Tuesday, September 20, 2005

More Doctors: Time for a Life Change

This will be a series of posts.
(10/1: or maybe not)

1. I have four doctors: my primary care physician, my rheumatologist, my therapist, and, now, a referral to a podiatrist.
2. Normal, healthy 40+ year olds do not have four doctors
3. While I am far from normal, I am also not healthy.
4. I have the power to change that.

#4 is the kicker, really. Because changing "it" means turning my life upside down, on it's head. It means that the way I've defined myself until this point in time has to change in fundamental ways.

And it scares the shit outa me. I read. I read a lot and I'd be perfectly happy to spend an entire day reading, but that doesn't support the more active me that I have to become. I need to sit down and outline the desctructive behaviors. That's a little harsh. I need to sit down and outline the counterproductive behaviors.

How do healthy people approach food? Exercise? The gap I see between my perception of a healthy lifestyle and an honestly healthy lifestyle has to diminish for this to be successful. There has got to be a balance in the middle.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Sunday, 9/11/2005

Was 9/11 a horrific event? Yes, it was. Was Katrina a horrific event? Yes, it was. I appreciate the pain and suffering they have endured and continue to endure. How did we handle it all? Not as well as we could have but typically like we always do. Very pointed and very pertinent Slate.com article.

I have a problem managing my daily pain. I don't want this blog to be about pain, arthritis, or any of that stuff, but as someone newly diagnosed and dealing with periodic reduced mobility, it does kind of take a leading role in life. Today, though, I think I'm dealing with yet another ankle sprain. I've been battling these for a few years now, I think since I sprained it badly one winter from slipping on ice. Or is it tendonitis? In any case it's been weak and unstable ever since, and I have to deal with a sprain a couple times a year now. After doing some reading, I'm just gonna tape the damned thing for a month or two and see if that helps. Complete immobilization it just weakens everything around the ankle, and I'll be damned if I'm going to stop moving (although that's kind of what it feels like!).

I'm off to the pharmacy to buy cohesive tape, a better ankle brace, and refill my prescriptions.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

Labor Day Weekend

Three day weekends are great. I love them. Saturday? Did nothing. That's not entirely true. I messed around with my blog, tweaked a new template, consolidated my movabletype blog to this blog because I don't have the time to really dig into all the things I could do with the moveabletype one even though I prefer it. Played many games of Boggle, and watched five episodes of M*A*S*H season one. So, really, I wouldn't call all that Nothing.

Sunday (today) more playing with the blog template, which I think I'm happy with for now. Write a letter to Nick. Build a "photo gallery" with NetObjects Fusion. Watch the other three episodes of M*A*S*H season one. Log in to the corporate network and approve timesheets. Another "do nothing" day HAHA!

For those with any kind of spondylitis (mine is psoriatic spondylitis), or if you seat solutionknow anyone with these conditions, or someone who may have broken their tailbone, I found a seat cushion at Walgreens called the "seat solution" that helps with mild to moderate pain. It's a wedge-shaped cushion with a cut-out at the back. The box claims it allows you to sit without putting extra pressur on the sacral joint, basically allowing it to hang more or less freely. The slight incline puts your body into a more aligned postural position. And hey, it works. It's pretty inexpensive at $14.99 and I have one at home and at work now. That was the other mitigating strategy that I used to manage my arthritis pain. It was one of those "as seen on tv" things. If they had this in that visco-elastic foam it would be wonderful. Follow "Today's Link" for info on spondylitis.

Army, Arthritis, and Stuff

Well, yes, it's been another long delay between posts.

Nick entered basic training on August 18th, and we've had two letters from him so far, as well as two update emails (with pictures!) from the brigade captain. That's pretty amazing because I think Nick has only written two or three email before this.

In case anyone ever said arthritis is fun, I'm here to tell you it ain't true. The hands are ok, and the knees are mostly ok. The sacral joints are the worst, and I spent the better part of August hobbling and looking for relief. I found it in the form of
(a) BenGay pain relieving patch
(b) Thermacare heat wraps
This stuff really works, although I prefer the bengay patches instead of the theramcare ones. Those thermacare patches get pretty warm which makes me really really warm. Dripping with sweat kind of warm. Blech.

I almost had my dream job last week. On Monday I was told I had it. On Wednesday I was told all the open positions in the department were frozen. Damn.