So who am I? I’m Arthritic Chick! Five years ago my hands started to hurt, then my feet, then my knees…until almost every joint in my body ached. Even my ribs. Who’d have thought that ribs were joints, eh???
Anyway, fivc years, countless tests, therapies, drugs and doctors later, I have tried seemingly endless treatments and medications, and gathered diagnoses. (I have been told I have all kinds of diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, undifferentiated spondylitis, undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis, mixed connective tissue disease, and my personal favourite, “symmetrical, bilateral, inflammatory polyarthritis with axial involvement“…try explaining THAT at dinner parties!).
I have reached a certain peace with my life as it is. I have accepted that I will probably always have pain somewhere in my body. At the same time I realise there are many who are FAR worse off than me, and there are worse things than Rheumatoid Arthritis. I have days where I scream and cry that it’s not fair, and days where I climb (metaphorical) mountains and know that one day I’ll climb the real thing. I’m up and down, and sometimes I go around and around as I try to find some answers, or meaning in all this. My life can be ugly and beautiful…and while this disease is FAR from a gift, there are good things to be found here.
So this is my blog. I hope I’ll connect with lots of other people out there like myself. I’ll be writing about Rheumatoid Arthritis and my life, my pain, my battle with doctors…and the beautiful people I’ve met along the way. I hope you guys stick around and write back!
