Oh, my aching feet . . .

My daughter has been away from home for three days. The kids are off school for three days. She's due home tonight and no one has done any dishes for three days. Since my son-in-law works 10-12 hours a day, I decide to make my move and start washing the dishes.
The 14 yr old and 11 yr old remain oblivious. This peeves me. I wish they would recognize how tired she'll be when she gets home, how much a clean house would mean to her.

It takes me 3.5 hours to do 5 sinks of dishes. My feet are killing even though I'm sitting on a stool most of the time - have to lean on my feet quite a bit. I am resting between each sinkful,10-15 minutes. "The Fisher King" is on TV. I have to give up with another sink of pots and pans to go. By now, my left wrist and right elbow hurt with every move I make. Not good.

This all makes me think about a great website I found. It was a link from a comment on an RA blog. The woman who started the website has difficulty finding shoes to fit her painful feet. Sound familiar? Visit this site:

http://barkingdogshoes.com/

The shoes are so stylish! Many brands. And there are a LOT of websites selling the shoes with different prices. They aren't cheap, but it goes to show there are alternatives to Birkenstocks. And some are even cheaper than Birks! There are quite a few pair already on my Amazon Wishlist so I won't forget where I saw 'those really cute shoes'.

Life on Meds

I've been trying to do more around the house. Trying to stay as active as I can. I was not smiling when I went to see the PA. Had been off prednisone for almost a week. The person who was supposed to contact the drug companies about Enbrel and Humira could not find any evidence she had ever faxed the application to them. The application we filled out together at the end of November.

I have been taking 10 mg prednisone every am since then. It should have been prescribed as 20 mg. Back on Vicodin with aceteminophin. That does zero for the inflamation, just treats pain. The PA is still refusing to give me anything with ibuprophen. Maybe he'll reconsider if the last blood count is better. The Vicodin was written as 3 times per day. Same pill I was taking 4 times a day before. I have to take it 4 times per day or it is quite painful in the morning. Pain, not just stiffness.

I've been reading more about how to do things and what NOT to do to prevent further joint damage. Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic both have some stuff.
Meanwhile, I can now balance on my two feet without holding onto something. I made it into the house from the car without a 'boost' up the steps from Jen. It feels good to have some strength back. Or enough red blood cells to oxygenate the muscles. I think it's more the prednisone than the iron - I couldn't get up the steps at Christmas.

The big job next week is to find a local lawyer specializing in SSDI.