Update . . . and Question

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Just popping in to say HI and let you all know how I have been coming along

these past months. I am still on the methotrexate and Celebrex and feeling

as close to normal as someone with RA can, I guess. My last couple of

visits to the rheumy were uneventful which is, I guess, to be considered a

blessing i disguise.

My GP is trying to wean me off of taking insulin for the diabetes which I

only had to start taking because of the prednisone they put me on when I

was initially diagnosed with RA. It's hard to believe that it's been two

years now since the RA hit me all at once. Anyway, I am down to about a

dozen or less units of the insulin per day which is pretty good. He now

has me taking a single Glucovance pill in the morning at breakfast

time. My blood sugars before dinner are usually about in the 80 to 120

range, which is pretty much normal, but I can feel it, it seems when it

goes below 90 or so. Of course it will go up after eating and that is what

I am trying to use the insulin to counteract but two hours after supper it

is usually well under 200.

Flares have been few and far between, especially the past few months. I

know this won't/can't last forever, but I am enjoying it while it does last

and thanking God for it, too. If something does act up, it usually is just

one joint and improves in a day or two. I have noticed that the amount of

time I can stand or walk around seems to be less, because of my knees, feet

and ankles. Seems they act up when you sit too long, and if you stand too

long. Kind of severely limits my options. 8^D

The past two months were stressful because we had some major construction

going on around here - a new roof and all of the concrete as in sidewalks,

patio, and driveway replaced, too. Living on a corner lot in town, you can

imagine the amount of labor and material that went into the job. Oh yeah,

we also had new doors, windows and siding put on the garage. Heck no I

didn't do it myself - those days are over and the job was too big for me to

even fool myself into thinking I could do anyway. We were real glad when

the construction guys finally left and glad that the stress of it all,

along with some problems that popped up along the way, haven't seemed to

make my RA worse.

I am still going along trying to work in the basement here and there in

hopes of getting it prepared for putting in the model trains. I pretty

much stay at home but usually go out to visit a friend or two on Friday

evening and Saturday afternoon. I still get pretty fatigued, though, in

the afternoons and have to stop everything, lie down and nap. I have tried

to ignore it but it usually doesn't go away and I have to give in.

Now I am going through a new trial and am wondering if any of you have

heard or experienced this. Last Sunday my right eye just didn't feel

right. It is hard to explain but every now and then it would feel slightly

irritated and water a little. I didn't think too much about it but by this

past Thursday, since it wasn't really feeling any better (though it wasn't

feeling any worse, either) I decided to visit the local eye doctor and have

him take a look. I got in that very afternoon and he said I had an

ulcerated cornea (in my right eye) which was beginning to get infected. He

said that I may have had something in there that scratched it recently, or

that with the RA some of the medications tend to dry your eyes out (though

I hadn't really noticed this in my case) which makes the problem easier to

occur. He gave me a script for some antibiotic eye drops and told me to

put in a drop every hours for the next 24. I had to set a kitchen timer

all night to wake up and put in the drop. This doesn't make me too popular

with the better-half, but of course she understands.

The eye doc had me come back the next day (Friday) to look at it and said

it looked a bit better. He then asked if I could come in on Saturday

morning so he could check it again. The office isn't normally open then

but he said he would meet me there and open up. I remarked that he seems

to be following up on this pretty aggressively, and asked him if this was a

potential problem in the making. He said, " Oh yes, people have gone blind

from this. " I replied something about this all being caused by a little

speck of something in my eye I wasn't even aware of. He said possibly, but

more than likely the RA itself could be causing it to become inflamed, or

possibly the drying effect of the medications could cause the tissue to

easily tear. I hadn't heard of any of this before. Has anyone else.

I asked him so what happens now. He said the antibiotics are a chance for

letting my body heal the problem by itself, but if that doesn't work then

they have to use, I think he said an anti-inflammatory, but that causes

something to change in the immune system which could be a problem. So can

someone tell me what's going on here? I wish I could remember EXACTLY what

he said but I'll just blame it on RA brain fog . . . OK?

So I was kind of depressed on the way home - I was thinking, " Great. I

will eventually get my disability from Social Security and have all this

unlimited time to do what I want, work on my model trains,

whatever. Except I'll be BLIND! "

I thought it an off the wall question when the rheumatologist earlier last

week at my exam asked if I had been experiencing any infections. I wasn't

sure what he meant and asked him, " You mean like a cold or flu? " He said

well yeah but anything in general, too. I still wasn't really sure what he

was getting at so I just said, " No. " Now I suppose I should call him and

tell him about the eye thing.

Other than that, life goes on. Celine is doing well. The younger daughter

graduated high school in May and started working in a nursing home as a

CNA. The elder daughter will start her final semester tomorrow at ISU and

will finish up in December. I am still trying to get the Social Security

Disability and my lawyer had my rheumy write a report on my condition to

send some sort of judicial review board, but I haven't heard anything from

anyone yet. I'll have to contact the lawyer and see what's what - AGAIN.

Well that's enough for now. Y'all have a good, pain free day. Just wanted

to check in, say " HI " , and ask about the eye thing.

Be blessed!

Kossart - RA, Type-2 Diabetes

Peru, IL, USA