I would find out that I really would have Sjögren’s Syndrome and the knowledge that the fluid retention in my ankles, knees and knuckles isn’t going away as fast as it should have and that would mean self injected methotrexate in the VERY near future…

I really didn’t feel like watching two middle aged plus women nearly roll on the floor because I didn’t meet with their delicate sensibilities. I felt better when a doctor from down the hall stopped to talk to me about my Vebrams. That made me feel less like a freak show… but it still didn’t help a whole lot. I didn’t do anything other than cross my legs that allowed them to notice that I had on my lilac colored shoes. I didn’t make fun of them for speaking spanish. I didn’t make fun of the way they walked. I honestly figured that I was as good as either of them were and that we all were in the same boat (waiting outside of the rheumy office… duh)…

Turned out all of my worries were right. Next week I start injections of methotrexate. I have to go to the optometrist for my eyes and will probably be on resatis. with any luck the remaining 14 joints will behave better and my eyes won’t hurt.

wish me luck…

The day of my Dr appointment is finally here.  It seems like i haven’t seen her forever (forever enough that she should have had her baby by now and she was barely showing when I saw her last).

I have several questions today…

barefeet walking

should I be worried about my dry burning eyes or just keep taking the artificial tears several times a day

is it normal to be thirsty most of the time and I know that it isn’t diabetes… PCP tests for that

Are my toes and ankles still swelly (because they are still way way sore in the mornings… more sore than my wrists and fingers even at this Hermine kind of morning/day/week… and they are still that way every morning)

How do I get my MTX shots if I’m for some reason not in town (in case I go for training or something and I’m not here if she happens to decide that I will benefit more from injections… because gotta love the stupid insurance company saying I need to have the shots in the doctor’s office)…

I think, this morning, the biggest question I have is why my eyes are getting more and more dry and burning.  There are almost no allergens in the air (especially the last two days when it has been raining so much) and they hurt all day.  If all it is is that they are dry and burny  and all I need to do is the artificial tears drops, hey… that’s cool… I can do that.  But I really want to rule out anything else.

I always get way nervous about the doctor appointments.  I dread that they are going to tell me that something else is going on and that I will have more issues.  12 hours from now, I will be more sure…

I was having bursitis and tendinitis in my “booboo” arm (the one I broke 15 years ago roller blading… the one that my RA seems to LOVE a lot) so I know what it feels like… and that is what this feels like.   Trouble is, it is in the “wrong” shoulder and it seems to hit in the middle of the night.  I have not yet correlated it to the MTX nights directly (although coincidentally last night was “that night” and it struck me at about 1 am this morning) but I am starting to notice that it is definitely happening.

Today is clean the bedroom day (actually, it is day 2 of the 4 day clean the bedroom marathon) so this is going to cause me to be less productive than I should be.  It seems to be responding to the naproxin sodium pretty well, so it may not be a big pain in the wherever.  It is just something that is making me go… hmmmm

Anyone else notice that, when other things seem to be moderating somewhat… something like tendinitis or bursitis seems to raise its interesting head?

About seems to lead me to believe this might be a thing that I will now learn to live with.

Wow… I got an email today and it was really an awesome surprise!

Dear April,

Congratulations! Anne here, and your blog, A Figment Of Fitness, was
determined to be one of the top resources in the medical field.  And so, it
has received our 2010 Top 50 Arthritis Blogs award presented by Medical
Assistant Schools!

You can see your name amongst our winners here at:
www.medicalassistantschools.org/top_arthritis/#A_Figment_Of_Fitness

Winners were chosen through a scoring system led by internet nominations,
which came from your reader base!

I’m helping.  Wow.  And people who read this nominated me.  Wow.  Thank you.  I can’t begin to tell everyone (Medical Assistant Schools… but the people who read it and think it matters way more even) how much it means…