5 Randoms on Monday



Hello, blog people! Did you miss me? I wandered off there for a while. Not deliberately, but life happened rather a lot and there has been very little time to write. 

Here are five thoughts from the last two weeks that may shed some light on what I’ve been up to:

Be careful what you wish for. The problem with working really hard to help people become empowered is that when it works, sometimes it puts you in a situation that you didn’t expect. I am now the newly minted member of a Board of Directors, thanks to a group of very empowered individuals who unexpectedly expressed their opinions. Yay for success! I think?

Inflammation Schminflammation. My rheumatologist likes for me to get blood tests done before I see her. At my latest appointment, she told me not to bother with CRP and ESR (inflammation markers), but to focus on cholesterol, kidney and liver function tests. Because CRP and ESR tests indicate the level of inflammation in the body, they are sensitive to any inflammation, not just that related to inflammatory arthritis, such as RA. Have an infection? They go up. Feeling under the weather? They go up. And so on. Since they’re not an accurate indication of disease activity, I’m supposed to focus on how my organs are doing. And they're doing just fine. (knock wood)

I have muscles there? Did you know that we have muscles between our ribs? And did you know that said muscles can be affected by mysterious events and factors, causing intense pain every time they are affected by body movements? Which, as very few moments do not include some aspect of your torso, is a lot?

Does rat poison work on groundhogs? Spring is here! 


Which we celebrated by having a snow and freezing rain “event” this weekend. It’s getting hard to summon up energy and enthusiasm. The entire northern part of North America is curling in on itself in weather-related depression. I am no exception.

Filthy lucre ain’t so filthy after all. Being paid to do accessibility assessments is really satisfying. Busy and intense, but satisfying.

What have you been up to?
      

Comments

Anonymous said…
I know you mean about helping people and having it turn into being on a Board.
I've had that happen several times over the years. Sometimes make me hesitate to show up to a meeting for the first time, for fear that I'll leave as President.
Don't get me wrong - it's very flattering. But sometimes I need to learn to say no.
12:05 PM
Joyce said…
The groundhog comment made me laugh!
3:02 PM
AlisonH said…
Costochondritis, sure, doesn't everyone get that? Except on Saturdays around here: then it's Costco-come-dread-its.
11:45 PM
Anonymous said…
Hi Lene: Sounds like you've been busy. Reminds me of that old Irma Bombeck book, "Life is What Happens When You're Planning Other Things." But it sounds like you've been feeling well and that's marvelous.
10:59 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Farber’s Disease: Could Your Child’s Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Be Misdiagnosed?

Image
Joint inflammation or contractures. Nodules (small lumps under the skin or in other tissues). A weakened or hoarse voice. Children with these symptoms may have been diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) or other types of juvenile arthritis . But do they actually have JIA or do they have Farber’s disease? An equine digression When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras. This is an adage in the medical world that encourages doctors to not wander off exploring rare and esoteric reasons for a patient’s symptoms. Because most of the time, that hoof beat of a rash likely isn’t the plague, the joint pain more likely a type of arthritis than the bends (especially if the person has never scuba dived) and you get the picture. But once in a while, it actually is a zebra. And even if it’s first identified as a horse, eventually, the stripes come through. It took five years of my parents running around to different doctors before one finally recognized that I had
Read more

13 Things to Know for Rheumatoid Arthritis Newbies + Facebook Live

Image
Getting a diagnosis of any type of chronic illness can throw you for loop. There is so much to know and you have so little energy. My new slideshow for HealthCentral collects 13 things you need to know as an RA newbie : "Receiving a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a moment of strange duality. On one hand, you may be relieved to finally have answers for the symptoms you’ve been experiencing. On the other, it can be incredibly overwhelming to find out you have a chronic illness. Wrapping your head around all the new factors RA brings into your life is a long-term process. Here are some of the things you need to know." See the slideshow on HealthCentral . And in case you missed it, here is the Facebook Live I did yesterday talking about this topic:   
Read more