So this is where y'all went! When the forums went down, I could never get them to work again and I did miss the conversation sorely.
Anyhow, I was struggling for a really long time with neck pain (as some of you may remember). I finally got a new rhuemy who was willing to order x-rays on my neck. Once she saw them, she shuttled me off to a neurosurgeon right away. (When he was too busy to schedule an appointment soon, she called him and made him clear his schedule for me to come in.)
The upshot of it is, I had my C1 & C2 vertabrae fused two weeks ago. The rhuemy said it was unusual to have RA progress this fast (I've had it for 5 years) but that I must have hit the "sweet spot" between JRA and adult RA. I don't know that I'd call it a sweet spot but...
Has anybody else had a neck fusion because of their RA? If so, how well did it work out for you? I've got another 6 weeks in this blasted neck brace to go.