Erin Kachmar and Ides, how are you?

Hi Gail! Gee, all these diseases are just so much fun. Three days this week with doctor appts and xrays. Next week, an echocardiogram, ultrasound of my shoulder, and a mammogram - all on different days. Next year I swear on the portion of the income tax form that asks for occupation, I am listing "Professional Patient."

Seriously, more joint problems discovered. Rhemmy says it's not AS related, but I posed the question over there and got disagreement from the experts. Am I surprised? No...

Hope all is well with you. --Ides

erin, was reading a book today and one of the characters had AS. One scene described him laying on the floor of the bathroom moaning and not being able to move. He also desribed the wrap around pain and not being able to breathe. I was thinking of you as I read it. To me that would be horrible to live with. I think I have it bad sometimes but it is nothing compared to what you go through. I am thinking of you. Hope the pain gets better really soon.
Oreo

Got my labs back! i did well! my wbc's are low normal. lymphs are high normal and all is petty darn good! we're thinking that taking an enbrel vacation for 4 weeks built my blood up again. was terribly immunosuppressed, but i can be on enbrel again now for a while....just have to watch my wbc's. wishing all a peaceful afternoon. oh, Boo where are you? i hope you're ok, i know you were feeling not so good. just know that my thoughts are with you and am praying you feel better soon!
sincerely,
erin

Ides,
you're more mentally prepared than you think. from reading your posts you have great insight about yourself and the disease process. do you feel that the steroids weakened your tendons? i know that is a risk while on prolonged steroid use. what is AVN? i'm not faniliar with the abbreviation. i will pray for you ides. i hope a lot of mental strentgh and stamina comes your way. AS is tough! i hate having to deal with that on top of RA. like last saturday nite i had a bad spasm attack in my lower back and it wrapped around my sides and ascended upwards to the point where i couldn't take a breath in. almost a ER visit. i was hoping the enbrel would alleviate some of the AS, but the only thing it did so far is allow me to stand straighter. perhaps the remicade will help some. and also, it's not pity! we all have legitimate reasons for remorse and sadness! it comes along with the disease. everything that is physical....is mental as well. i remind myself everyday that i didn't do this to myself and that i also didn't ask for it either. these things happen to the best of people. out of all the people in the world, you and all the rest of the folks here deserve nothing but peace, health and pain free days. i wish you well with PT ides! will be thinking of you.
sincerely,
erin

Erin, the book I was reading was called "the other daughter" by lisa gardner. Is was a book about a girl that was kidnapped as a five year old and another girl that all of a sudden appeared 4 years later in a hospital that happens to become adopted by the family that lost their first daughter. Kind of a suspense/detective story. I really like Lisa Gardner as an author because she writes very gripping tales. I don't like the language that much but it is hard to not get it these days unless you are reading Christian Fiction, which I read alot.
Hope you have been spasm free.
Oreo

Hi there Gail. Hi Ides! how's everything this week? Ides... i recently started experiencing ligament inflammation. WOW! terrible, when i bend down, it feels like my shoulder is slipping out of its socket...and the pelvic area is super sore. are you still taking steroids? i started taking 81mg baby aspirin...doc said i should be on an NSAID consistantly and i cannot afford anymore Mobic or Rx meds. so i'm still with enbrel, aspirin, fish oil and darvocet. very much in severe pain still, just had to take 2 darvocets now and 3 lidodoerm patches and heat. perhaps he can set me up with boxes of samples. the NSAIDS alone provide NO relief at all. What else do you take for pain and inflammation?
till later. have a nice afternoon...in my thoughts and prayers for good days with plenty of comfort! erin

 hanging in there with you IDES! i had to take 2 darvocets for the pain...drowsy now....but i hope you get your treatments soon, this stincks having to live in pain. plus with you having crohn's it's more difficult. sending you smiles and good vibes

  erin

Erin, in response to your question catholism is christian. Any church that believes in Jesus and that he is the Messiah and rose from the dead is Christian. The two main branches are Catholic and Protestant. The Catholics have thier Patron Saints and Mary and such, the Protestant church focus more on the Trinity, Jesus and our relationship with Him. Having said that there are many demoninations within the Protestant church that put the emphasis on different parts of the Bible and its teachings. The United Church (here in Canada) is one of the most Liberal of the denominations, and the Pentecostal and Evangelical churches more conservative in their theologies. I am unsure how the CAtholic church is divided but I am sure you would find similar things happening there as you have many "orthodox" churches in that mix.
The Christian fiction books I read are just like the mainstream ones but the subjects and language are a little cleaner. For example there are no actual swear words printed, (you could have a character "curse" but all you see is the word "curse", ie John cursed at the TV), there are no intimate scenes between unmarried people, often there is a "church" involved with the characters and often one or more characters have a "relationship with God" as the main idea behind their character. Other then that they are about the same. I like to think of it a pure writing. I know the words but really don't have to read them. My favorite author is Dee Henderson. She writes alot a books that have "professionals" in them. Her one series is about a family that became a family when they all ended up in an orphanage and they decided to change their last names and become an official family. Twenty years later you meet them as they are professionals and each book focuses in on the job of one sibling. There are firefighters, doctors, cops, trauma psychologist, pathologist and a US Marshal. I call them romantic fiction. Her other series focuses in on the Military and the different aspects of that. One book deals with the fighter pilots, another the SEALS, and one deals with an FBI agent. Again probably falls under the genre of romantic fiction. When I am really sore I like to curl up with a good book that I can really get into the characters and I find it helps me to forget the pain.
Sorry this post is so long. Hope it answered your question. If not ask away, I do not have all the answers but maybe someone else here does. We do have to stay away from prosetilizing(?) but we can have honest "religious" questions. So long as no one is trying to "convert" someone the topic is safe. No one religion is right for everyone so we need to keep the discussion on a purely academic level.
Hope you are now pain free.
Oreo