Excited and waiting for tomorrow

Why am I excited? Well ridiculous as it seems, tomorrow instead of taking my MTX orally am taking it by injection and am so so hoping that all this sickness and nausea and just plain feeling miserable will go " poof" as if it were a cloud of fairy dust. Not that I know what a cloud of fairy dust looks like you know but we all can use our imagination.

Allow me to have a pity party for a few minutes, everything hurts worse than a few weeks ago, the pain is more vicious and tonight I have been awake since about 2am, now after five and need to get up in two hours for work, may have to call in sick for the first time, am simply exhausted. I shared an incident with a new friend today and wanted to share. I have read that RA causes isolation and for the first time I realised how all to easy that would be, went to a meeting, shook hands with the five people there, and how my hand screamed at me to stop- they all have firm hand shakes as I used to have, and with each successive one I could feel my smile beginning to falter.

At the end of the meeting I felt so rude and so bad because I simply waved them all adieu and then declined lunch as is our usual routine. All I wanted was pain killers, something to take away the nausea and my bed. I so missed the lunch, so much is chatted about and is always a good release after the tensions of a quarterly meeting with customers.

So now I need to find a way to deal with that, not sure how and really is probably too early in the process to even think about however I am now aware and will be watching .

Ok pity party over..... Central heating is working!!!!! No biggie you would think, well the boiler is 30 years old, well worn, just like myself, and have been thinking about replacing for a little while..... Three quotes in and decision made, guess what, the boiler goes and up dies, well not quite but close ........my son gave it some gentle hugs and helped it along, still think my idea was better which was to hit it with a hammer. So for the past five days i have been sitting wrapped up with blankets watching TV at night and I have been just so so cold and so after my day at work I went and quietly spoke with the boiler, no hammer in sight, and pleaded my case and for it to continue giving me the service it has over the past 30 years for another week. A little while later I heard it kick on.....so everyone is forbidden to touch and will leave running 24/7 and do not care about the fuel bill. Do not believe my house has ever been this warm and at night too....

Gritter has just gone down the street- snow is a comin.

I hope all of you stay safe and warm this weekend and at least a we have a great excuse for not clearing the driveway!,

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Hi oh dear are you in the united statesd or uk?.. uk is due an artic blast friday.. think electric fires , blankets and hot water bottles are your best bet at the moment.

Good luck with the boiler three quotes give you a good idea of price good luck x

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Hi KatieC,

really enjoyed your blog & was wondering whether it would have a happy ending. Like me you are not above having a quiet chat with inanimate objects, unlike me you get a result - there could be money in that!

Do you think your cold house may have been exacerbating your RA? I'm sure it would make mine kick off. I seem to remember that you've not been on mtx that long (?) and hope that the nausea etc. is teething problems. I'm one of the people who rubs along with it very well indeed. I sometimes say I've never had side effects but think I probably did feel nauseous when I started on it. Still take tablets but injectable mtx gets a good press on here so hope it makes a big difference to you.

As for the awkwardness of not being able to interact like you used to, well, having RA is the reality and not really that uncommon. And I tend to think that 'other people' need to be gently (and charmingly if you can be bothered) informed of that reality so that you can live your life and do your work without embarrassment. Maybe identify say 4 or 5 key people who get around & are sensible, communicative types and explain that multiple handshakes actually hurt, that at the moment you have enough energy for work but not necessarily for the jollies etc. & then leave them to spread the word. But don't feel bad because working when you have RA, let alone being able to revive boilers with a few words, is pretty amazing really & hopefully some people will understand.

Luce xx

[shirlthegirl]

Hi Katiec i also enjoyed reading your blog, I am so glad that you have heating now with this weather, I also wish that the injections works for you and give you the pain relief you deserve..

Love Shirley xx

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I think and hope you will be proved right in your excitement Katie - injectable MTX has certainly worked wonders for me. I am getting a slight increase in post MTX nausea but its not nearly as prolonged or as severe as the oral stuff gave me and best of all its brought down my ESR from mid fifties where it was lowering to on 17.5 tablets down to 26 just over a week ago. So good luck - I think the wonderful Luce has expressed my admiration about your words with your boiler to perfection. My 20 year old son phoned to ask what to do last night because his 2 year old boiler is leaking down in Edinburgh, not for the first time either, so age and efficiency are not necessarily synonymous. Long may your kindly one shine on. Tilda x

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Hi everyone- thank you for your comments. Luce- I really like your idea about letting a few key people know and take it from there- thank you it makes sense.

I also need to share what a great day I have had, well for at least four hours did not feel sick, no not one little hiccup- and did I feel good. Got the basics of my presentation put on paper, doing it Tuesday- an hour long and i was only asked yesterday! so am really pleased with that achievement

Walked along to the local store and bought bacon and chocolate, obv. not to have together but suddenly food tasted good, even the stale cereal I found at the back of the cupboard when scouring for a tasty food to eat as I was suddenly hungry too. So not sure if Folic acid 10mgs or Cyclazine or a mixture of both, whatever it has been it worked for a few precious hours and returned the smile to my face

Ok guess you all want the lowdown on the boiler.....it is still working!!! Gently and quietly pushing hot water into the radiators- have been in and thanked it- really need to stop talking to things that cannot answer me back

Summer I am most definitely in the UK- Scotland

Luce- am liking the money idea of talking with inanimate objects- will get my thinking cap on. I only started my treatment on 21 December and reacted almost immediately so that is why injection is now being tried as obviously the dosage needs to be increased in two weeks and if I am not tolerating the minimum then we have to find a way or rethink the whole plan.

Tilda- think I may keep my boiler for sentimental reasons- can see it in the garage with a medal for long and loyal service. My daughter is also in Edinburgh in fact I am cat sitting through there this weekend so am hoping the snow is not too bad. I live on the top of a hill so we always get worse than the main town, a mile away, suppose like many rural villages

Actually exhausted now and counting the hours till bedtime- 2.5 by my reckoning- have a great evening everyone and special thanks to all of you

Katie xxx