Life with a Flare

Today I had a busy day at HSS, 1st was a my 8 week post op appointment with my OS, next was a PT appointment with one of the HSS hip PTs, then we went to see the rheumy, and finally I had shoulder x-rays. The OS appointment went ok. The hip part was good, the right hip is doing really well and I scheduled surgery for my left hip, which is not as great of a candidate for surgery (not as clear cut of a case) but we are taking the fact my right is doing so well as a predictor that hopefully. That will be on June 24, two days after I graduate from high school. I was less happy about the knee situation, he said he thought it was a combination of referred pain from my hip and an autoimmune issue so besides the PT he prescribe the rheumy should really be dealing with it. Next of was the PT at HSS. This appointment was not as horrible as I thought it was going to be, but pretty pointless. I was just given a few more strengthening exercises. The PT gave me a pri...

Because I am me, I could not go a full 2 weeks without a doctor's appointment. Over the weekend I started to get a cold, the worst of it was Monday night. Tuesday I was feeling pretty lethargic and my knees were really killing me so I just went to PT in the morning but not school. Today I decided I really needed to go to school ignoring the fact I could barely walk, well I made it 45 minutes before I went home sick. I went to see my primary care doctor. He just suggested I go on Relafen for a few days. My OS wants me to go back on an NSAID as well, but did not clarify which one. He is also sending me a script for PT for my knees. I ave no faith in PT to help my knees at this point...at all. It is not that I am not willing to try PT, it is just I have done so much PT for my knee and not seen a ton of improvement. I want to talk to my rheumy, but yesterday she wasn't there, so I only got to talk to the covering one, and today the phones were down or something because they...

My life is almost normal. I am done with crutches (for now but I will take that)! My PT is very happy with my flexibility and ROM. I can not believe I am walking on the same hip I was 6 weeks ago, it really is amazing. I also get to go back to work this week! I am so excited, I love my job so much and I have really missed it! Although since I am me one joint could not do this well without another one having a complete fit. Actually a few having fits. My knees are out to get me, they are! My right one swells anytime I use a exercise bike and well my left knee was the joint that started this whole mess. My OS was hoping that the knee pain was mostly referred pain and would be fixed when I had hip surgery. I am here to say that as my right hip is pain free my right knee is doing the worst it has ever done! At least my shoulders seem a bit happier than they did when I was on crutches, although that is not a high bar. Putting my hair in a pony tail still takes more skill than i...

That is the question I am currently grappling with. (No I have not forgotten that I am 4 weeks post op but since I won't have an exciting update on that until tomorrow I decided not to bore you) Today I had a rheumatologist appointment. It was pretty routine. My left elbow hurt during the exam and that was not expected but has never hurt before or after so I am going to try not to worry about that. She commented on how much better my ROM was in my operated hip then my un-operated one. My last set of Lyme tests came back negative, so we have finally ruled out Lyme after the one false positive. Since my most problematic of my joints currently are my shoulders and my knees, which could just be acting up from the hip surgery as well the crutches, she wanted to wait to re-evaluate when I have been off crutches for a little while to see if they calm down. On to the Relafen thing. I told her about the fun side affects I had from Naproxen and she said I could go back on Relafe...

Before I had hip surgery I had been taking Relafen with is a prescription NSAID and it had a helped a little bit, definitely with my knees (along with the euflexxa). However I had to stop it two weeks before surgery. After surgery I was put on Naproxen, another NSAID, which is basically prescription aleve. While Naproxen does just as good of a job as Relafen, it can be harder on the stomach and more likely to cause problems. About a week after starting it I realized if I did not drink a full glass of water after taking it my throat would start burning, and starting a couple days ago I would drink two cups of water and eat food and my throat would still burn, even though I was even taking a prescription antacid with it. And I don't mean burn for a few minutes, it would for a few hours. After e-mailing with my OS's PA I was told to stop taking the Naproxen and I could take regular aleve if I wanted instead. Of course I have a really big debate tournament ...