I've been down for the count since last fall. I've been either sick or injured most of that time. My respiratory problems have cleared up (probably mostly because my husband is in better shape, and we're no longer passing infections back and forth).
But my knee problems remain. It's complicated. I have osteoarthritis in knees and hip (that's the wear & tear kind). I am recovering from a badly sprained right knee, that left me barely able to hobble to and from the bathroom for the last week, with a brace and a cane. I'm much improved, and, in the last 24 hours, have graduated to an few hours of moving to a chair and sitting, and being able to manage basic cooking on the stovetop and toaster. And making coffee. Beautiful, beautiful coffee.
Long term, I was diagnosed two weeks ago with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). My mother had it. She was confined to a wheelchair, after about 10 years of pain, for the last 15 years of her life.
My first reaction was - No. Just, no. I couldn't imagine my life so circumscribed.
After looking into it, I'm less fearful. RA treatment has come a long way. They have multiple medications that treat the disease, including the more recent biologic therapies (Humira, Embrel, etc.).
I am hopeful that I'll be able to use voice dictation to manage writing and reduce the stress on my wrist joints.
The above sentence was written, as is this one, with the use of the built-in microphone on my MacBook. Going to be experimenting with this function over the next few weeks. It may make it easier for me to get work done on my books.
