A Tale of Pushing Through the Pain...
Hello, my friends! It's Trevor here, with our last tale of 2017. This one folks, is going to be serious. Brenda has lived with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), for over 26 years. She also became a 9 year brain tumor survivor on September 8th. She deals with daily chronic pain and on top of that, nausea most days.
There never really is a reprieve with the pain. Brenda tells me, that there are times, when she can block it out. It helps to remain positive. That is not always easy. We thought the title; 'Pushing Through the Pain' would be quite apropos, for this particular tale.
Brenda fights every day! She knows how important it is to keep moving. That is not always easy, when you are hurting all over. For those of you who are not familiar with RA. It is considered an autoimmune disease, which basically means, that the body attacks itself. It does not know what it is doing, so it ends up attacking healthy tissues and joints.
RA can also be considered inflammatory. Brenda definitely experiences that, when her joints become hot and red. She describes it like when you touch an iron, only the pain doesn't ever go away. There is no cure and no magic pill out there. In fact, many of the medications out there, tend to cause other issues.
Brenda also lives with high blood pressure, hypothyroidism, attacks of vertigo, which can occur without warning. She does her best to keep them from happening. Brenda avoids looking up suddenly or even at all. This of course, has become much more troublesome since having had her craniotomy.
We are not going to go into detail here, about her brain tumor journey. This is primarily about her fight with RA. She wanted to bring out that pushing through the pain encompasses, much more than crying, when you are involved in a severe RA attack. Brenda prefers to use the word attack vs. flare, as I eluded to earlier, RA attacks her healthy tissues or joints.
Brenda does have joint deformity in her hands. That is irreparable and that damage all took place, within the first 10 years of living with this disease. She also prefers to say she lives with RA, not that she suffers from it. She does, but learning to change your mindset, can help a great deal, in tackling with it daily.
Brenda has received some wonderful support from those in the real world, and really that was the inspiration behind this tale. One of her coworkers told her that she pushes through the pain, hence the title. They also knew what it was like for Brenda in the early days.
Here she is; 26+ years later and still fighting. You have no choice. Her first rheumatolologist wanted her to quit her job, have her husband take care of her. What husband do you speak of? He didn't know her at all. She told him, "I will continue working, until such time, I am unable to do so."
It's not always easy. Brenda is in pain pretty much 24/7. You don't hear her constantly complaining about it. There is more to life than pain, that is why you continue to push through it every day, no matter what.
One of Brenda's greatest achievements and there have been many, has been being able to start walking to and from work again. Thanks to her last podiatrist, who got her into good orthotics and supportive walking shoes. She even has been able to do several 5k walks, even breaking her personal record.
Brenda dealt with a stress fracture in her left distal fibula this year. It is still giving her grief at times, but has managed to stay out of the lace up shoe. She continues to walk and push through the pain, using common sense, of course. She rests when she needs to and elevates it at work and home, when needed.
Brenda will very soon be taking #1000 injection of her biologic. That is a very big deal! Learning to administer those herself, gave her independence. You lose so much, when you live with a chronic disease. You learn to also push through the pain, when you give yourself an injection. For Brenda, the little amount that particular pain lasts, is worth being able to remain functional. It's a stinging sort of pain, but worth it!
Brenda hopes this blog post, helps others out there, that continue to push through their pain. We have no other choice. Brenda wants you to know, that you're not alone.
We are going to leave you with a graphic. Have a great rest of the year, my friends! ~Trevor~
There never really is a reprieve with the pain. Brenda tells me, that there are times, when she can block it out. It helps to remain positive. That is not always easy. We thought the title; 'Pushing Through the Pain' would be quite apropos, for this particular tale.
Brenda fights every day! She knows how important it is to keep moving. That is not always easy, when you are hurting all over. For those of you who are not familiar with RA. It is considered an autoimmune disease, which basically means, that the body attacks itself. It does not know what it is doing, so it ends up attacking healthy tissues and joints.
RA can also be considered inflammatory. Brenda definitely experiences that, when her joints become hot and red. She describes it like when you touch an iron, only the pain doesn't ever go away. There is no cure and no magic pill out there. In fact, many of the medications out there, tend to cause other issues.
Brenda also lives with high blood pressure, hypothyroidism, attacks of vertigo, which can occur without warning. She does her best to keep them from happening. Brenda avoids looking up suddenly or even at all. This of course, has become much more troublesome since having had her craniotomy.
We are not going to go into detail here, about her brain tumor journey. This is primarily about her fight with RA. She wanted to bring out that pushing through the pain encompasses, much more than crying, when you are involved in a severe RA attack. Brenda prefers to use the word attack vs. flare, as I eluded to earlier, RA attacks her healthy tissues or joints.
Brenda does have joint deformity in her hands. That is irreparable and that damage all took place, within the first 10 years of living with this disease. She also prefers to say she lives with RA, not that she suffers from it. She does, but learning to change your mindset, can help a great deal, in tackling with it daily.
Brenda has received some wonderful support from those in the real world, and really that was the inspiration behind this tale. One of her coworkers told her that she pushes through the pain, hence the title. They also knew what it was like for Brenda in the early days.
Here she is; 26+ years later and still fighting. You have no choice. Her first rheumatolologist wanted her to quit her job, have her husband take care of her. What husband do you speak of? He didn't know her at all. She told him, "I will continue working, until such time, I am unable to do so."
It's not always easy. Brenda is in pain pretty much 24/7. You don't hear her constantly complaining about it. There is more to life than pain, that is why you continue to push through it every day, no matter what.
One of Brenda's greatest achievements and there have been many, has been being able to start walking to and from work again. Thanks to her last podiatrist, who got her into good orthotics and supportive walking shoes. She even has been able to do several 5k walks, even breaking her personal record.
Brenda dealt with a stress fracture in her left distal fibula this year. It is still giving her grief at times, but has managed to stay out of the lace up shoe. She continues to walk and push through the pain, using common sense, of course. She rests when she needs to and elevates it at work and home, when needed.
Brenda will very soon be taking #1000 injection of her biologic. That is a very big deal! Learning to administer those herself, gave her independence. You lose so much, when you live with a chronic disease. You learn to also push through the pain, when you give yourself an injection. For Brenda, the little amount that particular pain lasts, is worth being able to remain functional. It's a stinging sort of pain, but worth it!
Brenda hopes this blog post, helps others out there, that continue to push through their pain. We have no other choice. Brenda wants you to know, that you're not alone.
We are going to leave you with a graphic. Have a great rest of the year, my friends! ~Trevor~
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