Ankylosing spondylitis wife, mom, and grandmom!

My last post was a couple of days before my shoulder surgery (Dec. 10) and here we are 2 months later!  My shoulder was worse than the Dr had expected.  He said, it looked as if someone had put a match to all the tissues, muscles, tendons--that everything that was supposed to be white was red and inflamed.  OK--folks--INFLAMED!  Which leads me to my blood work which always shows NO inflammation.  See with ankylosing spondylitis EVERYTHING can be inflamed and NEVER show up on blood work.  I wish the DRs would realize this--oh, you have no inflammation--umm yes, I do.  I ended up with a partial rotator repair and 2 inches of bone removed.  The reason for all the inflammation was all the jacked up bone!  That's my medical term--jacked up! My recovery has been painful and long.  I've got a long road ahead, but at least I finally don't have numbness in my fingers.  This will not make me pain free, but it will help in managing and d...

#thatmoment you log in and realize WHOA it's been way toooo long since the last blog!  Things are on the up and up for our "life".  We can now say debt-free! YEP! DEBT FREE!  It really feels so good to know that you have no debt holding you down.  As for a house, well, we're renting now and hubs says he doesn't know if he'll EVER buy another home.  We like the idea of not having a mortgage and most importantly calling someone else to fix a broken "whatever"!  It would be fine with me to rent a small something here and a small something there...just saying ;)  Can NOT believe that both of my girls have one more semester of school--SR in college and SR in HS?? Say what???!!!  When did this happen?  I'm not ready! As for the ankylosing spondylitis--it's still here.  There's no cure.  Had someone walk up to me the other day and ask how my back was (that's how he asks about my disease) and I said, "I'm ok".  He says, no y...

I always think of the things that people say to me out of ignorance of my disease and I really can't blame them.  I too, was ignorant until this disease took over my body, but I've decided to become an advocate for myself and others that are suffering.  -50 MILLION AMERICANS suffer from autoimmune diseases -Can you name an autoimmune disease?  Only 17% of folks can. -Did you know that Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease?  I would say you know about diabetes but didn't know it was an autoimmune. -autoimmune diseases are conditions in which the body's own immune system can (among other things) cause damage to the skin, joints, and internal organs.  The body actually attacks it's own cells.  In other words the body kills itself from the inside. -they run in families/are hereditary -over 75% of those affected are WOMEN -it is possible to have more than 1 autoimmune disease at the same time and the symptoms are often similar which makes it...

first off--starting with some facts! -50 MILLION AMERICANS have an auto-immune disease, yet only about 17% can name one -There are 100 different auto-immune diseases (sooo many) -Auto immune diseases are in the TOP killers of females UNDER 65! -There's a higher risk of getting an auto-immune disease if your mom and grandmom have one--yes, they are hereditary! --I HAVE A AUTO-IMMUNE ARTHRITIS ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS -There is NO CURE!  -This is my life--my future-- another important fact--my "arthritis" is not the same as just "arthritis"--it's not I'm getting older and everyone gets it.  I have an auto-immune type--which means my body is destroying itself from the inside out!  OK--now to the topic of help.  In my many waking hours because of my excruciating pain, I've been thinking a LOT on the topic of help.  Many folks offer or seemed concerned.  I'm sure I'm not the only person that thinks this way, but I'm not really gonna ...

Yesterday my pastor (Stephen Carpenter-SC) at my church (Christ's Church at Whitewater-CCW) started a series on FAMILY.  If you are close by, you should come!  The service yesterday was wonderful.  OK--plug over and now let the reality of the message/service, blog away... I'm JOB! That's what I've decided.  If you don't know what I'm talking about it, just dust off your Bible and read "Job".  SC started off by saying he's rolled over and said, "I don't want to get up and go to church" just as we all have (let me say all of our pastors are human so don't think they aren't).  He was referencing the aches and pains of getting older.  BUT, I immediately thought--I THINK THAT EVERY STINKIN DAY!  He also mentioned how he's learned that southerners don't "talk" about their problems, that they stay behind closed doors.  WHOA! He's right! I'm a born southerner so I know this to be soooo true! We say, bless h...

Even though we're all back to school and routines, life with ankylosing spondylitis doesn't end.  A thought, wouldn't it be great if we got a summer break! ha!  I'm still waiting on that "remission"...which I don't know of anyone ever in.  Truly the only reason I love "back to school" is because that means it's college football time!    Even the pups love some football.  This is my sweet english bully, Bailey cheering on her DAWGS while my daughters cutie, Kovu cheers for his team, the JACKETS.  My daugthers BF starts for them--when you're watching TECH he's #63! Off topic--This year we have some folks calling us "traders".  We are HUGE Georgia Bulldawg fans..always have been, but this year...this year especially, we'll be cheering on Georgia Tech just as hard!  Thing is, those that call us traders, they don't have the connections like we currently do!  Do you personally know folks on the team you cheer for.  I...

My last post I talked about how I had a spinal injection--well, it was literally a roll of the dice and I'm not a gambler and really dont' believe in "luck"..my hope was that this almost $1000.00 roll of the dice would amount to something besides regret that I've wasted sooo much money.  Well, 1000 dollars later and the visit to the DR for her to see how everything went--yea, sometimes it doesn't work on the 1st injection so we'll schedule another.  But, also after the exam, she says your shoulder is really "aggrevated" so let's do an injection today--sigh..sure.  Let's just say that hasn't helped either! Get the call from the surgery center and they let me know my cost that will be due that day of my 2nd injection--almost 600 dollars??!!  And that's not the Drs portion either--OK--this roll of the dice isn't going to happen!!  Even though in my mind, I say what if it actually helped...sigh Having a chronic disease is EXPE...