Another who needs 50 lashes

[Guest guest]

Hello all - I too flag my e-mails so that I can reply to those that have

touched me or that I feel I could offer some

support/encouragement/information to. I very much enjoy reading about what

is going on with everyone else and what is working and not working for

everyone. Thank you for all being willing to share these details of your

lives. However, I don't have much time to read them let alone respond as

much as I'd like. Right now I have 52 " flagged " !! So now I'll try to

respond in one big e-mail from 12-4 to 12-12.

First - what is LOL? Am I an idiot or what?

So - here goes . . . . .

First - - I am so sorry about your son! I know how difficult it is

to lose someone so close. Please don't ever feel like you will offend anyone

by speaking of the Lord. He is our Savior and without Him we would be lost.

If someone doesn't agree they needn't respond. I believe that Jesus was with

you writing the eulogy - how wonderful and bitersweet to remember and relive

those precious moments you shared together with your son. My father just

passed away on August 27. He had bone cancer and was in alot of pain at the

end. The good part was that we knew for nearly a year and had a chance to

say goodbye and all those other things you don't take the time to say. The

bad part was seeing him in so much pain. It was also very hard on my two

year old daughter - one day he was there and the next he was gone - what do

you say to them? - it must be so hard for your daughter too. We say he is in

Heaven and up in the sky - whenever we get a helium balloon - she plays with

it for a while and then we let it go up in the sky to " Papa " so he can play

with it too. We also made a picture album with just the two of them together

that she can look at and remember him. It makes me so sad that she probably

won't remember him and won't get to know what a wonderful man he was. He

loved her so much - he was there for her birth and she loved him so much from

the first moment.

Know that you are in so many others' thoughts and prayers and that I will be

thinking of you often. May God Bless you and take care of you and give you

strength. The holidays make it even more difficult.

For all the dog lovers - we also put my dad's dog to sleep with him - she was

18 years old and needed to be put down long before but we just couldn't bring

ourselves to do it. So after he died we put her down and buried her with

him. Now they are together again and healthy and happy!

Jeannette - Hope things start looking up for you soon! From your post on

12/5 - I LOVE Dr. Phil too - he is sooo funny. I barely miss a Tuesday with

him and Oprah! Also, I have been on Enbrel for close to a year now and I

have very little inflammation - I'm unsure why your Dr. is reluctant to

prescribe it for you. As far as for my insurance it was that I had failed

with the other DMARDS.

Shirley in Wyo - Go Pokes!! My husband and his family are from Wyoming too.

(Green River) Where are you at? Sorry to hear your family is not supportive

- that is hard to deal with - sounds like your daughters need 50 lashes with

the wet noodle too =) - I'm so glad that your husbands niece is willing to

help out. My husband is supportive but I don't think he understands what I

go through everyday. As far as insurance not covering Enbrel - why not? At

first my insurance said they wouldn't cover it because it is an injectible

and they weren't covered under my policy so my Rheumy had to fill out a bunch

of paperwork and submit it a few times and they finally OKd it. Maybe

there's a way around it? For $1000 a month it's worth a try! Keep fighting.

Arava didn't help me either. I take Vicodin for my pain but wouldn't

hesitate to take something stronger if I needed to - I would insist that your

Dr. give you something stronger for those times when you need it. Pain is a

subjective thing and noone can tell you how much pain you have and what works

for you besides you. Be Insistant! OOOPPs never mind I had saved another

post from you where you said the female rheumatologist gave you a pain patch

and a narcotic pill- Yeah!! Maybe it is just knocking you out but at least

you are getting some sleep =)

June - I am not taking Methotrexate and I have been on Enbrel for nearly a

year. My Dr. never even mentioned it. I am doing well with the Enbrel alone

though. Am I mistaken - I thought Kenelog was for animals - some sort of

muscle relaxant? Re: your post about your sons - what is " forensic "

accounting?

Alice - my Dr. has always had me do a longer taper of Prednisone too. At

least a week at a dosage then decrease.

Barb - sorry to hear about your dog - I don't have one now but grew up with

dogs all my life.

Happy Birthday to all those I missed! Hope you had wonderful and relatively

pain free days.

Tery - I have Compuserve - but I just got it - I liked my older server better

but I think it was mostly because I was used to where everything was and how

everything worked. I like the idea of the instant message although I've

never used it. BTW I am Soooo jealous of your warm weather. We have friends

in Orlando and hope to get down there sometime close to the first of the year.

Debi - My feet hurt alot too. I have lumps under the 2nd and 3rd toes on the

balls of my feet. One hurt before the other - and before I was Dxd with RA -

and they called it a " Morton's Neuroma " I had surgery to remove it and it

helped for a time but now it's back. I'm unsure if that is a correct Dx or

if it has to do with the RA. I also had orthotics but they didn't help much.

Sorry - not much help - but in the same boat. I also had cortisone

injections in them which really helps but you can't get them very often.

- I too am glad you stayed - I have enjoyed reading your posts but

never responded. How long did Enbrel work for you?

Joan - my best friend lives on Nantucket. I love it there - I go nearly

every year. I am in Colorado - up near Vail - it's called Eagle. Where is

your family in Colorado. The poem by the 13 year old my me cry so hard!

Thanks to everyone for the poems - I enjoy them. Most of them make me cry

though (I cry easily)

Welcome to the group Rhoda - I'm a newbie too. My name is LaVina, Diagnosed

for 2 years, married, one 2 year old daughter. I found this site as I was

looking for someone who had gone through a pregnancy with RA - looking for

some first hand experience and how they did afterwards. No luck with my

particular question - but lots of information and wonderful people found!!

Hi - welcome back even though I wasn't here before =) I have been on

Enbrel for almost a year - doing very well - I'm such a wimp with the

injections - not that they hurt - I just can't give them to myself - so my

husband gives them to me in the backs of my arms. I had a couple of site

reactions - very minimal. Someone mentioned that they had misplaced things -

I do too - but I hadn't attributed it to the Enbrel - I just thought I was my

fatigue.

- good luck with the nerve block. I am a nurse too and it doesn't

matter - we all get scared. I'm an OB nurse so it doesn't help in this

arena!

Elaine - I don't think the CAT scan is all that confining either. I agree

that the MRI was.

OK I've replied to all I had flagged. Hope everyone could make it through.

=)

Thanks again,

LaVina