My Rheumy Story

Hello. I'm Michelle.

I'm 30 years old and I have Rheumatoid Disease.

(Does that make me sound like I'm introducing myself at a support meeting?)

I believe most of you know me in person but for those of you who do not....

I have been married for 6 years.

I'm mom to two young boys, age (almost) 2 and 4.

They're handsome, am I right? I'm so proud of them.

I have two dogs, a chocolate lab and a sheprador.

I am a stay at home mom.

I love chocolate, knitting, running, taking photos, and sunshine.

I enjoy smoothies, cookies, and deep conversations.

I'm a sucker for pointless TV, good books, and catchy tunes.

I'm pretty average and not a daredevil.

My story goes a bit like this:

It was the summer between my freshmen and sophomore year in high school.

I was 15 years young.

I had been mentioning to my parents that my knee would give out on me from time to time.

They listened to me but I complained of "growing pains" often so that's what it was.

Growing pains.

It wasn't until we finished a boat ride on the Chicago River when my mom noticed

an egg like situation on the back of my knee.

I'm not sure on the timeline but sometime after that I saw the doctor.

Xrays, MRIs, and more....I was set up for knee surgery. 

I had a tear.

My surgery went well. I had a normal recovery except the swelling never quite went away.

My surgeon drained my knee and it was gross.

It was snot colored fluid.

At the time, we didn't know what that meant but figured it wasn't good.

My doctor suggested I be sent to a children's hospital in our states capital.

From there, I was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.

My joints affected were my right pointer finger, right wrist, left knee, and eventually my jaw/neck.

I was put on Methotrexate, naproxen, folic acid, baby aspirin, and the occasional dose

of the dreaded steroid, prednisone.

I did a short stint of Methotrexate injections.

I spent the rest of high school on that regimen.

My liver eventually started to not tolerate the Methotrexate.

Slowly my body was only affected in my left wrist.

I eventually was switched to Humira.

Humira is an injectable biologic drug.

I was stubborn, felt I didn't need drugs, and was scared.

I gave them up for a bit.

I was around 21 years old and thought I was invincible.

After I was married, I was put on Plaquenil.
I had experienced life with zero drugs and Plaquenil was the least aggressive.

I spent only a short time on the drug because I found out I was pregnant.

I spent the pregnancy on a low dose of prednisone.

However, after he was born, I had zero complications.

I breastfed for about 13 months.

I spent a long while in remission without medication.

I was able to do anything and everything I wanted.

I was able to be a fun and able mother.

I became pregnant almost two years after my first.

I, again, had zero complications and had a medication free pregnancy.

I was able to breastfeed him for 12 months.

About a month after the breastfeeding ended I had pain.

Nothing life changing but enough to slow my hands down.

I was placed back on Plaquenil.

I stuck with it for about 6 months (it can take that long to work fully)
 but I was progressively getting worse.

This time it was attacking my right wrist.

I'm right handed.

I spent about two months trying out new drugs.

I did Methotrexate again but the side effects were too much this time.

I tried Sulfasalazine but had an allergic reaction.

My husband had to do my hair that day. 

It had ended on me being on Simponi injections.

That is where I currently am.

I give myself a shot once a month in the thigh.

I have joint damage in my left wrist.

I have a lot of joint damage in my right wrist.

As of this past week, my jaw is feeling it.

I'm classified under severe.

I'm currently unable to do much of anything with my right hand.

There is nothing significant about my start with JRA/Rheumatoid Disease.

It appeared almost out of thin air.

It disappeared for about 3 years.

It came back.

That's my Rheumy story.