Pictures needed

[Guest guest]

Today I went to see my good friend who is in a wheelchair as a

result of a rock climbing accident in 79. I help him out at work a

few hours a week. He is ok with me being slow and gimpy. He has been

complaining of joint pain for months now and I can see that he is in

extreme pain at work. He is a jeweler. He blames his pain on his

line of work and the fact that he is in a chair. But last year I

began to suspect he had PA. On the phone this morning he told me his

fingers were swollen for no reason. I went right over. Classic

sausage digits. And there were these nice little silver patches on

his fingers and wrists. I sat him down and told him it was going to

be ok and that we were going to do something about it. What are the

odds that I the person I work the closest with has this? He has

missed work almost weekly now for this. He is so tired, he cannot

get out of bed. This is man who needs pictures though. I just spent

2 hours online searching for images of sausage digits and found very

little. I DID take digital pictures (no pun intended) of his hands

so that if it's cleared up by the time he gets to his doctor he will

have evidence. I watch too much Court TV. He is terribly depressed.

This is a man who skis. Yes you can snow ski in a wheel chair. He

participates in wheel chair races too. He never quits and this has

got him. Thank God I can give him hope now. So if any of you have

links for pictures and images, could you 'fess up with them for a

good cause? I still can't believe this. I knew he had it but I guess

I never expected to see such a classic manifestation. I'm glad it is

so obvious. Now he will get help and quit being ruled by this

disease. I told him it will take a little time and experimenting but

there's hope now. Not knowing is the worse. We all remember that,

don't we? -Betz