Wednesday, April 1, 2015

1 year old and a shoulder replacement...

Our little family
I can't believe my baby girl is already and year old! She's walking, slowly but steadily and babbles 24/7! She still adores Jimmy and loves playing with him but also loves her alone time with her books. She's a crazy little girl and she keeps us busy but she makes us smile and laugh through all of it. I'm so incredibly proud to be her Mama!

Jimmy's doing well, he'll be two and a half this month which is mind-boggling to me! He's an amazing little guy and still such a love-bug. Everyone warns you about the Terrible Twos but so far, he's minor. He fusses about eating but only about having to eat. He'll eat anything you give him, even his favorite, broccoli but he'll take forever to do it or sometimes whine that its on the wrong plate or that you gave him a spoon instead of a fork. Random weird stuff...just because he's 2. He still has trouble sharing some days but Time Out has been a lifesaver and he still wants to be treated like a baby from time to time but he's starting to realize that babies don't have as much fun as big boys.

And then there's me. Ugh. I've been taking Enbrel for almost a year I think and I've had enough of it. It makes me feel better...less stiffness and pain but I hardly ever take it! I started having problems, too many infections and colds, so my Rheumy recommended doing my injections every 2 weeks instead of every week. Started out well and then the kids came down with Croup. I ended up with some form of it and I had to stop taking my Enbrel again. When I finally felt better, I did my injection and a week later I came down with a sinus infection, so I stopped my Enbrel again. Now I've been 2 weeks without an injection, still have a sinus infection and just started my second round of antibiotics which means no Enbrel for at least another 2 weeks. And this is the cycle I've been on since I started taking Enbrel last year. So as grateful as I am that my counts have come down, It's just not worth it if I'm sick more than I'm well. I meet with my Rheumy next month, so I'm thinking we'll just continue with my NSAID's and steer clear of anything else for a bit.

I started having a lot of shoulder pain last month, this time in my right shoulder and just found out yesterday that I tore a muscle(s) in my shoulder and that a total replacement is in my near future. Not the diagnosis I was hoping for, especially with two little ones to look after but that's the joys of having joints like a 90 year old. The specialist I met with wants to consult with a couple of other surgeons before we make any plans but he's pretty confident that they'll agree with him. I'm pretty confident they will too. I have to take it easy, stop lifting heavy objects (mostly my kids) and let my muscle(s) mend as much as possible and then in a few weeks we'll try a cortisone shot. My doctor is hoping that my Enbrel will wear out by then and my chance of infection with the shot will be a little lower. If all goes well, he's figuring we'll wait for the muscle(s) to mend, try physical therapy to get as much range of motion as possible and then surgery. I lost a lot of mobility when I had my left shoulder replaced, so I think they want to keep my right moving as much as possible before they do anything. I'm praying for the same. Anxiety set in with the idea of having another replacement but what can you do. It has to be done and the sooner the better.

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