Chrily- I live on the west central part of Fl. As a matter of fact I live just over a mile from the Gulf of Mexico. We didn't get more than 5 minutes of rain from the storm. Those poor people where it hit!
Angel- I am glad you didn't lose your new roof. That would have been awful. It is nice you are going to get the rest of the house finished.
Happy- We would have liked a little more rain from the storm. Most people from the northern areas love Fl. They go back a few months out of the year but never in the winter. They are just tired of the cold weather and the snow.
CCB- The gals are right .Find a good Dr. and get yourself healthy. You are young .
The guys are here to get rid of my termites. So I'll be back later...Joanne

Charlotte-Sound glad to hear your roof made it through the night. Did you get any sleep though? I wouldn't be able to with tornado watches and all. Have you been keeping in touch with your daughter? She was closer to the hurricane, wasn't she?

Joanne-I read the article in the paper today for the hurricane. The pictures were devastating. I can't begin to imagine what being in one is like. I'd be scared to death for sure.

CCB-I never even looked at your profile before. I didn't know you had a picture. You're a beautiful gal. I should put a pic on here sometime. I just hate photos of myself though. Paranoid....

Anne-I forgot you were moving and packing. Hopefullly you're almost done with that. Then of course, there's always the unpacking. YUCK! Hang in there...

Hi Barb! I know you're out there somewhere. How's your job going? Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Anyhow, the countdown is on. I only got 2 weeks left until my doctor appt. I need to give blood on Thursday again. I hate that part. I'll be interested in finding out what he wants to do with my feet. They still ache in the morning pretty good. Kind of sore during the day but not as bad once I get moving.

I gotta go. I need to forward the business phone to my MIL so I can get some errands done. Have a good day and I'll check back this evening.

~chris

Good day to all of you.

Charlotte - so glad that your new roof stayed where it was supposed. I hate Tornados, although I have only seen the damage from 2. Never heard of them in this area until the past 20 years. Now, we seem to be a Tornado zone! I suppose the adrenaline is carrying you through at the moment. It is me as well, but once I get moved and am able to relax a bit, I know I will CRASH!! That is the life of an FM'er.

Chris - hope all goes well for you. I have pain in both of me feet as well. It darn near kills me when I first get out of bed in the morning. Like walking on nails. Thankfully, it goes away as I get moving, except for my heel, where I do have a heel spur.

Joanne - I have no desire to leave here for weeks or months on end. I LIKE being home. I also like winter, just not the thought of it Most people from this area go to Arizona and people from Eastern Canada tend to go to Florida. Just wait until the Turk and Cacous Islands become part of Canada. That is where all the Canuks will go - infact many will probably move there - PERMANENTLY. It hasn't happened yet, but they have asked for the 3rd time to become part of Canada.

ccBeautiful - I went and had a look at your profile, after Angel Lover talked about your picture. I thought, where did she see a picture? Anyway, you look very nice.

Well ladies, I don't know about where you live, but FALL is here. The mornings and evenings are cool and the afternoons are beautifully warm. This is my favorite time of year, so I am enjoying every moment of it. I have to go and pack some more. Tomorrow is moving day!!!

Where did everybody go? I hope the hurricane didn't knock out your electric Angel..What has happened in N/O is so bad that maybe everybody has just gotten too down. I noticed that our thread has disappeared .
I need more motivation.. My exercise has just about gone. I haven't walked in2 weeks. My O/A has been bad and so has the intestinal problems been acting up. Hope you all feel better than I do...Joanne

Joanne, I'm here. I haven't seen any new post either but I check every day. I too have lost alot of my motivation. What caused it, I don't know. My feet are still aching. Next week is my doctor's appt. Hopefully we can figure out what to do with me.

I started school today. I've been on the computer for the better part of an hour getting my assignments written down so that I can start them. YIKES! My stress level is HIGH. I'll have to figure out a time to do all this so Nicole doesn't feel neglected and I can get done what needs to be done. Wish me luck.

I better be going. Laundry to do and a floor to mop and 4 chapters to read. And alot of homework to do.

~chris

Hello, I have been watching this board for a while and finally decided to drop a line.

I have had ra for over 30 years, now they tell me it may be gouty arthritis(which I have never heard of) because I have a very high sed rate and uric acid in my blood, but neg on the ra factor. I am a diabetic and have diabetic kidney disease too so I cannot help but wonder if the uric acid is from that. I am very tired of being tired all of the time and no matter how much I sleep I never feel rested and my joints are always aching. I am sure if I lose weight it will be easier on my joints so here I am trying to lose weight again but for me exercise can be a problem. Does anyone out there have similar problems? or suggestions.

Welcome Grammie.. It looks like you have the same amount of weight to lose as I lost. I am 72 and have severe O A. I find exercise hard too because of the pain. I walk. I found that the more I walked the easier it got. And the more weight I lost. I went to Weight Watchers and lost most of the weight and then to TOPS and lost 19 more. I still go to TOPS. They have a good support program. Which is what we all need who have a weight problem. I suggest getting a good physical and then a good weight loss program. South Beach diet is a good one too. Do whatever exercise you do in small doses untill you get stronger and then increase slowly.
Chrily- Are you taking your classes on the computer? My daughter got her masters on the computer. If you can manage your time that should be good for you as you have children.It is a little more expensive but when you count travel expenses it might average out.
Hey Angel. Hope you are well. I walked 2 days in a row to the beach. I was thinking about you while I was walking today..It was pretty hot today though. I got a lecture from my brother about walking in the heat...I gets really hard after awhile walking on the T/M for an hour. I told him I just had to get out of the house..
Have a good weekend everybody...Joanne

Welcome Grammie.. It looks like you have the same amount of weight to lose as I lost. I am 72 and have severe O A. I find exercise hard too because of the pain. I walk. I found that the more I walked the easier it got. And the more weight I lost. I went to Weight Watchers and lost most of the weight and then to TOPS and lost 19 more. I still go to TOPS. They have a good support program. Which is what we all need who have a weight problem. I suggest getting a good physical and then a good weight loss program. South Beach diet is a good one too. Do whatever exercise you do in small doses untill you get stronger and then increase slowly.
Chrily- Are you taking your classes on the computer? My daughter got her masters on the computer. If you can manage your time that should be good for you as you have children.It is a little more expensive but when you count travel expenses it might average out.
Hey Angel. Hope you are well. I walked 2 days in a row to the beach. I was thinking about you while I was walking today..It was pretty hot today though. I got a lecture from my brother about walking in the heat...I gets really hard after awhile walking on the T/M for an hour. I told him I just had to get out of the house..
Have a good weekend everybody...Joanne

Charlotte : Are you okay? What about your daughter? This Katrina situations has really been on my mind.

I haven't been around for a while, I've had a really rough couple of months. I started my new "old" job on Monday July 11. That Saturday I got a call that my mother had gotten sick at work (she worked part time at Kohl's department store) and needed me to come drive her home. She said she was just tired, and because she had been going non stop for the past couple of weeks we didn't think much about it. Sunday at church she said she still didn't feel good, and hearing her talk to someone else she said she had fallen a couple of times. I tried to talk her into letting me take her to the ER, but again she convinced me that she was just tired. The next day Monday 7/18 my sister went by to check on her and found she was still feeling bad and in fact couldn't walk well because her left side was not functioning well. We took her to the ER thinking she may have had a stroke. It turned out that she had 4 tumors in her brain and one of them was pressing on the part of the brain that controlled the movement of her left side. Further testing showed she also had tumors in her right kidney, her thryoid, her lungs and all the lymph nodes in her mid-line chest. The prognosis was about 6 months. They kept her in the hospital until Friday, and she responded really well to the medication they gave her. She came on on Friday, went to my nephew's Eagle scout ceremony on Saturday, out to eat that night, and said she felt fine. The following Wednesday she started radiation treatments on her brain. She had 15 treatments and ended them on a Tuesday. on Wed. we met with the oncologist and he said since she was doing so well, we would start chemo the next week. By doing well, she did not slow down for anything, she continued to do her normal things, go to church go shopping, etc she just was not allowed to drive, and she drove us crazy wanting to do that. The Friday after we were at the doctors on Wed, she went to play games with her friends from chuch and got home about 7:30 that night. The next day I ran into my sister and she was suprised that mom wasn't with me. Se said she had been trying to call her all morning and just assumed I had taken her to the grocery store. About noon, after I finished my errands I tried calling her and couldn't get her, so I went to her house and found her passed out in her chair. She had been there since she got home Friday night, because her half eatten sandwich was in her lap. We got her to the ER and after spending the afternoon there they said she had had a seizure and gave her a large dose of anti-seziure medication and sent us home. I spent the night with her and we had a rough night. Sunday after church my husband went and got dinner and brought over to her house and my sister and her family came to eat. When they got there she was in the middle of what we thought was another siezure, and we ended up back in the ER. This time they kept her. She had at least 2 more seizures while we were in the ER. She finally went to sleep just before she was moved to a regular room. She did not wake up for almost a week, then she was barely awake, and her speech was slurred, but we know she knew us and was trying to communicate with us. We were able to understand her enough to know what she was saying. On Thursday Sept 1, she left us to be with the Lord. Her funeral was last Saturday and this has been the hardest week of my life.

Keep me in your prayers, I don't know if it's the stress, or being over tired, or what but this week my pain from the SjS has been off the charts. I know that I've got to get back on my diet, and get back to exercising, but I can't seem to motivate myself, besides move myself. Then I think about all the people displaced by Katrina. I work for a group of Rheumatologists, and we had a call Friday for a lady from NO who is in Dallas, in pain and out of her meds, and it just really hit how many people are effected by this tragedy in ways we haven't even thought about.

Well, I guess I'm though with this downer post, and hopefully next one will not be as long in comming, and will be lighter!!

B arb.g

Barb, how sad you must be. It is sooooo hard to lose our Mom's and Dad's. I hope you will find peace, now that it is over. Sending you soft hugs.

Hello grammie - welcome to our thread. It is very hard to diet, never mind find the energy or the right kind of exercise to do. I don't have RA, but rather OA and FM. It seems to be a lethal combo when it comes to exercise.
Joanne gave you some good advice.

Hi Joanne - good for you, getting back into walking. Hope you are feeling better.

Chris - good luck with your studies. You are doing a home program, are you? That may be easier than going to classes. You can rest when you have to.

Angel - I sure wish you would check in. I hope that you were not affected by that hurricane, or anyone in your family. If you come on, just drop a couple of words to let us know you are ok. We worry, you know

i am now all moved in, but the weather has turned to Fall and it has been cold and wet. That = pain. Wish it would clear up, but doesn't look like it anytime soon. It was a rotten summer and now Fall isn't doing much better. I can HARDLY wait to see what winter will offer!!!

Angel must be busy. I hope she is ok.
Ageoldie- I am so sorry to hear about your mother. At least she did not linger for a long time. That is a difficult thing to go through.
Happy- I walked for 50 minutes today and almost made it to the beach when my hubby showed up with a drink and said "thats enough." It was really hot..I was not unhappy to say the least. We will see tomorrow how my ankles feel.
Chrily - How is it going..?I hope you are staying well.I guess Grammie didn't like my response. She hasn't come back.
**** Angel...Joanne

Barb, I am soo sorry to hear about your mother. My condolances to you and your family. How sad. You've been having a rought year. I'm sending you this ((hug)) and know that I'm thinking about you.

Joanne, how's the weather? We're getting down in temperature now. Fall is coming and then we'll have a chilly winter. Are your feet feeling any better? I went to the doctor today. Mine have been hurting too. The doctor isn't sure if its RA related or not. We're going to try an anti-inflammatory with my methotrexate to see if that helps. If not, then I get to do a prednisone taper. If that doesn't help...we get to rethink my treatment options, which in his mind would be remicade, enbrel, or humira. The only other thing wrong was that my white blood count was below normal. He's going to watch that one, but he's not too worried about it. I just have to do blood work every 2 months now instead of every 3.

Charlotte-I keep typing and deleting and typing. I must be getting tired. Every time I type your name it just doesn't look right to me. I hope your doing okay too. Seems so long since we've heard from you.

Anne-Did you get the packing and moving done yet? I'm sure you're a busy lady too.

Well for all who are interested in my schooling. I am soo busy. There is more to do than I expected. This week has been easier than last week though. I got an A on my first assignment in Intro to Business, and an A on my first assignment in Human Relations. YEAAAhhhh! Hopefully more grades like that to follow.

I better get to bed. I have work tomorrow and then running my fool head off afterwards.

~CHRIS

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Each day gets a little easier, but also a little harder, if that makes any sense...It's easier in that I do routine things and keep occupied, but harder when I have to do something that we used to do together for the first time. Like going to the health club. That was our special time together, and even though I know I NEED the exercise it's hard to do without her.

I'm beginning to worry about Charlotte, I even went to her website and left her a message asking her to come in here and check in.

Chris, I'm so glad you did so well on your assignments. Keep up the good work and hopefully it will get easier.

Grammie, are you still with us?

Joanne, Anne and everyone else, have a great day.