Hurty Gertie

Heat sucks. It sucks the life out of me. I swell up, I hurt.

I’ve also found that while the shots have got me to an equilibrium, of sorts, they need help. On the advice of a friend with RA I’ve been building up my immune system; eating more fresh foods instead of frozen or canned, or worse, fast food or nuka-meals.

But after a few mistakenly missed allergy pills, I’m in a fat ton of pain. This isn’t the first time, and it’s a remarkable situation. Missing one isn’t quite enough to trigger me into enough pain that it hurts to run a fingers through my hair, but a couple – yeah boy. Miss more than that and I can take a few days back on to recover.

I suppose a fair test would be to skip the allergy meds for a month, but I’d rather not. At least not in the dead of summer. Maybe in the winter. Or not at all.

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

I headed out to check the porch for the sixth time today (I always have a chore or reason to go out so I don’t feel silly for just poking my head out) and picked up the mail. I could hear the delivery truck down the street so I stopped under the little tree shading the front of the yard and opened today’s letters. It was indeed my delivery truck.

So I have my second shipment of a 90 day supply of my shot meds. I’m a bit surprised they actually came. I called the dr’s office on Tuesday to start what I assumed to be a painful order process. On a whim, having heard nothing since then, I called the pharmacy at 4:30 yesterday. They assured me they could ship for today.

And here it is – on a day when I happen to be home and off (rare). Now to go stick it in the fridge …

Yes, maybe summer is all in my head. But OUCH.

Took a hot day the day before shot day. Outdoors, heat, I kept eating and drinking but it was undeniably hot for me. Reminds me of why I have a gym membership – trying to run in this weather would not be good for me.

And it’s not even that hot. Just hot for me.

Shot was two hours late this time, plus the heat, plus the allergy trip (visiting folks who have a lifestyle to which I appear allergic – darn). I was dying by the time I got home and in the shower. Hot water HURT. Cold water helped a bit.

Shotwise, though, I’m getting better at it. Less hesitation. Less fear. Maybe it was the pain. The feeling of yes this sucks but hopefully I’ll feel better.

At least the exhaustion is so less overwhelming. Yay. Keep it up, immune suppressors! And yay to my place of employment, strewn with hand sanitizer dispensers. Gotta keep me healthy.

Or Dragon Butt. :P

I’m tired. Busy, tired. New routine is … going. But it’s weird getting up “early” again every day. Getting us all up and out and through a whole darn day of here and there, of phone and email, of broken web pages and stuck printers, lost meeting requests and no-shows.

I’ve managed to avoid sleeping through my lunch breaks, but I have got to adjust my eating routine to make sure I’ve got enough food and energy to get met through the day. I’m looking forward to the next shot because I really want it to help with the tiredness.

Not exhaustion, thankfully, but just general tiredness that sleeping doesn’t seem to rid me of. Maybe it’s just losing weight that will do it. Onward to a lizard butt!

I don’t have an ergonomic keyboard yet, though I probably should for work. Probably just bring my own. I don’t know if it will help most days, I think I’ll go to the store to check them out first. I’ve had friends swear by them.

But of course the day I wake up in pain is the “last day” to use up the ground beef to make into meat loaf. So I need something that doesn’t require much kneading. Maybe I can make it in the mixer or something.

Luckily I was ready for pain day, with preprepped fruits and breakfast foods, though i don’t want to make it a habit to serve PopTarts every day. Here’s my list of easy-prep foods.

• Pop Tarts
• Frozen waffles
• Frozen pancakes
• Chopped fresh fruit
• Bagels and cream cheese
• Cereal
• Egg sandwich thingies (microwave eggs)
• Youghurt and fruit
• Cheese chunks
• Oatmeal

Ugh. And of course I start hurting the day AFTER I buy a gallon of milk after three weeks of buying half gallons because they are easier to lift.

B ut I guess I always have to have a plan b ready – things I can make or cook or do on hurty days.

I’m shy. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the “co-workers naked in the locker room” thing. I guess that’s why the showerstalls are so roomy, so you can dress in there instead of walking around in the altogether at lunch.

Forget being in virtual meetings naked, I’ve been at real life ones!

because the personal trainer at the gym said I shouldn’t.

I know it sounds cheesey, but there’s lots of room for more ways to support women’s health. Check it out, or not. I like the cute video, and it’s a great concept for networking. Bias: I “know” some of the folks involved in the vid and stuff, as much as you can online.

But I ran my first day at the gym, because the trainer said it wasn’t a good idea by asking if it was such a good idea when I’m carrying so much extra weight. And sure, my butt hurt and my back hurt from my butt slapping up and down, but I ran, darn it.

Go, me. I’ve seen what this disease will do to my body. I’ve had meetings in the locker room with a one-time boss as she worked her butt of both at her job and to keep as much mobility as she could for as long as possible. Vacillating between walking around with a cane (bad days) and her lunch hour spent on the treadmill (good days). It terrifies me, as much as losing the mobility I have so far has spurred me into action.

Made me feel stronger.

They’re open early, they’re open late, and I’ll have the pool and locker room somewhat to myself. No one around here gets up that early. Pool, showers, lockers, open bikes, treadmills, located on the way to my Magical Flying Desk. Everything I need.

Annoyed the heck out of me.

I nodded and smiled through the target heart rate information, the meal suggestions, the idea that I could actually work out for an hour every other day on one regimen and then an hour every day on another. I mentioned the arthritis but they have no clue. Maybe I’ll just lie. “I’m following what my therapist has outlined for me.” Or just say simply that I know what my body can do on days when I’m not crying in pain.

“Are you really sure you want to start running with all that extra weight on you?”

I think that guy wins the prize for the stupid pressure bullshit award.

Daycare doesn’t know I’m sick. Weird enough that they feel sorry for me being unemployed for so long. And maybe even judge me for having kept the kids in when I’m “obviously” capable. Or not. I tend to overworry.

My online modern-social network friends don’t officially know. Some know from knowing me in person. Most everyone else … not so much.

Haven’t mentioned it to the neighbors, though we aren’t very chatty.

But then comes the question – do I stuff my detritus in the recycle bin? (more…)

I loved that book growing up. A kid is dared to eat fried worms, every day for a month. The parents were great, the challenge was great, I need to run out and buy that book for my kid.

However, when it comes to ways to treat my psoriatic arthritis, I went with an expensive pharmaceutical treatment, black boxes and all. Sometimes, though, evidence-based medicine comes under fire (I’ve fired upon it myself). It’s a hard balance between taking things out of the world that are bad if we can, and leaving some in.

You can be too clean, perhaps. Perhaps not.

With that in mind, my wonderfully concerned mother sent me this NPR story (by Radio Labs) about treatment for asthma with hookworms. I’ve also heard of using bee stings (poor bees!) and diet changes – I’ve even gone to the extent to get myself tested for celiac disease.

But in a world where I’d love black and white no fail Star Trekky medical treatment … we’ve just got to muddle through doing the best we can with what we have. I dunno. Don’t even know the point of this post, just ruminating on what was, what could be, wondering how to test things and make it work. At least drilling holes in my head isn’t one of the “treatment” options. :P