1) A rheumatology update

Yesterday was my follow-up rheumatology appointment to go over my bloodwork and X-rays and talk about my treatment plan. When we last talked about all of this nonsense, I had just had my intake appointment, where the doctor confirmed I likely had psoriatic arthritis and wanted to do some blood tests to get a fuller picture of my health. She started me on a course of steroids (prednisone, starting at 24mg and tapering down to a daily dose of 10mg) to calm down all of my joint stiffness. While the original, higher dose of prednisone helped, eventually, my pain came back once I was on the 10mg for a few days (like, I felt like I did before taking prednisone), so now I’m on a different steroid (medrol, 8mg), which has relieved almost all my symptoms. (Still dealing with a flare in my left ring finger, but the pain/stiffness has decreased a lot.)

What the bloodwork showed is that my inflammation numbers were sky high, but I tested negative for rheumatoid arthritis and many of my other numbers (kidney function, white blood cell count, platelet count, etc.) were normal. I also had X-rays done to get a baseline assessment of my joints/bones, and both shoulders are showing signs of mild osteoarthritis (my right shoulder is a bit worse since that’s my dominant side). I’m still waiting on the results for the other X-rays (I got 12 done!).

My new treatment plan is to start a low dose of methotrexate and see how my body reacts. I’ll continue taking the Medrol for the time being, and we’ll discuss weaning off the steroid at my next follow-up in six weeks. Things are hap-hap-happening! It was a big appointment and my mind was spinning when I left the office, but mostly, I feel okay with everything. I’m glad I have a diagnosis after so many months of chronic pain and a solid treatment plan to get me on the road to wellness.

2) Other potential medical woes

A few other interesting things popped up in my bloodwork that I need to follow up with my PCP about. This was NOT THE DEAL, body! The deal was that I was going to accept having an autoimmune condition, get it under control with treatment, and then there would be NO MORE MEDICAL ISSUES.

Here’s what’s going on:

• High thyroid antibodies – Normal thyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibodies are typically under 34 IU/mL, and mine were at 116 IU/mL. This could indicate another autoimmune condition like Hashimoto’s disease, but I need to get further testing to see what the deal is. My thyroid levels were normal years ago, so if anything is developing, it would be new.
• High antiphospholipid antibodies – This would indicate some sort of clotting disorder, although I’ve never dealt with blood clots before. It’s possible that these antibodies were temporarily elevated due to the inflammation I was experiencing at the time of my blood test. I’ll get retested in a few months and hopefully they’ll be back to normal.
• Mild cardiomegaly – Both shoulder X-rays came back with a finding of mild cardiomegaly, aka enlarged heart. My rheumatologist wants me to follow up with my PCP for extra testing just to be on the safe side. Greeeeeat.

Honestly, I’m way more overwhelmed about these three potential conditions, even though the likelihood of any of them turning into full diagnoses may be low, than I was by my psoriatic arthritis diagnosis. Can’t my body just behave for one goddamn month?

3) An update on the feeder situation

Let’s talk about something other than my failing body, shall we? The girls are now successfully using their new microchip feeders. It was quite a process to get them used to these feeders (it took a few weeks) and sometimes Lila still goes up to Eloise’s feeder and is quite confused why the lid isn’t opening, but for the most part, they understand how to use them. I bought these feeders because I wanted to track how much the girls were eating since I have one skinny cat (not underweight, but she could stand to gain a pound or two) and one fluffy cat (she could stand to lose a few pounds). I was pretty certain that Lila wasn’t bullying Eloise out of her food (Eloise is the alpha in this relationship), but it’s just weird that they get the same amount of food and one cat is almost twice the size of the other!

After a little over a month using the feeders successfully, the data I’ve collected is this:

• Eloise is a bird eater who grazes throughout the day, eating a tiny bit every time, and doesn’t need to eat her full portion to be satisfied and energetic
• Lila is also a grazer but she eats larger portions (she’s at the feeder for 2-3 minutes at a time while Eloise is at the feeder for less than a minute), but still is not eating her full portion

It’s a very weird situation to have cats who do not scream at me for food every morning. They don’t even eat all of their wet food at one time! They graze on it throughout the morning.

The good news is, Lila is not overeating so she’s either just naturally a fluffier gal or has some sort of medical condition that I refuse to think about. She goes to the vet next month and I’ll have them do some bloodwork to make sure there isn’t any underlying condition to be worried about.

4) Olympics!

It’s Winter Olympics time! I have been enjoying all of the coverage, especially figure skating and snowboarding. The downhill skiing is also fun but makes me really anxious to see how fast these skiiers are going. How do parents handle their kids being in sports like these?! I would be a wreck. I find myself getting teary at times when I watch the figure skaters and the sheer elation on their faces when they nail a routine. Imagine working so goddamn hard for so long and finally getting to the friggin Olympics and you have one of your best performances? That’s an emotion that needs to be bottled up.

5) Weekend plans

I have a three-day weekend, thanks to President’s Day! Woop! Tonight, my mom, Bri, and I are having a little Galentine’s date. We’re going to see & Juliet at the Straz, and I am very much looking forward to it! And then the rest of my weekend is pretty low-key, as my only plan is a writing date with Mikaela on Saturday morning. I would like to visit a thrift shop this weekend, and maybe do a Home Goods/TJ Maxx run. I’ve decided that I must have an end table in my living room or I will die, but I have very specific parameters of the type/size of end table I want. We’ll see if I can find something that works!

What are your weekend plans? Are you watching the Olympics?

1) Psoriatic arthritis – the physical side

I’ve been on prednisone for three days now, and I am amazed at how good I feel. I’m not fully pain-free. My sausage finger is still a little stiff, but the swelling has gone down and I can grip things again! (It’s painful to grip things, but not impossible like it was before.) And my left shoulder hasn’t quite bounced back, although it gets a little less stiff and achy every day. But I can deal with that. Being in chronic pain for five months, I had forgotten what it’s like to do the simplest tasks without pain. Bending down to put on my shoes. Getting out of bed in the morning. Petting my cats. Drying myself off after a shower. Picking up a plate from a cabinet. Standing up. Walking up and down stairs. Putting on a pair of pants. Tying my shoes. All of this was unbearably difficult for so many months. I know there is a long journey ahead of me as I work with my rheumatologist on the right medication, but right now, I am just soaking in these moments where I feel good and like a woman in her late thirties again.

2) Psoriatic arthritis – the emotional side

I don’t think I’ve really come to terms with the emotional side of this diagnosis and what it means to have a chronic autoimmune condition. Last summer, when my index fingers were swollen and hard to use, I was terrified I had rheumatoid arthritis. I didn’t even talk to Lisa about this because I didn’t want to speak any truth to it. At this point, I’m guessing I didn’t have trigger finger but rather a symptom of psoriatic arthritis (and since the pain was cleared up with steroid shots, that’s even more proof). Fast forward to January and I am crossing all of my fingers and toes that I would be diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. It’s not that I wanted an autoimmune condition; I wanted answers. I wanted to stop feeling so terrible all the time. Nothing about my pain felt normal, especially for someone who is 38 and able-bodied. And while I will likely have to deal with the emotional side of this diagnosis at some point, right now, I am just relieved to have a reason behind my pain. It’s not all in my head. It’s a real condition, and there is treatment for it.

3) Instagram break

On Sunday night, after doomscrolling through my feed right before bed, I decided it was time to delete Instagram from my phone. I needed a break from the news and the opinions of what’s happening and the incredibly vile responses from the leaders of our country. Things feel so bleak and so hopeless right now. A baby almost died because of ICE! How does anyone justify that? How does the pro-life party justify anything that’s happening right now? It makes me sick to my stomach on a daily basis. I miss my cute cat videos and silly memes, but it’s good to be off Instagram right now. I’m going to take February off Instagram and then reevaluate if I want to return.

4) A moment of delight

Who wants a dose of delight? Last night, my mom and I met at a restaurant near her house for dinner and afterwards, we hopped in my car to drive over to Bath & Body Works (which is in the same shopping center) to poke around. Then, we walked over to the grocery store for a few items before hopping back into my car. And then I pulled right out of the shopping center and was halfway to her house when I started laughing hysterically. “Oh my god, I have to drive you back to your car!” Folks, I was ready to take my mom straight home, forgetting that she had driven to dinner herself. After the grocery store, I was supposed to drop her off at her car, not at her house. She started laughing, too, and said, “I was thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to have to go in [to her house] through the front door but I don’t remember leaving through the front door!'” (She has a garage, so she would have left through the garage tonight!) Sigh. At least it was literally a 1-minute difference in time since she lives so close to this shopping center. And it made us laugh so much!

5) Weekend plans

You guys, it’s going to get cold this weekend! There’s even a slim chance that we could get snow flurries! That would be wild. The high on Sunday is 46 degrees, eeks.

Other than preparing for our Florida snow day, I don’t have too much going on this weekend. Today, I’m planning on tackling some errands and getting some chores done. (How exciting.) Tomorrow, I have a writing date with Mikaela and then a reading date with another friend. And Sunday, I will stay cozy indoors! I realize that a high of 46 for you heartier winter folk means going outside and enjoying the “warmth,” but I am not hearty when it comes to cold temperatures like these!

Tell me a moment of delight from your week!