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...
Since my last visit to the board. Back in the summer I had six lymph nodes removed from the side effect of taking Humara. Came through that OK and was doing fine for a few months.
In Sept my wife and I thought since I was feeling pretty good, we would take a little road trip. No where in particular, just get in the car and head in one of four directions. We chose south east towards Charleston, South Carolina. I was still having days with a lot of pain but the prednisone and pain pills pretty much took care of that. From Charleston we headed up the coast to Myrtle Beach and got a condo for 4 nights on the beach and close to the boardwalk. Beautiful weather, nice condo, couldn't ask for any better. It turned cool the last day we were there and rained bad that evening as we featured out to dinner.
The next morning after loading up the car and getting coffee and a roll at a coffee shop up the street, I begin to have a small cough and chucked it off to the rain and cool breeze causing my RA and COPD to flair. I had just been bragging to my wife few weeks earlier how I have lucked out and not had bronchitis for some time, so figuring thats what it was, we headed home because having it many times, I knew it only gets worse within a day or so. It took us to days to drive 600 miles because of the RA pain and the coughing. I can't drive long distance like I used to so we were constantly changing drivers every couple hours.
By the time we got home I thought I was in full blown bronchitis, so I had my wife take me urgent care where the doctor told me without doing an X-ray that she confirmed what we both had thought I had and sent me home with meds. The next day, it kept getting worse and about six that evening I told my wife I was going going to bed because I couldn't breath very well and I thought resting would help. She wasn't having that and said if you can't breath you're going to the hospital. We got there and they did blood work, took X-rays and put me on a breathing treatment while waiting for results of those test.
About an hour later, a doctor came in and turned on the computer and in not so many words showed me my X-rays and pointing towards an area in my lungs that suppose to be black that was all white. You have a large mass sir and I've seen enough of these that I can tell you that you have Cancer. My wife and I were both numb and neither of us said a word. I think we were in shock. I was admitted right away and spent eight days there and was started right away on Chemotherapy. The fist round made me really sick so after beiing released my wife and I went to her dads house so I could be with someone while she went to work. We stayed there two months. While there, I lost so much weight and was weak that I went outside one evening to get some air and fell. I busted my face all up and broke some small bones around my tailbone and lower back.
I've since had four more rounds of Chemo and fifty six rounds of radiation with four more to go. Well, you'd think I would have had enough? Wrong, two weeks ago while walking to the office from the parking lot, I got real short of breath and my heart felt like it was coming out of my chest. I made it inside the door and fell into a chair. They got a doctor real fast and told my wife to get me to the hosptial right away. it was right next door and we told them we could get faster than calling an ambulance. I was taken right back where an EKG showed I was having a full blown heart attack right then. I barely had time to give my wife a kiss before I was rushed to OR. I had a 99% blockage in the main artery.....(The Widow Maker) The doctor who did the surgery told me had I been home, I never would have survived.
Also, I forget to tell you that had they not caught the cancer when they did, I would have been gone by Christmas. That's how fast growing this type of cancer is. They told me I have 16-18 months if I dont respond well to the treatments and up to 5 years if I do respond.
We've come to grips with it and our faith in God has given us a good attitude and we know either was it goes, I win. I win if I beat the cancer and if I don't, I win because I''ll be the first of us to be in heaven...If you got this far in this post thanks for reading and if you a person of faith, please put up on your prayer list, My wife as the caretaker is having just as hard of time going through this as I am so make sure you add her as well...
Thanks for taking the time to read this and may God Bless each and everyone of you and your families...
God Bless!!
Gary& Debbie
In Sept my wife and I thought since I was feeling pretty good, we would take a little road trip. No where in particular, just get in the car and head in one of four directions. We chose south east towards Charleston, South Carolina. I was still having days with a lot of pain but the prednisone and pain pills pretty much took care of that. From Charleston we headed up the coast to Myrtle Beach and got a condo for 4 nights on the beach and close to the boardwalk. Beautiful weather, nice condo, couldn't ask for any better. It turned cool the last day we were there and rained bad that evening as we featured out to dinner.
The next morning after loading up the car and getting coffee and a roll at a coffee shop up the street, I begin to have a small cough and chucked it off to the rain and cool breeze causing my RA and COPD to flair. I had just been bragging to my wife few weeks earlier how I have lucked out and not had bronchitis for some time, so figuring thats what it was, we headed home because having it many times, I knew it only gets worse within a day or so. It took us to days to drive 600 miles because of the RA pain and the coughing. I can't drive long distance like I used to so we were constantly changing drivers every couple hours.
By the time we got home I thought I was in full blown bronchitis, so I had my wife take me urgent care where the doctor told me without doing an X-ray that she confirmed what we both had thought I had and sent me home with meds. The next day, it kept getting worse and about six that evening I told my wife I was going going to bed because I couldn't breath very well and I thought resting would help. She wasn't having that and said if you can't breath you're going to the hospital. We got there and they did blood work, took X-rays and put me on a breathing treatment while waiting for results of those test.
About an hour later, a doctor came in and turned on the computer and in not so many words showed me my X-rays and pointing towards an area in my lungs that suppose to be black that was all white. You have a large mass sir and I've seen enough of these that I can tell you that you have Cancer. My wife and I were both numb and neither of us said a word. I think we were in shock. I was admitted right away and spent eight days there and was started right away on Chemotherapy. The fist round made me really sick so after beiing released my wife and I went to her dads house so I could be with someone while she went to work. We stayed there two months. While there, I lost so much weight and was weak that I went outside one evening to get some air and fell. I busted my face all up and broke some small bones around my tailbone and lower back.
I've since had four more rounds of Chemo and fifty six rounds of radiation with four more to go. Well, you'd think I would have had enough? Wrong, two weeks ago while walking to the office from the parking lot, I got real short of breath and my heart felt like it was coming out of my chest. I made it inside the door and fell into a chair. They got a doctor real fast and told my wife to get me to the hosptial right away. it was right next door and we told them we could get faster than calling an ambulance. I was taken right back where an EKG showed I was having a full blown heart attack right then. I barely had time to give my wife a kiss before I was rushed to OR. I had a 99% blockage in the main artery.....(The Widow Maker) The doctor who did the surgery told me had I been home, I never would have survived.
Also, I forget to tell you that had they not caught the cancer when they did, I would have been gone by Christmas. That's how fast growing this type of cancer is. They told me I have 16-18 months if I dont respond well to the treatments and up to 5 years if I do respond.
We've come to grips with it and our faith in God has given us a good attitude and we know either was it goes, I win. I win if I beat the cancer and if I don't, I win because I''ll be the first of us to be in heaven...If you got this far in this post thanks for reading and if you a person of faith, please put up on your prayer list, My wife as the caretaker is having just as hard of time going through this as I am so make sure you add her as well...
Thanks for taking the time to read this and may God Bless each and everyone of you and your families...
God Bless!!
Gary& Debbie
Juls