The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

First off...any form of arthur is pretty ugly. I always thought it was just an ache or pain from growing old. I never knew what an auto immune disease was. Todd's brother has MS and his aunt had Lupus. There has to be an auto immune gene somehow connecting all of it. While Todd was stationed in Korea in '85 he came down with the flu during a football injury to his knee. Arthritis set into the knee and I feel this is where his immune system went haywire. We didn't know he had arthur for several years. We thought he has a knee problem from the injury. Three knee surgeries later we found out it was arthur. Todd was diagnosed at 29...15 years ago. Most meds never helped him and he always had bad side effects. He just went off methotrexate. It was his second time trying it and he felt like he had the flu for 2 days following his dosage. And tired is an understatement. He is very stubborn..imagine that. I hear metho helps a lot of people.

He takes Aleve and it really helps with pain. He also takes prednisone short term when he needs a boost or relief from a flair up. Enbrel was his miracle drug. It stopped the progression for 5 years and then his skin started to react to it for some odd reason and he had several staph infections and they took him off it. Dam...It was a good five years though!! We have Arava here for him to try but the monthly bloodwork bills could be hazardous. Todd just lost his job. (very long story..would require a private e-mail) So, the whole insurance thing is a problem now. So for now he is holding off. We hope he finds a job with insurance. I kept the eye and dental through COBRA thank goodness but the medical was so expensive.

Ask away if we can help in any way. My e-mail is tee65tjj@hotmail.com if you want to chat in detail. I am online more than I care to admit. My laptop is my best friend and entertainment. My instant messenger name is tee65tjj on aol, msn, and yahoo messengers too!