Is this the mark of True Dedication?
...or am I just basically insane? (as think I might be right now)

I'm in the middle of an arthritis attack. It's kinda scary. My right elbow, my entire right forearm, into my fingers and thumb, are just screaming out at me as I type this. Is it gout, in which case the blood carries the gout crystals around to "dump" in various joints of the body? Is it osteoarthritis? I have been formally diagnosed with that as well as gout. For a while, I'll be okay, and then I'll wake up one morning with inflammation in a joint. Could be the big toe...or the left thumb...or the right shoulder...or the left hip...and even with meds, it takes a minimum of two weeks for the pain to subside. Not go away; just subside.

I have struggled with increasing arthritis for years. I am only 51. I've had symptoms for at least 20 years. This is no way to live. I'm going to the doctor Friday. Thru him, I'll hopefully make connections with a good rheumatologist. I'm not getting any better. While at the doctor, I'm also going to get a referral for a "back doctor". Due either to arthritis, or general wear and tear, possibly aggravated by the running I used to do, I have bone spurs on my lower back vertebrae. Just lately, if I stand more than 15 minutes or bend wrong, I have sharp debilitating pain. Will I need back surgery? Can the doctor "shave off" the bone spurs? Will I need a "disc fusion"?

So that's why this post is short tonite. My right forearm, every time I lift it from the keyboard, just screams bloody murder at me. I have some meds on hand; I'd better take 'em. This blog is often a reflection of things going on inside of my brain. Tonite, it is a summation of what's happening in my body. I'm at the place where just about "anything" would be less painful at this point. Desperation is the mother of invention, after all. So I'm about to relinquish myself to the medical community. Now, THAT'S a scary thought. I can't help but think of the "AFLAC" duck..."quack, quack, quack."

So I'll close now, but before I do, here's a picture of a location in the upper St. Maries area, rendered about 1910 or thereabouts:



...hopefully, if I can hang on and get thru all of this, I, too, will be sitting on top of the world. My first appointment is Friday. This should be interesting. Maybe I'm being too melodramatic and self-pitying here. Could be. But at least it's a short post, right?
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I will now go take my meds, sit in the La-Z-boy, and whimper. Anyone got some cheese to go with my "whine"?