A New Arthritis Hell

[Jim R]

The news is generally good, Dave, which must lessen your worry and stress. The constant waiting for results etc must be horrible.
As for the stalled builds. They'll still be there when all this is sorted. Then you'll have to knuckle down :smiling:

[Tim Marlow]

Excellent news Dave. Soon be on the big yelow horse tablets then

[davecov]

Wednesday morning I got the results of Tuesday's blood sample and according to my GP, my blood is "stable but improving". So, perhaps one day I won't be anaemic!

As for my diabetes review yesterday, I got a call from the health centre this morning and my HbA1c remains at 38 (5.6%) and it has been at that level for the past five months. At least that has been stable too. It had been planned that I would come off Metformin altogether, shortly, but I have been asked to remain on it until the next review in December.

I had been meaning to get back to my modelling bench by now but the Rheumatoid Arthritis is too bad for such fiddly work. I might have to content myself with mowing the grass jungle this afternoon instead - providing conditions are not too damp. It will be the first cut of the year so there is a lot to do and I will probably have to mow it over three sessions.

Dave

[Miko]

Wednesday morning I got the results of Tuesday's blood sample and according to my GP, my blood is "stable but improving". So, perhaps one day I won't be anaemic!

As for my diabetes review yesterday, I got a call from the health centre this morning and my HbA1c remains at 38 (5.6%) and it has been at that level for the past five months. At least that has been stable too. It had been planned that I would come off Metformin altogether, shortly, but I have been asked to remain on it until the next review in December.

Dave

I'm taking the first two paragraphs as a positive, which is good!

As for gardening, it's one mans delight and a chore to another

Miko

[davecov]

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), we have just had a huge downpour here with thunder and lightning so gardening is off for today! :smiling:

Dave

[Andy the Sheep]

I had the same weather problem 2 weeks ago and when I could mow the lawn the grass was almost knee high: first passage with blade at mid height and second at the lowest. Positive news: the scales showed I lost more than 1 kg. (2.2 lbs) in an afternoon.
Hope weather will improve soon as well as your arthritis and general health conditions. :thumb2:

[Lee Drennen]

As for gardening, it's one mans delight and a chore to another

Yes some days in the late Summer it really does but the fresh Veggies are worth the effort.

[Lee Drennen]

Dave so sorry to hear about this but looks like you salvaged some good news. I had to quit the small fiddly models on 1/72 scale and go with the less parts and simple builds. I still get the satisfaction out of building these types of 1/72 models. I hope you get better your in my prayers

[Waspie]

Cor blimey Dave, reading your ailments certainly brings it to person how lucky they are. I have told my wife I'm not going to moan about my aching thumb joint anymore!!!
I sincerely hope your good news out weighs the bad. At least you appear to be keeping on top of it.

[davecov]

Another update on this saga but there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Last week I got a letter from the hospital giving me the official all-clear after the Colonography and there will be no follow-up. Good news there. Today, my GP phoned me to say that the haematologist had finally got back to him after weeks of waiting. The haematologist confirmed that I am no longer anaemic! It looks like the change of diet and strong iron tablets have finally worked.

I asked my GP about the Sulphasalazine immuno-suppressors which I need to help with my Rheumatoid Arthritis but he said to wait until the results of my next fasting blood test which will be next week. Providing they are okay, he will approach the Rheumatology department at the hospital and discuss when I can start on the Sulphasalazine.

At last, I may finally be restarting on immuno-suppressors which was stopped last year due to an adverse affect. Sulphasalazine is a different one to then, so hopefully things will work out for the better. It cannot come too soon because I have been really struggling with my joints for weeks, especially my hands which has meant I have been unable to do any modelling for almost two months now.

Dave

[boatman]

HOPEIN for the best for you Dave from us both
chris an jen

[Tworrs]

Good news there Dave, good luck.

[Tim Marlow]

Finally getting there then Dave. Once you get on sulphasalizine and things start to settle down push your GP and Rheumatologist for remedial physiotherapy. You will have lost a surprising amount of muscle tone and a properly targeted exercise regime will help you regain that more quickly. Something else to bear in mind is that sulphasalazine use means you meet the NICE threshold for transfer to biologics therapy if it doesn’t work as well as expected. This is a more expensive treatment that they cant use initially due to cost. However, it can be more effective and have less side effects so don’t be shy in pushing for it. Looking forward to you building again soon though.

[Jim R]

Things seem to be heading in the right direction Dave and that's great. I hope things move along as quickly as possible and a new regime of medication does the trick.

[davecov]

My situation hasn't changed since my last update. Although my mid-June blood test results were "stable and improving", my GP didn't contact the Rheumatology department as expected. However, I have given another blood sample today and if these results are okay, my GP will be contacting the Rheumatology department next week. He will be phoning me on Tuesday morning to discuss my situation.

I really can't wait much longer to start the immuno-suppressors. Life is pretty grim right now and I have days where I cannot grip anything and the pain is intense. However, I have managed to do a little modelling over the past two weeks so things aren't all bad.

I did have a bit of good news though. On Tuesday I went to the hospital for an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) ultrasound scan. It is a service open to all men aged 65 and over. Anyway, within a few minutes I was leaving the hospital having been told that my Aorta is perfectly normal and will outlast the rest of me! I don't need to have further Aorta scans so that is one less thing to worry about.

Dave