Wow... thanks, and an update

November 27, 2002

First off, thanks to all of you that took the time to respond to my

first post.

Here's a little history (which may explain why we're so reluctant to

see most " physicians " )...

For the past three years, my wife has complained of aches and pains

to some degree, and every doctor we've seen in that time has, as

their first option, tried to give her drugs to help her lose weight.

Now, mind you, she and I both know she's overweight, but she doesn't

get the exercise she needs because it's been so darn painful for her

to keep moving.

So, present day: last week, my wife saw a massage therapist. When the

therapist saw her feet, she could hardly work on her because the

inflammation was so bad, and she and the doctor she works for

recommended that my wife get checked out immediately. They gave us a

referral to someone near us, and my wife had an appointment set up

for Wednesday.

She goes to the appointment, and after a little consultation, the

doctors tell her to go to the local ER...

At the ER, they do blood workups, X-Rays, CT scans, and all come to

this conclusion: she has RA, but it was triggered by something... but

what?

According to one of her CT scans, there were enlarged lymph nodes in

her chest area, and her spleen and liver were also enlarged.

Immediately, this sends up warning bells, and all of the sudden we're

contemplating my wife having either sarcoidosis or lymphoma!

The long and short of it? She came home (again... long story)

yesterday, and she's on Prednisone, Vioxx, and Prevacid. So far,

biopsy results look like sarcoidosis, but we're told not to get our

hopes up until all the tests come back.

Oh, and her feet and legs are no longer puffy... in fact, they're

less puffy than they have been for the past two to three years... and

we wouldn't have had a clue what it was affecting her, if it hadn't

been for my mother-in-law coming to the sudden realization that my

wife probably was starting to get RA.

*sigh*

Anyhow, that's how things are going, here. Thanks again for the

support.

M. Batchelor

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