There is a trade off for many of us between convenience and cost. Many of us with RA start thinking about this trade sooner than others. Unfortunately, those who have rheumatoid arthritis still have a high probability of becoming disabled over time despite the biologics. These drugs don’t stop the progression of RA. They just slow it down a bit.

My son loves meatballs and spaghetti. I looked around at ready made meatballs and found them surprisingly expensive. Instead I have an excellent recipe  of meatballs that I bake in the oven. Then I submerge then in a large jar of an excellent marinera. I let them slowly simmer in our instant pot until dinner.

My effort is limited to molding the meatballs. Both of my hands are deformed and clumsy but my pointers and thumbs work fine as well as my hands for gross effort. I can think of molding the meatballs as exercise for my hands. I used to make my own marinera but found a particular brand at Costco to be very good. So I modified my behavior without sacrificing quality.

There are times when my pain is incapacitating. Cooking is out of the question. I simply ask my son to cook dinner. He will always say yes. I make it easy for him by having a supply of meals that are easy to assemble. Plus he is our salad expert. He will make the salad to go along with our spaghetti and meatballs tonight.

We need to think of finding shortcuts as a creative enterprise. How we can live the best with less effort.  It is a necessary coping skill as our RA progresses.

I am fortunate to have a son who is more than willing to help me. He is not the mind reader we women expect of our menfolk. I doubt very much that many men are that intuitive.  I know all I have to do is ask. And that makes me feel very good.