erosive osteoarthritis

if that isn't painful, what  is?

my fingers have been painful for a while and the doctor usually blew me off but he finally took me seriously and ran  some tests.  he  was perplexed by the results and referred me to a rheumatologist. the x-rays showed mangled fingers etc that looked like rheumatoid arthritis  but i  tested negative  for  the r.a. markers and that's what stumped my family doctor.

the rheumatologist asked me countless  questions, then his old nurse asked me more questions and they said they would get back to me. the next time he asked me more questions and he seemed to know more about me than i knew myself. he had my complete family history at this fingertips. ain't technology wonderful. the result  was a diagnosis of erosive osteoarthritis. a good news,  bad news diagnosis.

it's better than rheumatoid  arthritis  but a lot worse than other forms of arthritis.  i didn't  pay much attention after he told me that  i didn't have  rheumatoid arthritis because i was happy that my immune  system  wasn't running amok. but the next day i read all about erosive osteoarthritis and got a little bummed out. it looks like my hands will be pretty fucked in 5 years.

my fingers are very sore and if i do too much work or lifting, the pain lasts all day and i get wonderful streams of pain going up my arms. the doctor asked me how  much tylenol/advil i was taking  and happily told me  not to worry, i could up my dosage a few times before thinking about other options.

i was bummed out for about a day but luckily i decided to shift  realities. my new reality will  feature the  biggest tv i can  fit  into the bat cave and an upgraded killer sound system. i'll also do a lot of fishing.

trying times

we live in trying times and unfortunately there are some things in life that can't be fixed by shifting realities. last year i bought some expensive weed seeds, 6 seeds for $70, and i wasted 3 seeds before figuring out the correct procedure.  basically it was a total  failure, not only did i blow money on  seeds, i also bought grow lights, fertilizer and assorted other accessories. but i still had 2 seeds and the plan was to grow a mighty weed tree this summer.

i got a seed to grow and nurtured  it for 2 months waiting for the spring weather but disaster struck. my 4 legged partner in crime decided to have a weed salad and i came home to charlie brown's christmas  tree. the plant isn't dead but it's on life support in my basement ICU.

and this morning reality bit me in the arse again.  a few months ago i had the drive train replaced in an old kona lava dome i bought last summer after having another old classic kona bike stolen. as  i was riding home this morning my rear brakes started acting up and the only thing i could do was disconnect the brake cable in order to ride it home.  once i got home and put on some strong reading glasses, i discovered the problem, my rim blew out.  it's a real let down because it had a brand new cassette attached to the rim  with the new drive train.  the smart move would be to dump the bike and buy a new one but i love old classic konas so it will be a tough  decision.