I feel good!

I have energy! I don't know where it is coming from, but I sure am enjoying it! After work and a dentist's appointment yesterday, I mowed the grass and made pizza (not frozen). Typically, mowing the grass OR making pizza would do me in, but not yesterday. I have more energy than I've had in years!

Mowing grass wasn't nice to my recently broken elbow and it hurt quite a bit last night, but I should expect that. Tylenol #3 helped me get a good night's sleep and I feel full of energy again this morning.

Fatigue has always been a big problem for me since my RA first started. I've put so many things off because I didn't feel like doing them, that my house is a disaster. I hope that my renewed energy will help me to get control of things once again. I'm going to have a busy, productive weekend and pray that my fatigue doesn't ever come back.

Is this the way 49-year-old women, who don't have RA feel? Lucky snots, and lucky me, for however long it lasts! Gotta bounce!

Is my RA on vacation?

I don't want to jinx myself, but I'm having very little problems with my RA. I'm hoping this is a lasting thing. I'm thinking it is the result of the new NSAID, Etodolac. It seems I am stiff and painful until about an hour after I take it in the morning, and it wears off about 3 in the afternoon. Then I have minor pain until about an hour after the evening dose. I can live with that!

I am hopeful that it is the Etodolac giving me this RA reprieve and that a change in dosage or in the time I take it will eliminate even more of my pain and stiffness. I know my 7.5 mg of prednisone helps a lot too. I'll be seeing my rheumatologist early in June, so we'll see if there is some tweaking that can be done.

I've been trying to wean myself off narcotics and tramadol and am having lots of trouble with that. I have IBS-D, and the constipating effect of the narcotics has really helped me. When I don't take them I have those troubles tripled it seems. I guess I'll just have to give it a shot over the weekend and hope it isn't too bad.

I've learned to enjoy these periods when my disease is relatively quiet, but I've also learned that I can't count on them lasting. It can be so depressing when you are hit with a horrible flare when you've been feeling really well. I would like to think that I could gain control of my RA, but I'm going to try real hard to be realistic.

I'm feeling pretty good! Prissy, almost! I'm going to go enjoy it now. Take care!

Another year older and deeper in . . .

There aren't really a lot of reasons I can think of to celebrate the passage of time. Considering that we are here on this earth for a finite number of years, it hardly makes sense to celebrate when one passes. But, that is the way we do things.

This week my family will celebrate 3 birthdays. Mine is today. I am one year from the big 5-0 today. It is so hard to believe that so much of my life is past now. My youth has definitely abandoned me.

I finally got my permanent punctal plugs on Saturday! Ahhhh! So much money, but also sooo much relief for the teeny things they are.

I'm on my third week back to work after my elbow adventure. I'm doing okay. My elbow bothers me quite a bit, but it is getting better. After sitting at a desk everyday for the past couple of weeks, it seems very odd that my feet have been bothering me the most. I guess the old RA is just telling me it didn't go anywhere. It is still here with me and I should just get used to it.

I am celebrating my blessings, and not my birthday this year. I have a wonderfully imperfect, quirky family that I adore; the sweetest man on the face of the earth calls me his princess; the cutest and smartest little boy on earth calls me Nana; I have a job that I actually enjoy much of the time; I have good friends that understand I need my space; I have hobbies that I can get lost in; I have pets that entertain me and enrich my life far more than I could ask . . . I could go on and on.

When I count the many blessings the years have bestowed (not a word I ordinarily use), I can be happy with my 49 years. I do have some celebrating to do after all.

Happy Birthday to Me!!! And, THANK YOU to everybody and everything that brings joy to my life, everyday.

Mixed feelings

Tomorrow is the last day of my sick leave for my broken elbow. I'm going to really miss reading books, watching TV and really relaxing. But, I do miss work, and the people I work with. I know my first week back will be hard, but fun. I love what I do and I'm pretty good at it. I'll probably be exhausted and whiney, but glad to be back to my routine. I'm going to make good use of tomorrow and try to leave the mental preparation for my return to work for Sunday evening.

The elbow is still healing. I still sleep with it on a pillow. It is very sensitive and very stiff. I'm still doing most everything with my left hand. My cellulitis is clearing up, but I still have 17 more days of antibiotics. I'm still waiting for my punctal plugs to come in and I'm going through a lot of eye drops.

The RA has taken a backseat to all the other problems lately. I've had so much rest and so many painkillers, I've hardly noticed it at all really. Next week might be a different story.

Best Laid Plans

Well today did not go at all as I had planned.

I started out the day with a visit to my eye doctor and was very excited to be getting my permanent punctal plugs. But, he was out of my size plugs and will have to reschedule the appointment when they come in.

The visit with my GP for a recheck of my cellulitis did not go well either. He said the week I have left on my antibiotics will not resolve the infection. He wrote another script for 15 more days, and I have to go back to see him in two weeks. If it isn't completely cleared, I'll get another shot of rocephin.

I did complete the work I picked up from the office at least. It is good to test out my elbow a little bit. It didn't really bother me too much. It got a little stiff from staying in the same position, but no real pain. I guess I'll be ready to go back to work in a week.

I really wanted to resolve the dry eyes and the cellulitis before I went back to work. I've used quite enough sick time already.

On the bright side, it is supposed to be 80 degrees here on Thursday and Friday. What a lovely way to start April. I did enjoy the snow days, but I am so glad to see spring arrive. The daffodils and hyacinths at my front door are so cheerful, I can't help but be sunny too.

The joy of doing nothing.

I am out of my cast and trying hard to get my range-of-motion back in my arm. I can reach my face with a fork or a toothbrush, but it still hurts. I'm also dealing with cellulitis on my thigh from a razor nick. The weirdest stuff happens to me it seems. At least a couple of rocephin shots and 15 days of antibiotics should cure it. I'm now on day 8.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. I'll have my permanent punctal plugs inserted, see my GP for another recheck of my cellulitis and pick up some work from the office. When that is done, I plan to get back to my newest hobby, relaxing.

Relaxing is something everyone should strive to become really good at. I never really knew how to relax until my broken right elbow. It is a lesson I am really happy to learn. It has done me so much good.

My former definition of relaxing was "doing something sitting down." Now I know that relaxing is doing absolutely nothing. You just let your body go entirely limp and breathe deeply. I think it is really more restful and satisfying than sleep. It is kind of hard to get the hang of, but once you do, you'll do it every chance you get.

That's all I really have to share today. I'll be back at work in a week, and I won't have the chance to do nothing for much longer, so I'd better get to it.

FrankenElbow

I saw my orthopedic surgeon today to have my staples removed. A student doctor removed them a little hesitantly and a couple just didn't want to come out. The doc said my incision looked beautiful. I'll let you be the judge. I guess when I'm brave enough to clean off all the dried blood it won't be quite so bad. There is still a lot of swelling and bruising, but I guess the incision itself does look pretty good.

He started wrapping my arm with a roll of white fuzzy stuff and I asked what he was doing to me. I was mostly just suprised that he didn't clean my arm before he wrapped it. He told me he was going to put me in a new clean splint and then he said, "Wait a minute. I don't do this for most people, because most people don't listen to me. But, I think you'll listen to me." He left the room and came back with an elastic tube, slid it on my arm and told me to keep my sling on all the time, even in bed and to try to keep it in that position as much as possible. He said that would allow some movement, but not much. I'm not to use my arm until I see him next. I'll have to go back in three weeks to start therapy, or as he said, to "start moving this thing."

I love the fact that I can take the tube off to shower and I can get my arm in tops that I couldn't get that log of a cast in (goodbye baggy t-shirts, hello warm sweaters!), but there are definitely some trade-offs. The cast offered protection and support that I don't have now. My elbow hurts going over bumps in the car, with very slight movement and when it is touched. I'm going to have to be especially careful with my grandson, my dogs and door frames (yes, I'm clumsy). I tried moving my arm both up and down and it just won't do it. That is a very strange feeling. I'm sure it will get better over the next three weeks, but therapy is going to HURT!

I had a good look at my incision in the mirror when I got home and had my son take the photos above. I'm not sure why, maybe just the cast, but my wrist and hand are really bruised and swollen. I should have had him photograph it next to my left hand to show the difference. The lightest color in the image is my usual winter skin color.

I'm hoping it will be a looooong time before I fall again and I'm going to do my best to stay as far away from the hospital as I can. I'm not looking forward to therapy or to the bills that are headed my way.

I did learn today that the bone I fractured is called the olecranon (O-Leck-Ra-Non).

Isn't life just a little too interesting sometimes?