the autoimmune hippie.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. . . Practice resurrection. – Wendell Berry

RA

  • methotrexate and med prep day.

    Well, y’all, it’s Wednesday, so here in the Hippie Hut that means it’s time for plant watering, med prep day (where I sort ALL the meds for the week), and my weekly methotrexate injection is due as well. As I have just written about the issues we are beginning to see with methotrexate and those… Read more

  • feeling the ill part of this chronic business.

    I’ve been chasing myself these past several days since discharge, getting caught up with school from the hospital while these antibiotics are kicking my arse and I am so freaking tired (it never fails). That said, I was on the phone with my husband while he was at work one day last week when my… Read more

  • home, home, home.

    After an eight day stay, I have finally been discharged home – to my peoples and my Henry and my cozy spot and a body that keeps collapsing to lots and lots of sleep. I am exhausted. Oh my word, I am so happy to be home. As with my previous rounds of sepsis and… Read more

  • 8 days.

    Today is day eight of my hospital admission, close to my longest admit to date. As I write, I am waiting on MD rounds to find out for sure if I am – hopefully, prayerfully, dear Lord please – going home today. We have been in a holding pattern, waiting on negative blood cultures, as… Read more

  • a view (again) from the 8th floor.

    Over this past weekend, I became terribly ill. As is often the case, it initially appeared to be a CRPS flare. In fact, it IS a CRPS flare. It was just apparent by Monday morning that it also involved an infection in my feet that might also be systemic.  So it was time to return… Read more

  • gratitude – and an important awareness day to remember (and why this little bulldog will get some fresh orange flowers today).

    I’ve started no fewer than six posts about my week last week, telling y’all that I missed posting on World Arthritis Day because I was incredibly sick, and that I also missed The Dead show I was incredibly (oh so very) excited for that same day – both because I was sick and because I’m… Read more

  • lions and tigers and flares, oh my! (and falls and gnarly injuries too)

    (So often I want to write about things other than autoimmune disease and spoonie life – but I also think it’s important to share just how delicate our chronically ill ecosystems are. Life starts happening, with the bad things everyone has to walk through sometimes, then our spoonie bodies respond with symptoms, then those snowball,… Read more

  • blessedly, the right doctor for the job is a nurse. . .

    As I’ve been dealing with this terrible situation with my rheumatologist, I’ve been thinking a lot about the things we deal with in having chronic illness: the constant changes in our health status, the difficulties in finding appropriate care, the daily pain, the trauma related to our illnesses as well as things that have happened… Read more

  • honoring the memory of erin gilmer – and considering some of my most difficult days at the hands of the medical community as well. (we must do better for those in chronic pain.)

    As I wrote in my previous post, my rheumatologist had to take unexpected medical leave and cancelled all of his appointments suddenly – which he could not help – but he left WITHOUT providing another physician to cover for him. As my medications ran out from what was to have been my June 29th appointment,… Read more

  • chronic pain, being treated like garbage as a patient, and Hell’s own flare on the horizon. . .

    While I’m generally a pretty positive spoonie – and a cooperative patient as well – being treated like hot garbage by my rheumatologist’s office while he is emergently off without anyone covering him – FOR SIX WEEKS – leaving all of his patients without our medications, sending me into a CRPS pain crisis with the… Read more