Year: 2023

RA, as time passes.

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My RA is different now than it was in earlier years. Now I feel like I am in a continual flare with variations. Sometimes worse. Sometimes much worse.  And luckily, sometimes better.  Today it is worse. I take tramadol and add 500mg ibuprofen. I take an extra Medrol. The amount of cannabis that I tolerate is improving and does help most days. I am very conservative. My primary orders the tramadol. Tramadol is a weak, synthetic opioid. It helps me but doesn’t help every RA sufferer.  My rheumatologist has agreed to my Medrol regime. I feel low dose ibuprofen helps inflammation as does cannabis. My son made pancakes this morning. Excellent. Cheered me up. Yesterday we went to Sprouts to buy a turkey breast. I am struggling with losing my sight. I take the AREDS 2 vitamins that help slow eye disease and I take moisturizing eye drops to keep them moist. I wear sunglasses when I go out. We have had the balloon fiesta, Halloween, and Elections. Next is Thanksgiving, peppered with birthdays. Then …

Ballgames and a PET scan

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We are busy watching the Phillies playing the Arizona Razorbacks. We loved the first game and then the next was 10 zip in favor of the Phillies. Fun. Now they have moved to Arizona to play three games. They lost the first two. Tonight is the third game. Instead of our movie we are watching the game. We will get takeout and hope for the best. Anyway, the games have been excellent in spite of the winner. Yesterday I had a PET body scan to see if the melanoma had metastasized. The tech injected a radioactive tracer intravenously. The tracer is attracted  to the activity of cancer cells and will cluster in them. It was a two hour process.  I had to wait an hour while the radioactive substance saturated my cells before the scan was done. Now the hard part. I could say the not knowing was no problem. It wouldn’t be correct. If I am cancer free, I will be thrilled. If I am not, I will have an uncertain future. Melanoma  can …

A Good Week

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Life has been good. I had a special treat recently. I had my youngest son all to my self for a day. Growing new memories. He has  returned  to his home in Texas. The weather has suddenly turned cooler. And I have suddenly settled into one of my worst flares of late.  It is amazing how that works. Doing fine. Then suddenly not doing  fine.  I took extra indica cannabis last night. I needed the extra help sleeping as I was on the front end of a flare. The night before I had taken extra Medrol. I still woke up this morning in total pain. My hands burned and ached. My shoulders hurt. All my joints  chirped in and I felt sick all over. I had to keep moving as I had a morning appointment with my primary. I poured water into the  coffee machine and added coffee. Next I let Francis out. The NYTimes and coffee were not enough to sort myself out. I went to the appointment holding on to my son. Audrey …

Book and cannabis report

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My new book, Living with Rheumatoid Arthritis   is available in Kindle Unlimited as well as available for purchase on Amazon. My old nursing school friend, Florence, read my book. She had so many kind words for me, I’m almost blushing as I write them. This is what she had to say:  “Just finished your amazing book. Not only are you one of the most courageous individuals I have ever known, but you are a gifted writer as well.   Your book is a valuable work of hope, courage, and very extensive information about a devastating disease; a gift to others suffering from RA.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   I appreciate her kind words. I’m sure in her practice she saw what rheumatoid arthritis can do to a person. Medicine has changed and still has not changed. RA is still devastating for many. .

Buns, Bratwurst and Cannabis

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Yesterday, I made buns in my new bread machine. Not the whole thing. I made the dough. Shaped the rolls. Baked  in the oven. Easy. Much better than store bought. Bratwurst with mustard and then today hamburgers on my grill. I look out to see it still sunny. 92⁰F. Our daytime temperature is normal. The big change is nighttime. Our normal temperature at night in the summer is in the sixties. By morning it is usually down to high fifties. Nice to leave windows open at night. Not anymore. Last night at ten it was still 90⁰F. It makes a big difference in the cost of air conditioning. May was a bad month for me. Actemra completely failed. My flares were severe and endless. I started cannabis. Erred on too much. It made me sick. So back to starting over.  I started microdosing cannabis gummies. Wana Quick Strawberry Margarita 1:1, hybrid ten milligrams THC and ten milligrams CBD. I use scissers to cut the gummy into six pieces and then eat one piece every hour. …