Re: Quality of life was How long have any of you been able to work after a

[Guest guest]

Oh, how right you both are! I am fortunate that I can still work, even on

my worst days, because we have our own business and my job is to answer the

phones, take care of our website, help with odds and ends, etc. Not very

intense, but necessary - and most of it I can work around my bad times. The

phone rarely rings for me, because my hubby has a low client load, they only

call me when they can't find him. I can work pretty much anywhere I have a

cell phone and laptop . . .

We both learned our lesson when I had my auto accident in 2002 (also my

trigger), we were caravaning and my hubby, who was behind me, thought he had

lost me for sure. Shook him up, he'd been a real workaholic before that.

We made the decision to only work part time, and to quit putting off the

things we really want to do, like travel and spend time with the kids, and

now grandkids. It has been the best decision we ever made.

On 7/9/06, cynthiadew1@... <cynthiadew1@...> wrote:

>

> Tracie wrote:

> When I had to throw in the towel, it was to prolong my quality of life not

> just for myself but for my family.

>

> Tracie,

> Thanks for writing that line. Right now I am out on short term

> disability, and am thinking it's time to throw in the towel. We get so

> determined to work and support ourselves, that we forget everything else

> that makes life worth living. The most depressing thing about RA for me is

> that I have given up all the art work and crafts that made me happy. I work

> in glass and fiber, not being able to blown glass anymore was a given, it is

> a very labor intensive artform, but when I could not hold a wire to make a

> bead while sitting at the torch I went into the house and cried. Pinning

> together pattern pieces for sewing, meant I would have pain for days after

> and that was given up a couple of years ago. Embroidery and lacemaking are

> a thing of the past as well. And here is something most of us with RA don't

> think about; It was the years of overuse of my hands at work that caused the

> majority of the damage to my hands. Not the RA. Yes, RA has damaged my

> hands and feet, but almost 20 years of handling casefiles weighting up to 15

> pounds, and typing all day. I am responsible for a unit of workers with a

> total of 1,600 cases, I could moved a couple of hundred cases a day at end

> of the month with the average weight of about 5 pounds. Carpal Tunnel is

> very common in my office, and I have been approved for treatment by worker's

> comp already. But that was before I had a bout of Septic Arthritis in my

> hip joint, whoa and I thought I knew PAIN. I am recovering from the surgery

> now, and to think the surgery I had planned for the summer was to get my

> hands back in some kind of working order.

>

> So, the balance between quality of life and working to maintain a life is

> taking on a new meaning for me. I like my job and the people who work for

> me and our clients, (management, not so much). I am lucky enough to have a

> disability retirement available to me, while waiting for SSA disability to

> come through. I also know that if I do not do something soon, I will not be

> able to do anything either for employment or for being able to enjoy life.

>

> Oh, and so you know, I am 46, 47 next month, been dx with RA since 2000,

> but know the symptoms started years before that. My Rheumy is re-thinking

> my dx as she thinks it may be a different type of RA. I have tendonitis,

> synotendontitis in my both hands and thumbs, and calcium crystals in my

> tendons throughout my body. Yeah, I just hurt most days, and as far as

> working throught the pain goes, I try to keep my sense of humor and ignore

> it. Not that that works, lol, but I try. I had a nurse sit with me at the

> hospital and talk about treating pain a bit while at the

> hospital. Apparently, I am so used to pain that I don't do anything about

> it until the pain would put a normal person down. The hospital I go to is

> big on pallitive care, that is pain management and treatment. So if you are

> having problems with your doc, ask him to refer you to someone to talk about

> pallitive medicine or care.

>

> I have spent the last few years with friends asking me how long I was

> going to be able to continue working. They have watched me decline, and are

> asking me to go on disability so I will still have a life. So, work is

> going to go on the list of things I used to do very shortly. I mean what

> good is being able to work if I can not do any thing else? My house is a

> mess, beyond the health dept knocking on the door. Friends come in to

> clean. Not only can I not do any art projects, I can't hold a book to read

> without hand pain. I only went to work half the time last year anyway. May

> as well not work.

>

>

>

> PS, Another factor is both of my parents had RA, my mother died at 52 and

> my father at 63. More and more I see the same things happening to me as

> happened to my mother. Yes, we have new medications for RA. I've tried

> most of them. Yes, having parents dying from this is scary, but I did learn

> from my mother. I learned from her to enjoy everything in life and to

> laugh. My father on the other hand worked almost until he died. Big Lesson

> here, the company when on without him as if he was never there.

>

>

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South Pasadena, CA

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