A Soliloquy on All Things Medical

Haven't felt like blogging in awhile, but I had a couple of doctors appointments this week, so for those of you who want the latest, read on...

I've been having a LOT of problems with my autoimmune disease the past couple of weeks and it worsened this week. So when I went in to see the back orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday, he said that we had to wait for my disease to settle down before doing anything. He told me not to be a hero though (snort- seriously I am like the biggest whiner ever!)...if my back is still hurting me in a week, just give him a call and they will schedule the epidural. And my back is still hurting. It is, however, MUCH MUCH better than it was, a fact that I am so grateful for. I can walk for about 30 minutes before I start becoming uncomfortable, as long as I walk a moderate pace (which to me feels SLOOOOW). I can stand without much shifting around for about 20 minutes...and with lots of shifting for about 40 minutes. Sitting isn't too bad either, when my SI joints are behaving (my disease can cause inflammation in the SI joints, which seems to be happening every other day or so). So all in all, I am much improved from almost two months ago! Yay!

I saw my rheumatologist today and unfortunately we are adding another medication to my daily routine. I'm already on one immunosuppressive drug and a super strong anti-inflammatory and we're now adding another immunosuppressive drug (seriously, put me in a plastic bubble!). Plus, they hooked me up to an IV and pumped me full of steriods this afternoon to help try and calm things down.

I hate being on more medications.

BUT, I am very thankful that I am not taking these medications for their originally intended use:
one med is a chemotherapy drug (I take a very very low dose) and the other is used for organ transplant receipients. See what I mean? Me <- THANKFUL!!!!

So here's to some prayer and Western medicine...do your thing!