Four years ago, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Looking back now, I experienced early signs but nothing that really required medical attention until that ONE morning when I rolled out of bed and put my right foot on the floor , it felt like I had jumped onto a box of thumb tacks.
Let me back up just a bit. You see, I am a runner. I have been a runner since I was 12. It is my therapy! It is my drug! It is who I am! When I don't run, I become a super villain a.k.a. "Super Bitch"! Trust me, I do!! So that dreadful morning was the beginning of a very long, very frustrating, journey for this runner who quickly became known as "Super Bitch"!
I wasn't diagnosed with RA right away. I mean, why would RA even come to into my mind? Right? So, with the throbbing pain radiating from my foot, my first call was to a podiatrist. After a short consultation, he ordered some x-rays and there I sat, for what seemed liked hours, waiting in a small room with clay models of feet and posters of anatomy illustrations peppering the walls for his return. "Slight stress fracture" he says as he enters the room. He puts the x-ray on the light board and he circles the bone where HE sees the fracture (although I am not sure I saw it) and that he also suspects the pain in the ball of my foot was due to Morton's Neuromas. He goes on to tell me that neuroma's begin gradually and often occur when wearing narrow-toed shoes or performing certain aggravating activities. blah. blah. blah. He gives me some treatment options and I opt for the injection therapy where he then injected my already "pissed off" foot with some cortisone to deaden the nerve. After I loosen the death grip on my foot, he puts on a medical boot and asks that I come back in 4 weeks for a re-check. Ok. No problem. I can do this. 4-weeks in a boot isn't a big deal right? Right?
I do as I'm told. Four weeks rolls around, I make the appointment and return to the office. X-ray shows that my foot is healed but why am I still having some throbbing on the ball of my foot? Another round of injections and he says to just take it easy, slowly get back into my running as to not re-injury myself and to give him a call if things aren't getting better.
A month or so pass and the pain will come and go. Some good days; some bad. A friend said she thought it sounded like I was having flare-ups. Arthritis? Could it be? So I make an appointment with a different podiatrist to get a second opinion. I explain my symptoms, what has been done thus far and that I don't seem to be any better now than I was when it all started. Blood tests, MRI and another x-ray is ordered.
I returned to the office to get my test results. "Good news and bad news" he says as he walks through the door. "Good news is we have found the reason you are having such pain, bad news is you have Rheumatoid Arthritis." He hands me a card with the name of a couple rheumatologists and wishes me luck. I thanked him for all he's done and as he walked out and shut the door, I remember I took in a deep breath, lowered my head into my hands and just sat there. Numb. I felt defeated at 37 years old. And so my story begins....
No comments:
Post a Comment