A Busy Bee with Achy Joints

It all started with a white water rafting trip in college. My friend knocked me out of the raft and in my scramble back to my place on my hands and knees (which you should never stand on your knees in a rubber bottom raft) we bellied out on a boulder and I smashed both my knees.

The aftermath

Fast forward a few years and I'm busy at work in the dietary department of a large nursing home and most days I'm out on the floor doing lots of walking. My poor smashed knees started to swell. With the swelling getting worse, I ended up at the orthopedic doctor and has to get surgery on the worst knee. But then I was back and back again. My doctor told me there was much more going on than just that white water rafting trip.

From achy joints to psoriatic arthritis diagnosis

He sent me off for my first trip to the rheumatologist at 23 years old. Within a few years, some x-rays, and a good look at my fingernails, I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. I struggled a lot through my 20s and early 30s with my knees and back. I tried Methotrexate, Kineret, steroids, Embrel and finally with Humira, I got some relief. I've always been an active person but dealing with pain every day, I started to look at things I could do without making everything hurt.

Writing as an outlet

One thing I found is writing. First short stories and then novels. My fingers could take me places that my creaky body couldn't. 15 published short stories and a couple novels later, I found that yes, things hurt, but it's just things hurting. My arthritis isn't what defines me. It is the thing I have to deal with while doing the things that define me.

Staying busy

23 years later, I'm still working full time in a very rewarding, but very physically challenging job working with physically and intellectually disabled adults, working with children in my Church, teaching 2nd graders about Jesus' love, and running a small online craft store and doing craft shows/sci-fi conventions with my happily geeky handcrafts.

I am not an arthritic person. I am a crazy busy lady, who just happens to also have arthritis!

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