A Tale of Agony
Hello my fellow readers, it's Trevor sharing another tale. This week has not been an easy one for Brenda.
She experienced one of the worst attacks in her living with RA. As our readers know, Brenda has been living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for over twenty-five years. This disease is full of surprises and most of them are not pleasant, hence this tale.
Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune or inflammatory disease. Brenda has a form of both. Autoimmune, simply means that the body attacks itself and there is really nothing to fight back with. Brenda prefers to use the word attack over flare, as she is in a battle every day.
Brenda woke up Monday morning not feeling that great, as her left upper leg was starting to hurt. She figured by the time she walked to work, it would be much better. She climbs the stairs whenever she can, to keep those muscles lubricated. She finds that drinking lots of water helps with this as well. Her barometer head was terrible this week as well. I told you, this was not a good week for her.
Anyway on to our tale. The pain became more intense as the day went on and now her nausea was setting in. Every time she would get up from her chair or would go back to sitting down, was becoming pure agony. By the end of the day, she told one of her coworkers that if she was not feeling better in the morning, she would not be coming in.
As the night went on, her pain intensified. She told me it was like a wishbone, where someone was trying to pull at her left leg. Now when I hear *Wishbone*... I think of that cute little dog that would travel to all those places, wearing all kinds of costumes. Obviously, this was not that kind. I love my dog shows. BOL
Her first PCP told her that she had the moving kind of RA. This is true, because at one time or another, it has attacked almost every part of her body. It usually only attacks one side at a time, which she was very grateful for, in this instance.
So the next morning she got up thinking it was a bit better, so she set her clothes out for work. She then tried to sit down and that is when it became so excruciating. There was no way she could even lift up her leg to get her slacks on. She was alone and decided that for her safety, she could not attempt trying to get dressed or even walking down the stairs at this point. She went back to bed and later called into work, informing them that she would not be there.
Her nausea was definitely getting worse as the pain became even more intensified. I felt helpless, because there was nothing I could do to help Brenda feel better. I told her she could lean on my soft fur for comfort, but that would be a stretch for her to get to me. I am 3 feet high, but she still would need to bend to get to me. See why I felt so helpless?
She rested most of the day. What else could she do? Brenda's stomach does not tolerate pain medications, as she has pretty much tried them all. After all, she has lived with this disease for over twenty-five years, so you become somewhat of a veteran in this war. That is why Brenda uses the word attack over flare. It's a personal preference, as she does with nonmalignant over benign, in reference to what kind of brain tumor she had.
These things are personal to Brenda and we are trying to bring across the seriousness here, of what she goes through every day.
Later that morning, she attempted to walk down the flight of stairs to get her mail. Walking down was not so bad, it was going back up, where her left leg was pulled. It was only about 6 steps, but they are wide. Imagine having that pulling at your leg on each step, with that amount of pain?
She rested some more and later attempted doing slow range of motion exercises. She does these, twice a day and has throughout her years of living with RA. That is what saved her from having to go to OT or PT after her craniotomy. She couldn't lift that left leg up, without that excruciating pain and then of course the nausea starts to set in.
She tried to move around her apartment by walking slowly around, to keep some type of movement going. You see, lying in bed too long is not good for Brenda, as her back starts to tighten up and hurt. It's hard to explain this to those who do not go through this day after day. We know some of our readers gets this. We hope for those who try to understand, that this will somehow be a bit of a learning curve for you.
The next morning the pain was starting to ease a bit, but now she was still not feeling up to par, so she decided to stay home one more day. You have to be smart. After all, it is your own body you are dealing with here.
By the end of Wednesday evening, the pain was pretty well managed. That was all through getting rest and taking it easy. Brenda knows when she has these attacks, they will eventually leave. She always tells herself that, at the onset. There is an expression, that her mother always used. "This too, shall pass."
When you are in battle, you sometimes have to call in the troops for reinforcement or support. Brenda would like to thank all of those who were kind enough to post messages of support and for your prayers.
Brenda and I are a team. I am glad that my being with her this week, was a comfort. She shed many tears, as that is all you can do when you are faced with that amount of pain.
I want to leave you with our favorite photo. This is what makes us so great in spreading awareness and hope. There is always hope, folks.
~Trevor & Brenda~
She experienced one of the worst attacks in her living with RA. As our readers know, Brenda has been living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for over twenty-five years. This disease is full of surprises and most of them are not pleasant, hence this tale.
Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune or inflammatory disease. Brenda has a form of both. Autoimmune, simply means that the body attacks itself and there is really nothing to fight back with. Brenda prefers to use the word attack over flare, as she is in a battle every day.
Brenda woke up Monday morning not feeling that great, as her left upper leg was starting to hurt. She figured by the time she walked to work, it would be much better. She climbs the stairs whenever she can, to keep those muscles lubricated. She finds that drinking lots of water helps with this as well. Her barometer head was terrible this week as well. I told you, this was not a good week for her.
Anyway on to our tale. The pain became more intense as the day went on and now her nausea was setting in. Every time she would get up from her chair or would go back to sitting down, was becoming pure agony. By the end of the day, she told one of her coworkers that if she was not feeling better in the morning, she would not be coming in.
As the night went on, her pain intensified. She told me it was like a wishbone, where someone was trying to pull at her left leg. Now when I hear *Wishbone*... I think of that cute little dog that would travel to all those places, wearing all kinds of costumes. Obviously, this was not that kind. I love my dog shows. BOL
Her first PCP told her that she had the moving kind of RA. This is true, because at one time or another, it has attacked almost every part of her body. It usually only attacks one side at a time, which she was very grateful for, in this instance.
So the next morning she got up thinking it was a bit better, so she set her clothes out for work. She then tried to sit down and that is when it became so excruciating. There was no way she could even lift up her leg to get her slacks on. She was alone and decided that for her safety, she could not attempt trying to get dressed or even walking down the stairs at this point. She went back to bed and later called into work, informing them that she would not be there.
Her nausea was definitely getting worse as the pain became even more intensified. I felt helpless, because there was nothing I could do to help Brenda feel better. I told her she could lean on my soft fur for comfort, but that would be a stretch for her to get to me. I am 3 feet high, but she still would need to bend to get to me. See why I felt so helpless?
She rested most of the day. What else could she do? Brenda's stomach does not tolerate pain medications, as she has pretty much tried them all. After all, she has lived with this disease for over twenty-five years, so you become somewhat of a veteran in this war. That is why Brenda uses the word attack over flare. It's a personal preference, as she does with nonmalignant over benign, in reference to what kind of brain tumor she had.
These things are personal to Brenda and we are trying to bring across the seriousness here, of what she goes through every day.
Later that morning, she attempted to walk down the flight of stairs to get her mail. Walking down was not so bad, it was going back up, where her left leg was pulled. It was only about 6 steps, but they are wide. Imagine having that pulling at your leg on each step, with that amount of pain?
She rested some more and later attempted doing slow range of motion exercises. She does these, twice a day and has throughout her years of living with RA. That is what saved her from having to go to OT or PT after her craniotomy. She couldn't lift that left leg up, without that excruciating pain and then of course the nausea starts to set in.
She tried to move around her apartment by walking slowly around, to keep some type of movement going. You see, lying in bed too long is not good for Brenda, as her back starts to tighten up and hurt. It's hard to explain this to those who do not go through this day after day. We know some of our readers gets this. We hope for those who try to understand, that this will somehow be a bit of a learning curve for you.
The next morning the pain was starting to ease a bit, but now she was still not feeling up to par, so she decided to stay home one more day. You have to be smart. After all, it is your own body you are dealing with here.
By the end of Wednesday evening, the pain was pretty well managed. That was all through getting rest and taking it easy. Brenda knows when she has these attacks, they will eventually leave. She always tells herself that, at the onset. There is an expression, that her mother always used. "This too, shall pass."
When you are in battle, you sometimes have to call in the troops for reinforcement or support. Brenda would like to thank all of those who were kind enough to post messages of support and for your prayers.
Brenda and I are a team. I am glad that my being with her this week, was a comfort. She shed many tears, as that is all you can do when you are faced with that amount of pain.
I want to leave you with our favorite photo. This is what makes us so great in spreading awareness and hope. There is always hope, folks.
~Trevor & Brenda~
❤️
ReplyDeleteWe think one of our readers may have a golden heart too. 💛 BOL Thanks for being so kind to Brenda. ~Trevor~ 💛❤️
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