Monday 21 September 2015

A Day In The Life. RA Support Group Edition Day 1

I crowd sourced some of my day in the life. Support groups are wonderful.

Polly has ideas  for a demo film:

"Someone needs to make the virtual reality rheumatoid arthritis experience - I've been wanting to do that for years.  A day in the life..from the lowest pain to highest and then add some gastro issues just for a few chuckles.."

Jill feels that her doctor does not appreciate the impact of RA: 

"I don’t think our doctors have any idea of the impact on our quality of life. We see them for such a short amount of time throughout the year and then it’s only enough time to deal with the immediate issues/concerns. I bet if we each sat down with our rheumy and talked them through a week of our lives they’d soon see things in a different light." 

Julie and John:

"We look like we are feeding monkeys when we go to the store because we buy so much fresh fruit and vegetables.  We have at least one serving of a fruit or vegetable and usually more with every meal.  I really don't think we surpass seven servings a day though.

I have read that 65 to 75 is "Young" old,  75 to 85 is "Old" and 85 plus years is "Very" old."

Polly is single now:

"I feel invisible a lot of the time.  I think you don’t get much attention if you're solo."

Rosie wants a place to relax.

"Sometimes I sat in the pavilion and knitted.  I haven't found a body of water to visit but I am going to try and find one so there will be a place I can go by myself where I don't have to worry about catching anything from anyone!"

Julie has a soft spot for animals

"We were feeding a awful-looking very young raccoon that we felt sorry for.  He looked so sickly and after several days fell over in the yard.  John picked him up in a towel and put him in a box and then called animal control.  They came out and took the poor little raccoon and the officer told us that distemper was rampant in raccoon's in the area.  We both shed a tear over that sick raccoon. Thankfully, our pets are vaccinated against distemper, but the feral cats we feed aren't vaccinated against anything and now we are worried about them.  Always something to worry about."




I don't have a soft spot for all animals

At our house we are fighting the groundhog wars. The hole is blocked off now. We might have left him alone but he wanted to live right near the back door, next to the foundation.

Just sitting here I see reminders of RA in front of me, on my desktop, splints in the nightstand.


Pills under the monitor

Jills ring splints picture on my desktop
Adapted pens always near me

Resting splint worn nightly


Right angled knife - so easy for chopping

6 comments:

  1. Annette, I think your blog is amazing. I am so impressed with the use of visuals. wow. You are able to drive the point home in pictures and in words. I am super impressed with the narrative and ending with the right angle knife is the best. I now care about the cats and the raccoon's. Funny, I am battling moles, and voles in my yard, pesky critters. LOL

    best

    rick

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  2. Great post as ever Annette.

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  3. Always interesting takes on r/a..... a good perspective. Thanks Annette....great blog post.

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  4. Thank you for the comments Rick, Gilly and my unknown friend. I've never seen a vole Rick, but Julie has had a possum in her car engine since that raccoon incident. RA Blog Week going great, and I guess you know that September is Arthritis Month in Canada.

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  5. Hi Annette, I wish I had more time to participate in support groups. You learn so much from other patients' experiences. Just wondering where do you get those pretty ring splints. When you have RA you don''t ask your husband for diamond rings but silver splints :) Have great day.

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  6. You can get those rings through occupational therapists. They measure to get the size and then they order from Digi-Splints in Ontario. They have a website that shows the various options, but it depends on what you need the splint for.
    Or you could buy them for fun.

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