RA Circus - #ChronicLife

In reading a blog yesterday someone was laughing out loud about the Elephant on the Trampoline as an antidote to gloom. Humor is a great way to get temporary relief from almost everything undesirable.

The elephant made me think of the circus of course and those vintage posters I love to look at.  It also makes me think  of this successful strategy that got me through years of gloom after my diagnosis with more optimism and some unexpected bright spots that helped me through some tough years.

I would also say that (insert your disease here) is the "elephant in the room' for many of us. It takes up so much space in our lives that we would rather use another way. 

Getting a diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis is a bit like being shot from a cannon - it's scary and a huge shock coming out of the 

cannon and you can't be sure how the landing will go for you.  The diagnosis may be only the beginning of a different and more difficult phase of your life. Hopefully you will be one of the people who can achieve remission fairly fast.  To do this you need to see a rheumatologist soon after your symptoms appear and ideally you will respond well to medication. This now happens far more frequently than when I was diagnosed decades ago.

People talking about your illness may say "Look at that brave girl and her amazing exploits dealing with a serious illness" (at the best) but it's a lot like trying to tame a wild beast and you never know when it will turn on you.  It's important to keep practicing the measures that keep it under control for you. You can't turn your back on an opponent like this. 

Keep your eyes on the tigers.

As Dr Keystone said in  a lecture a few years ago "RA is a medical emergency" That statement is a call to action. (I will comment that  the lecture was inspiring)

One thing we all do with RA is juggle.  Medical appointments, doctors, family, fatigue, pain, work and worry about the future. That's a serious amount of stress to deal with.  I would like to cultivate a teflon personality so that none of the stress  would stick to me. The flip side would be the velcro personality which sounds like bad idea.

In this article about the brain though there is a statement that the brain is velcro for negative experiences - they stick and good memories are easily forgotten, so we need to work harder to overcome the negative and make more good memories. Some ways to do this are through positive emotions and cultivating the "relaxation response", which includes humor as Kelly Young aka RAWarrior says,.   Auntie Stress has a good post about kindness as another way to lower stress. 

Since this is a circus it's no surprise to see the next act involve great skill and agility. RA is a balancing act and with the feet I have now that is literally true.  I walk very carefully and try to do balance exercise.

With any chronic illness you need to enjoy yourself at least some of the time.  I once had a talk with a social worker from The Arthritis Society and an important piece of advice she gave me was "Have more fun".  Working, housework, social obligations all go better with fun.  My friend finds Doris Day movies enjoyable and she's a Dallas Cowboys fan too.

Over the years so many people in the know, like physios and moderators in Arthritis Self Management courses have suggested that exercise in a warm pool would benefit me.  I believe it but the energy expenditure equation keeps me from doing it.  By energy equation I mean this. The time to put on my bathing suit, dress, drive to the pool, park, undress and shower and then to do all that over again in reverse just does not seem to be worth the effort for only 1/2 hour of exercise.  Maybe if it were this much fun I would do it.

Water Circus

Madame Yucca looks like an amazing woman. I'll never be that strong but I do try to maintain strength by just doing simple isometric (muscle tightening exercise) and I have been doing Arthro-Pilates for years now with Lori Weisbrod (Toronto).  I love exercise that you can do lying down.

The topic of today's blog carnival is how to keep disease from taking over more of your life.  I can see that as a necessity but at this point for me the RA is well integrated and I no longer think of life without it because it is the house guest you can't get rid of.  

Once you have damaged joints, even if the other symptoms are controlled, the mechanical effects of the damage will continue.

When I was working my job was so interesting that I was not thinking much about pain for large periods of time. I used work to keep the RA from taking over even though I had to adapt.  Now that I have retired I find blogging is an enjoyable occupation. Creative outlets are good for the soul, no matter what you produce, from books to baby clothes to beautiful pictures. I totally forgot the RA when I was looking for these circus posters.

This blog post is part of a carnival. Please visit all the posts in the carnival. Here's the topic and a link.

How Do You Keep the Disease from Taking Over?

Coping Strategy With Surprising Results

I mentioned in the last post that I had found a coping mechanism that suited me very well and helped me to regain my optimism.  Entering contests provided intermittent gratification which is the most compelling type there is.  It's the same impulse that makes you check your email every five minutes to see if something new has arrived. 

It helps to find something that gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you have to change your life plans.

So I actually stumbled upon a method that gave me some distraction from the fatigue and tedium of RA.  This is the story of one of our most memorable early experiences with the hobby the first summer after diagnosis. It proved to be life changing.

                                                Many types of pastimes can work

At my urging my son entered a newspaper contest to win tickets to attend the Shrine Circus.  There were some additional prizes of bikes and a trip to be awarded at the show.  At this time in our life my husband was totally engrossed in writing his first computer program as a self employed person and was so totally absorbed that he was almost living on another planet from the rest of us.

My son won one of the 25 family tickets to the Big Show.

On the day of the circus we arrived a little late and rushed to our seats in the bleachers.  We sat down and before we knew it the ringmaster announced a winner of a bicycle.  My husband clapped and cheered - he did not know there was a draw at all but he likes to be encouraging.  When the next bike was awarded he kept on clapping.  Then we got to the trip draw.  The ringmaster said "And now we draw for the winner of the grand prize - a trip to Disney World.  And the winner is ...my older son said his brother's name - and the ringmaster said the same name immediately after.

They called my son down to the circus ring and he disappeared.  Next thing we knew he came out riding on the lead elephant in the opening parade.  My husband was flabbergasted.  He had no idea what was going on - in moments like that it is hard to make out the words of an announcer.

                                                    

When my son finally rejoined us he had another unexpected development. He was wearing shorts and had developed big red welts on the inside of his legs.  It turns out that he is allergic to elephants, not just horses and cats. Still it took a long time before he stopped grinning with delight.  

Luckily the rash cleared up before we went to Disney World.