Learning to live with arthritis

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I’m not even sure where to start with this post. It’s not a happy one. Not an easy one to write as I’m still having a lot of difficulties accepting that I have arthritis. But it’s time. And it is the reason for the lack of posts the last few weeks.

I don’t talk a lot about arthritis on my blog, until about a year I didn’t even know what had been causing the pain in my hands and feet for the last 7 years. I still don’t know what type of arthritis I have (though I suspect it’s psoriatic-arthritis). But it seems to be rapidly escalating and effecting every day life more and more. There is no cure, and no treatment until it’s determined which arthritis it is. I am currently take pain killers morning and night and fish oil supplements(yes, even though I’m a vegetarian – pain makes you try everything 🙂 ).

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At this stage the only things I can do is educate myself, try not to feel sorry for myself (so many are much worse off than I am), alter my expectations, lose weight (less weight on my feet can only help) and try an anti-inflammatory diet (basically a whole foods diet).

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In the last few weeks I’ve noticed my joints getting sore and stiff when gripping items – not good :-(. And this morning I had to remove my wedding rings as the swelling in my fingers was becoming unbearable. I’m really not in a great place emotionally at the moment. I miss walking my dogs, I miss being able to clean and organise the house whenever I want, I miss being free of pain and most of all I miss my expected future life. Thankfully I’m not normally a negative person or one to dwell on things beyond my control, so I know I will get past this feeling sorry for myself phase that I’m in right now.

Sorry to be such a downer. Just wanted to let you know what I’m up to and where I’m at. Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with a much happier day in my life post :-).

Valentine’s Day

Kevin and I aren’t big on Valentines but we’ve taken to having a special family dinner. And this year I even did a bit of decorating – not that you can buy very much in Australia.

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This year Amy wanted to make dinner, and cupcakes, so got started the day before….

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We all got a cupcake, and she took some for her friends at school. Each was individually designed. Very yummy too. Best vegan cupcakes yet.

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There were messages to each other…

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and I painted my nails in honor of the occasion….

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Just before the girls came home from dancing I set the table, including their gifts from Lush…

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then Amy finished off dinner. It’s not the prettiest photo because the sauce was on top the pasta and I wanted to show the heart shaped pasta she made :-).

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Hope you all had, or have, a wonderful Valentine’s Day.

Movie night ….. by the pool

A while back Kevin had the idea that we should watch movies while in the pool and quickly began collecting supplies. Last night we had our first poolside movie night.

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We had to wait till around 8.30pm so it was dark enough to see the screen. The plan had been to watch from in the pool but it was a little on the cool side. Only Amy was brave enough to start off in the pool.

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Ideally we’d have some pool floats so you don’t actually spend the whole time “in” the pool. Looks like we also need some more lounge chairs.

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We watched about half of Aladdin before the mozzies chased us indoors. It was definitely a fun event, we just need a few more supplies…. like citronella candles…and some popcorn!

The Birthday Boy

Poor Kevin had to go to work on his birthday but he made time, by sleeping in, to open his present – a pillow pet. He is so hard to buy for but was pretty happy with this. I’m now the only one who doesn’t have one :-(.

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After work, which we had to chase him home from, we had a nice family dinner.

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Followed by cake.

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And no, he didn’t really turn 10, but they were the only candles we had and Christy insisted we have some to blow out.

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Gotta love birthday cake….

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