It's kinda nice...

...to actually want to have sex with my husband.

That is all.

It's been a while...

And that's because I really haven't been feeling that bad at all lately! I guess the Enbrel is working, because I am working my butt off and not getting too fatigued. So, yay!

Although, I did have a flare last week. I am currently working 20 hours as a lab technician, teaching 2 biology classes, and taking 2 doctoral classes - and last Wednesday, it all caught up to me. I had been up late the night before grading exams and reading for my education classes (not easy stuff...) and the days and nights before had been similar to that. I had to get up early to get to work, so that I could finish grading the exams to get back to my students. I walked into my first class of the day, and the first thing they said to me was "You look tired. Are you sick?" I answered honestly, "Yes, but not "sick" sick, but chronic sick." By the time I had to sit through my 3 hour class, I was done.

I made a point to go home early on Thursday and veg out on the couch, watching Firefly (hence the shameless picture of my future husband, Nathan Fillion (my current husband somehow understands...)). It was a good way to make myself feel better. Since then, it's been pretty good. Let's hope it stays this way!

Vacation!

I just got back from a week long vacation to Disney and am totally surprised by how well I did, considering my RA! I walked pretty much for 4 straight days through the parks, and it wasn't until the end of the last day that I really really couldn't stand it anymore. This was unthinkable months ago, and we totally assumed that I would be renting a wheelchair to get through the week. So something appears to be working!

However, sitting in the car on the way home with Hurricane Irene escorting us back to RI did not help my poor little swollen toes - the low pressure was just a little too much!

Success!

Shoe shopping was a success this weekend! Silver strappies for the weddings, and then a cute pair of shoes for work (for good, short days of course)!

Shoes....

So today I went shoe shopping. I have to find a pair of silver shoes for the two (yes two) weddings I'm in the week of September 4-11. More about this later...Luckily, my two best friends decided on silver shoes to go with the navy and red dresses I have to wear. So only one pair of shoes needs to be found. (Although there are like a million cute navy shoes out this season...)

My obvious issue is that I have to find shoes that are comfortable enough to wear all day long, without me wanting to kill myself - or without requiring a day's rest to recover from (which I'll probably already need anyways). I also want CUTE shoes.

I was never much of a shoe person, until I started working as a professor, which required business professional attire. When I started working, I had a pair of chunky black shoes, and brown penny-loafers. Plus sneakers and flip-flops. However, eventually, I discovered a love of shoes. I love red shoes, I have a really cute pair of purple flats that I try to wear as often as possible, and I now have quite a few black shoes, one for every occasion. Now, this love started about a year, year and a half, before I was diagnosed with RA. I have all these cute shoes - and can really only wear the flats. Unless it's a good day, and I might be able to pull off my kitten heels

So, I am now picky about what shoes I want to wear, and am also limited by what I can actually wear...the hunt began today at DSW. And I found so many cute shoes, but they all had too high a heel. *sad face*

The hunt shall continue tomorrow.

Amazing!

Friday morning I was woken up to my doctor calling me. Apparently, he erased all of the ultrasound images he had taken the day before, and was wondering if I could come in to have hem redone. I went in, and within ONE DAY of taking the Enbrel, my swelling and inflammation had gone down significantly! That is a good sign the Enbrel is working, considering it normally takes some time to decrease symptoms...WOOHOO!

The image to the left is an ultrasound of a finger joint - the bright yellow areas are where there is heat, or bad RA activity, and the synovial hypertrophy is that entire black area, which is inflammation. I'm not going to lie, I think this is the coolest thing ever, every time I get it done. 

Here is a paper for anyone out there daring enough to read it on using ultrasound to manage and treat RA (I'm a scientist - we go for the data right from the source!): Using ultrasonography to facilitate best practice in diagnosis and management of RA

Enbrel to the Rescue!

So, it's been awhile...I actually felt pretty good for a couple of weeks there, and didn't feel the need to write about it. Other than the craziness of prednisone (seriously, I was like a whole different person...not cool), my body felt normal. I could walk wherever without my toes cramping up. I even went kayaking without much pain. But as the prednisone tapered off, my symptoms came back slowly. 

The past week has been rough. I started teaching my summer class, and after over a month off, it really wears me out. On top of that, the class is 30 minutes longer than I'm used to. That extra 30 minutes feels like hours.

But there is hope in sight. I was approved to start Enbrel (after making sure I didn't have TB or hepatitis...I feel like I would know either way). So today I went to the doctor with my first dose in hand. Enbrel is an injectable medication - so I have an auto injector that I have to administer once a week. I was terrified that I would do it wrong, so I wanted to have the nurse help me. The nurse at my doctor's office, Natalie, is great. She's so super nice. She did the injection for me, just so I knew what to do next time. 

But OWWWWW. It stung. In order to inject all of the medication, you have to hold the injector on your skin for 15 seconds. Longest 15 seconds ever....and to top it off, the medicine was cold (it has to remain refrigerated) so I could feel it going in under my skin. Ick.

My doctor wasn't too thrilled that I hadn't taken a dose yet, but what was I supposed to do? My last appt was 3 weeks ago, and I didn't get my test results to him until last week. By that point, it made sense that instead of taking up time that wasn't scheduled for me, I'd just wait. Whatever. He did, however, get to play with his new toy - a brand new ultrasound machine. It is really cool to me how you can see the inflammation and measure the amount of heat being produced at those site with an ultrasound. He examined my foot with it, and when he turned the heat sensors on, it lit up like a Christmas tree. No wonder it hurts so much.

Now it is a matter of time to see how the Enbrel works. I talked to a very nice nurse on the phone yesterday through my pharmacy, and she said that some people see results in 10-14 days, other within 3 months. We'll see.