Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...
So I guess I was wondering as my toes and fingers and hips and shoulders and ankles and wrists freeze up and freefall into a landslide of mangled joints.....when do you quit and give up work? Are you still working? What gets you through? Do your start counting up how many days until Friday when it's only Monday? Do you sneak up to the staff lounge and take a cat nap on your lunch hour? Do you juggle your lab appointments and doctor's visits and make up time constantly to do this? Is your boss understanding or do you keep quiet?
Me, I feel like I am barely hanging on to my job most days. I am a valued employee and I know that half of my work likely equals a whole of my counterpart, but still....it exhausts me on a daily basis. I have my share of good days and bad days and in between days and days when I look out the window and wish that I could quit so I can still enjoy the days when my joints and body work right, rather than wasting my precious good days on a job that becomes less important than the need to maintain homeostasis with my health. C'est la vie, C'est la guerre. That's life. That's war.
Me, I feel like I am barely hanging on to my job most days. I am a valued employee and I know that half of my work likely equals a whole of my counterpart, but still....it exhausts me on a daily basis. I have my share of good days and bad days and in between days and days when I look out the window and wish that I could quit so I can still enjoy the days when my joints and body work right, rather than wasting my precious good days on a job that becomes less important than the need to maintain homeostasis with my health. C'est la vie, C'est la guerre. That's life. That's war.
I do count down to Friday as soon as Monday begins and pray I can make it through the week. I have god days and bad days and have to maneuver days and time off. I do have an FML in because sometimes I work a half day and leave, some mornings I come in late and some days I don't feel well so I don't come in at all and I am not penalized. My boss was the one who encouraged me to put in for an FML. I have lots of MD visits to juggle. Seems like I am in the doctor's office all the time sometimes. I need to work as long as possible so I have to keep trying to push on for monetary reasons and for healthcare coverage and to keep my mind active. Good luck with everything.
Our insurance is through my husbands job. I use to complain about how much we were paying for insurance - it is A LOT. But, now with this diagnoses, I have stopped complaining about that cost. They have been paying for all Dr visits, and medications without any problem. My Dr said he got approval for the Humira within an hour of submitting/faxing it to insurance.
When I start to feel really sorry for myself, I think of a good friend of mine. She has had diabetis since she was 4, completely lost the sight in one eye, and most of the other eye is gone because of that. When she was 22, a drunk driver hit the car she was in, killing both of her parents, and putting her in a wheelchair. She rarely, almost never complains, can find good in anything.