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RDBlog week day 3 – I am not healthy, but I am not sick either
Today is Day three of RDBlog week. The annual time when those of us who blog in the Rheumatic Diseases space blog about our condition. Today’s prompt is Health – If you have RD, are you healthy? We have an evolving sense of health in our community. What is your definition of health, and how does RD fit into that definition? Health is a relative word. Meaning I am healthy compared to my departed father who used to speak to my stepmother through a battery-operated car (or so she said). But I am not healthy compared to most of the rest...
read moreDay 2 RDBlog week – I quit
Welcome to day two of RDBlog week the annual time when those of us who blog in the Rheumatic Diseases space blog about our condition. Today’s prompt is Adjust – How do you adjust to the effects of RD on your career, dreams, goals? I did not adjust very well. At first, I tried to bluff my way through. I was working hard and failing. I was failing at home, work, school; in fact, I was an overall failure. I could not maintain my responsibilities and my health. Rheumatoid Arthritis had attacked my body, and I was losing. When it was...
read moreDAY 1 RDBlog week – Dealing With Other Diagnoses
Welcome to day one of RDBlog week the annual time when those of us who blog in the Rheumatic Diseases space blog about our life. Today I am writing about interactions between conditions. I chose the twisting roller coaster as the featured image because that is sometimes what I feel like as I try to sort out the three autoimmune conditions I live with. Today’s prompt is: Dealing – How do other diagnoses impact your RD and its treatment? Most people who meet me, know within the first five sentences out of my mouth that I am married, I...
read moreArthritis and Medicare – How are you covered?
Today I am presenting a post from a friend of mine, Danielle Kunkle Roberts who works with a company ‘Boomer Benefits‘ that helps Medicare recipients choose supplemental and Medigap plans. I asked Danielle if she would write a primer for my site on how Medicare works and helps us understand how we can maximize benefits while reducing cost of secondary coverage. She has given us a great high-level look at Medicare and some of its parts, specifically how Medicare is used to cover Arthritis issues. What Danielle has written is...
read moreSeven Ways to Improve Injections
Many RA medications come in the form of self-injectables. Over the last 18 years I have heard many people complain that they cannot learn to give themselves injections or if they can, it is always difficult to do so. I never had this issue, but then again, I have been injecting myself since June 18, 1974. In fact, a rough estimate is that I have given myself about 37,000 injections give or take a few thousand. If anything, that number is likely a little less than I have given myself. To read the rest of this blog check out Seven Ways to...
read moreUp the Down Staircase
I celebrated an anniversary in November 2018. A minor one for most people but for me it was a big deal. That was the sixth anniversary of using my current biologic medication. Seven years ago things were a mess. How did I come to be on my current biologic for RA? In 2012 I was writing my dissertation and closing in on approval. I had started the dissertation while recovering from hip replacement in January 2012 and that summer I pressed hard to completion. In October of that year, I had an unusual reaction to the RA medication I was...
read moreRA the Invader
I read a lot of WWII books and magazines. I inherited the fascination from my father who showed me hour after hour of a program on Saturday afternoons, Victory at Sea. If you are over the age of 60, you likely remember the program, and if not, it was about great naval battles of WWII. This spilled over to my school life as well. In seventh grade, the principal called my parents to report I was reading an inappropriate book at school. The book in question was “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William Shire. The matter was...
read moreNew Medical ID and A Coupon Code
New Year, medical ID For years I have worn medical ID jewelry. In 1974 when I was diagnosed with diabetes and on my second day in the hospital, my parents brought me a bracelet with the label Type 1 Diabetes. It was one of the things I disliked the most about those days. I wore that bracelet for most of a year until I got a necklace that said the same thing. I wore that necklace for over 15 years. When the first one was so faded it was difficult to read, I got my second, and I wore it almost non-stop for another 15 years until the...
read moreConsolidating Spoons
“I quit.” I did not say it like that. But the meaning was there. For five years I have served on the school board of a local charter school. Last evening, I resigned effective July 1, 2019. I believe in the mission of the school; it is a place where kids in public schools find a safe environment to pursue their high school diploma. Oftentimes these students have been bullied, they do not fit in, or they have disciplinary issues that cannot be solved by a local middle or high school. In short, we take the kids who do not fit in, and we...
read moreI Am Not Pitiful
This past week a friend asked about my health. They were sincere in wanting to know how I was doing, and I gave them the capsule overview. That is when my friend paused and commented about how he felt bad for those with crippling arthritis. Then he said in an off-handed way he thought those of us with RA are pitiful. Pitiful? I am not pitiful. He corrected course immediately when I reminded him; I am doing well for a guy with three autoimmune conditions. To see more of this post check out: I am not pitiful...
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