I am back!! I have missed everyone dearly!! Due to financial considerations we had to cancel our cable for a bit. We have switched over to AT&T/Yahoo anyways since Time Warner kept raising their prices. So for anyone that had my old email addy and wants my new one please shoot me a PM.
Well, as everyone knows...thank you to Crunchy btw for keeping me informed on everyone and keeping everyone informed about us...Arielle has developed RA. It was a very sad day for us to say the least when her test results came back indicating that she does have it. Her ANA and RF were both negative but her sed rate was 35 and her CRP was 1.6. She had to be hospitalized for a couple of days to get her pain under control. She is now on 20mg of pred until we go to the rheumy on the 21st. Our PCP and rheumy have been in contact with each other and the rheumy does agree the results indicate RA. Poor baby. She will be 16 in April so I guess we are just going to consider her adult instead of juvenile since they consider it adult at the age of 16. She is doing well emotionally and physically. She has responded very well to the pred. I have no clue what the rheumy will put her on, but we will find out! The doc did give her a script for percocet in case she does have pain that can not be controlled with ibu or tylenol.
Danielle is doing well. No more major flare ups for her and she seems pretty under control right now (knock on wood). She has weather flare ups but they are controlled with some tylenol. Only once in a while do I have to give her a Tramadol for her pain. She turned 13 earlier this month! I am getting old!!!
Danny has sciatica. The doc has him starting PT, on Cymbalta, and percocet w/o the tylenol for the pain. He has also switched to 3rd shift. It just works out better for us with doc appts. etc.
I have failed Remicade and just today got my approval letter in the mail for Rituxin. I will make an appt. for my first infusion on Monday while I am at the office for Arielle's appt. So, right now I am basically on just MTX and pred. I am mucking thru it with pain meds tho. I had to switch to the percocet w/o the tylenol also. Sigh. But hey...praying everyday that the Rituxin will work. There are new meds coming out this year so even if this doesn't work...there will be more choices soon!!
Me and Danny celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary on New Year's Eve. We didn't go out and do anything since it is amateur (sp?) night on the roads. Plus that was the day we found out that Arielle also has RA. We just stayed home and spent a quiet night with the girls. They really needed us more than we needed to be going out.
I hope everyone is doing well. I have really missed being here.
Welcome back!!! We missed you!! Welcome back, sorry to hear about your family's medical problems. It's bad enough having RA as a grown up, I would hate to think about having it as a child. Sounds like you have good doctors and all of you are in good hands. I hope you all feel better very soon, Wendy :)Jasmine...OMG can you friggin' believe it!! I am sooooooo psyched!!! We are gonna go ALL THE WAY BABY!!! SUPERBOWL HERE WE COME!!! Be sure to wear your PACKER gear on Sunday!!!! Is it Sunday at 530 yet??? The projected high for Green Bay on Sunday is 4 degrees LOL!!! NY Giants are gonna freeze lol. We are used to that stuff. Glad to see that you are back. You have had a full plate lately.
I am sorry to hear the bad news on everyone. I hope things turn out well as well as they can.
Welcome back. Missed ya! Sorry to hear about everyone developing some thing, but at least... one of ya'll is under control for now.
It seems to be kinda like PMS... everyone got it and around the same time. I know... you do not get that anymore, but that is just what it sounds like.
I failed Remicade too. We are taking a backstep with Embrel. Embrel does not control the psoriasis as well, and definitely has not kept the Crohns under control like the Remicade, but Remicade was doing nothing for the joint pain.
I have my fingers crossed for you...it would be nice if you and Danny could go out and do something sometime and you would feel like a million bucks...here's prayin'!
I missed you a lot!
It is so good to hear from you, we have all been thinking of you and wondering how you are doing. I am so sorry to hear about Arielle and I hope things can be controlled without heavy-duty drugs. And sciatica is so painful too! Hang tough, all of you. You are in my prayers.
Laker
About f****** time.I'm so glad you're back, Liz!! As you can see you were very much missed. It's not the same without you.
I'm sorry about Arielle's diagnosis. It must be so hard at the ages of your girls. You all have each other to lean on, and we are here for you. too. I'm sure having a Mom who knows what they are going thru, will be comforting to them. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
On a lighter (?) note, we are all HUGE Charger fans! Our guys have really done well this year, and we are looking forward to the game against the Patriots on Sunday. I know I'm probably the only Charger fan here, but I have to say it..........GO CHARGERS!!!!
I hope you have a great week-end and, again, WELCOME HOME!!!
Love, hugs, and Blessings,
Nini
Welcome back Gramma, I missed you too even though you are a Packers fan. LOL. I'm a die hard bears fan but have a niece in Milwaukee who loves the Packers. We have some good conversations. LOL.
So sorry about your girls and hubby. I pray everyone gets better and stays that way!
If it comes down to the superbowl, I have to admit, I will cheer for the Packers because they are more in my region and Brett Favre (sp?) is an awesome quarterback!
take care
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome back. I really appreciate it. We are hanging in there!!! We really are looking at everything like this: This disease can and has torn families apart with only one person having it. 3 people have it in our home. If it had to happen to any family I would rather have it happen to ours where there is already knowledge of the disease, excellent doctors, and a strong bonded family that will not fall apart because of this. It is like one less broken home out there because of RA.
CinDee...LOL!! We lost twice this year to the Bears!! It is ok tho that you are a Bears fan...I loves yas anyways lol!! My MIL was up here last weekend for the weekend and she is from IL and she kept saying things like "Oh yeah...I'm on a different planet...Packers? That is a team???" LOL.
Katie...you shoooosh...hows about answering yer phone sometimes?? Eh??
HI Liz, glad you are back, I hope things improve enough for you all to have a happy new Year, heres hoping and praying, hugs Janie.Hi Lizzie
Stay strong and i'll shout Packers too although I havent got a clue
You are all in my thoughts and prayers
I am just putting it together now that GS is Lizzie :) Lizzie - for us newbies (its only been a year for me), could you maybe pm me and let me know who and how old your daughters are and what they have, and what your diagnosis is, and your husband has something wrong now too? I have been reading your posts for a year now, and have been a little confused that both you and one daughter has RA, and now another daughter has it? Sorry for being so dense, but with everybody's ins and outs around here, and my frain bog, I am starting a spreadsheet (j/k). I am so very impressed with your strength and courage here and your family is in my thoughts and prayers. And thank you for your past positive posts when I have my struggles. CathyOh Em Gee! I was AT WORK! And then, and then, and THEN, when I got OFF WORK........I called you. But you have teenagers who hog the phone. LOLI
I have failed Remicade and just today got my approval letter in the mail for Rituxin. [/QUOTE]
You have not failed Remicade, it failed you. A small but important distinction.
Welcome back. You were missed.
(Thanks for that Jesse...it makes me crazy when people say they failed a drug).
I am so sorry to hear about all your troubles Liz. Seems so very unfair. I know how hard it must be for you.
Glad you are back on line - you were missed very much!
Karen
gramma,LIZZIE GOT HER APPROVAL FOR RITUXAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I called her on the way to work. I'm excited FOR HER! YAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Liz, I'm glad to see you're back. Sorry about the 3 of you all having RA. It seems unfair. I hope the new year brings you better luck with your meds. LindaWelcome back gramms! Ive missed your posts.
kel
Hey Liz., I wasn't gonna bring up the fact that the Chicago Bears beat the Packers (twice) because I was trying to make you feel better. LOL My niece was at that last game with bears vs packers. She called us but all we could hear was the fans cheering. My sis Janie (who is also a bears fan) took me to the bears game right after Soldier field was redone. That place was awesome. We got lost and couldn't find my van for 3 hours. We parked underground and forgot to look around to see where we were cuz we were so excited to be there. She said this year for my bday i Sept, she is getting us tickets again. I hope I can go! LOVE THE GAME! My son has played for years since 3rd grade now he is in high school. They went to state playoffs but lost in 2nd round. They had an awesome season!Grammaskittles,
I'm glad you are back. I've missed your posts too. I'm really sorry to read that Arielle has RA too. Very sad.