A current picture of my right hand.

I have to say, for about 6 months now, my RA has been super quiet.  *Knock on wood*  It’s been wonderful.  It’s been surreal.  All of the worry and time spent thinking I would never feel “normal” again, was a complete waste.  My mom gave me some great advice once, but of course I chuckled and thought to myself that she needed to walk a day in my shoes.  So…what was this great advice?  “Worrying is like rocking in a chair.  You can do it all the time, but you’re not going to get anywhere.”   I still can’t help but fear that when I feel too comfortable, a flare will come out of nowhere and hit me extremely hard.  

A couple of months ago, I had blood work done for my doctor.  When we went over the results, he pointed out that my sed rate was 6.  I laughed so hard and felt this well of emotion pour out.  I hadn’t seen a sed rate that low since before I was diagnosed almost twelve years ago.  The doctor then said it appeared I was in remission.  I believe he called it medicinal remission.  

Over the years, ups and downs have been a prominent force in my life.  In a way, I think it’s good to have  experience in such things.  You get kind of use to running along smoothly and quickly when all of a sudden… **WHACK**…brick wall.  I guess you can say, at the moment, I’m waiting for my brick wall. 

Some may wonder what I’m doing that’s made a drastic  change in my situation.  I take Enbrel (the sure click pen) 50mg/weekly.  I take Lodine/Etodolac 400mg twice daily.  I rarely have time to exercise properly, but I do what I can when I can.  With a four-year old and 8 month old in the house, I move plenty.  I do stretch a lot more than I used to.  I’m currently a little overweight or some might say I’m average.  I try to eat 3x a day and drink plenty of water.  Basically, I’m not on any special diets or undergoing new age therapies.  Mine is just an ordinary life boosted by the meds listed above. 

Enbrel was part of my regime in the past, but something always seemed to get in the way of taking it regular.  Kind of like an engine needing to warm up, Enbrel didn’t really get a chance to get fully warmed up before I would be off it again.  The Lodine is new to me.  It’s worked pretty good for me.  For a short while, about seven months ago, I was on Arava as well.  That was interesting.  I lost a lot of weight (baby weight included).  The pain and stiffness was gone.  Then…this is where I get back to ups and downs…I started to itch.  In my knuckles of all places.  The bottoms of my toes and my hands itched as well.  A horrible itch like I’ve never had before.  I was allergic to it.  I have pondered the idea that Arava is what jump started me.  I really can’t quite explain how amazing I felt.  

What is my pain like now?  The RA is quiet, but the damaged joints do still remind me that they’re damaged.  When it’s going to rain, I feel achy.  When I’m on my feet too long, I feel achy and sometimes my right foot hurts a lot.  Anytime I sit in one place for too long, the stiffening begins.  The nice thing is, once I start moving around again, the stiffness goes away.  Overall, I can’t complain.  My husband has kidded that as we’re getting older, he’s moving slower and I’m moving faster. 

How would I feel if I were to get hit with a bad flare again?  I can’t say for sure, but I know one thing…there is hope.  If things were to go downhill, I can look back to now and remember how what I never thought possible before, really was possible afterall.