Sunday, November 23, 2008

Arthritis

One of the things that made last Wed a hard day is that I found out I have arthritis in my knees. I have suspected it for a while, but it was still hard to hear the Dr say it. I feel like my own personal old age has begun and I am not ready for it. I have had 2 different types of pain in my leg/knees for several years. The one type is probably caused by the way I sit while we are doing school. The explanation made total sense to me and that pain can be alleviated with stretching exercises. The other pain is "early onset" arthritis. My mom has lived with rheumatoid arthritis for a number of years. She has done so with an amazing amount of courage and grace, but it is difficult and has been totally life changing for both she and my dad. My type, so far, is osteo-arthritis which is a different flavor than RA ~ it is not systemic so only the affected joints ache, not the whole body. There is an RA marker that can be detected by blood tests, and mine have been negative for which I am very thankful. But until recently I had not ever considered the possibility of the other type of arthritis, and it has been hard for me to accept.

But....I know that emotions, while real, are not the same as truth. And the truth is that God will help me to learn to live with this and move on and be fine. The truth is that it isn't life threatening. The truth is that God is gracious and faithful and loving and GOOD. With my mind and my will I choose to be thankful, and give my emotions time to catch up.

6 comments:

votemom said...

how do you sit while doing school? it is something the rest of us should avoid?

i'm sorry for the diagnosis, and yet, you are right - it could be so much worse.

i'm sorry for the pain, and hope the stretching and any Rx he might prescribe will really alleviate that for you.

lahbluebonnet said...

I am sorry that you got this news. I understand what you mean about emotions. I was devastated when I was diagnosed with impaired glucose tolerance (prediabetes) over 7 years ago. How could I ever limit or even give up sugar, much less carbs? Then all the what ifs. As much as I miss treats now and then, I do feel much better if I eat well and exercise which stabilizes my blood sugar. I'll be praying for you to find comfort on all levels with this pain.
Blessings,
Laurie

Targetshopper: said...

I'm sorry too! I hope that the stretching and adjusting helps with the majority of the pain. I'm sorry about your mom too!

Sorry I keep "stalking" your page too. I keep visiting and checking out things as I create my own site. :)

Pam said...

votemom: I often sit with my heels up on the legs of the chair and my toes on the floor. This causes my calf muscles to be contracted much of the time. I am much more conscious now of sitting with my feet square on the floor. Crossing my legs or even crossing my ankles causes my knees to hurt, so it's forcing me to sit like a lady!

Everyone: Thanks for the encouragement. I feel better today just letting the news out. Acknowledging it "outloud" demystifies it and helps me start getting past it.

Lona said...

Pam, I'm sorry for the bad news. It is hard to feel like we're getting old... I also struggle with the knowledge that if I weren't involved in so many things, I might have time to take care of myself a bit more.

Be faithful to do those exercises. Is it something you can do with the children?

Have a blessed Thanksgiving Week!

Targetshopper: said...

twitter is a site that allows you to update your friends throughout the day on what you are doing. It's like the personal status part of facebook/myspace. Does that make sense? I'm sure there's more to it than that but that's what I know of it.