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| Today - 06/27/2014 |
This is what my RA ( Rheumatoid Arthritis ) looks like today 4 years after I was diagnosed with this debilitating condition ! I wish I would have started this blog about RA four years ago but I didn't ! So now with all the struggling I have been going through with this condition I decided I wanted to tell my story in hopes that others will share theirs with me.
 I had noticed back in 2007 when we had moved from Michigan to Tennessee that my right hand ( and I am right handed ) was starting to ache really bad and my knuckles were cracking a lot , my fingers started locking up . I had not worked for 6 years before we moved reason being I had to have carpal tunnel surgery on both hands, the first being my right hand and everything went great ! Then they said I needed surgery on my left hand. They first had me go in for nerve pin testing ( it's where they stick you with a these needles that are attached to wires that is hooked to a machine and records your nerve reactions ) Well let me tell you he stuck that needle in the side of my hand below my baby finger about half way between the bottom of my palm and I did everything I could not to scream, tears ran down my face and I begged him to move it, to this day my left hand in that very spot flares up and it feels like he's sticking me all over again and that was 10 years ago and it still brings tears to my eyes ! |
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So here I go again in for surgery only this time was a whole lot different ! We went to the hospital for out patient surgery, I had a headache like I never had in my life and I told them (they said if you still have it when surgery is over we will see what we can do ) ok, My last surgery they just basically froze my right hand & I talked to them through out the surgery. This surgery on my left hand what could go wrong went wrong !! First the headache , then I was talking to them as they were numbing my arm in surgery , next thing I remember I woke up in a recovery room 2 hours later . Head still pounding they wheeled me to my room & I could hear my husband asking the doctor what went wrong ? Why was she put to sleep ? Back in the room they gave me a shot for my headache & boom it was gone ! As the weeks went by and my hand was suppose to be healing, it hurt so bad, I couldn't touch it , couldn't bend my 3 fingers. it got hot and cold , turned blue and white. Even a slight breeze would send me into severe pain ! My hand swelled so bad we had to have my wedding ring cut off ! After many attempts of therapy and many specialists they said I had developed a condition called RSD or the newer version CRPS ( chronic regional pain syndrome ) I call it CRAPS !! I couldn't work anymore, was on all kinds of medicine ( Neurontin ) almost 15 pills a day, steroids, as you can see I couldn't even cut my nails. Life changed drastically ! They said it could go into remission and could show up in other limbs,. Well finally after 6 years it went into remission ! Just in time for us to move to Tennessee , my husband got a job and within a year he lost his job so even though I was starting to have problems with my right hand I had to get a job. The second place I applied at I got the job and I had not worked in 6 years ! My right hand had already started giving me problems but I needed the job or lose our house ! My job was called an opener which was a factory based /school related job, I opened up all kinds of mail from schools, weather it was big envelopes or 40 lb. boxes. I never said anything a first but was having serious issues with pain & lifting.& swelling.
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| This is the inside of my right hand now |
 So I made a doctors appointment and after many blood test and x-rays she said she thought I had arthritis and sent me to a Rheumatologist in Nashville ( this was back in Nov of 2010) he put me on Methotrexate, steroids, folic acid, & pain meds , did blood work , told me he really didn't want me to work because my hand was really swelled and I was in severe pain, I told him I had to because my husband lost his job and we were about to lose our house , I told them I would ask for help at work which they did give me help. At times at work my hand would get so bad I couldn't open my water so one of my co-workers did . One day they put me at another job which they thought was easier for me but it was pulling shirts & putting them in a shopping cart but by the time break came around put my head on the table because I was in so much pain I didn't want anybody to see me crying because they would send me home and I needed to work to save my house ,feed us & the insurance. Well my co workers saw my hand & said " Cheryl you need to say something to our boss your hand is so swollen & when I looked up that's all it took, one of my co workers told my boss who told the head boss who then called me into her office, asked why I didn't say anything < I told here I couldn't lose my job my husband wasn't working ,so I had to get a note from my doctor with restrictions & they did what they could to help me . But finally in December 2011 I ended up leaving my job because I just couldn't do it anymore I was in too much pain. |
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| These are more nodules popping out on my joints |
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| My left hand now with a very loose wedding ring |
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| right hand that had CRPS in remission now |
So now I go to my RA doctor every 3 months, get my blood drawn to check my liver because Methotrexate can mess with your liver , he tries new medicine but I have had severe reactions to them . So for now I have been changing my diet up . So Again for now this is my RA !
Please let me know if you have RA and what you are doing to that helps you ! I hope to get this blog going to start conversations and pages on medicine, exercise, diet, new trials and a whole lot of Hugs and Comfort !
