The Girl With Arthritis

I don't mind getting needles much. I'm not scared of needles. I don't make a big deal about the little pain. I don't even loathe them at all. This isn't because I get blood tests somewhat often. This isn't because I give myself Enbrel shots twice a week. This isn't even because the pain of arthritis will always exceed a little poke. It's because of a boy with a lovely smile. A few months ago I was waiting in paediatric phlebotomy to have a blood test. The waiting room was empty when a woman pushing a little boy in a pram came in. The pram was packed with all sorts of things a mum would need on a busy day, but what was different was that there was medical equipment as well. I looked at the boy and despite being obviously ill, he wore a large smile. His mum was quite stressed out- having had a long day- and we got into a chat. She told me she really wasn't looking forward to her son's blood test. Not just because she couldn't bare to hear...

In this post, I talk about a very hard time after I was diagnosed with arthritis. I share this because I think it's important for others to know that this is a hard disease. For the longest time I felt weak and that I was the only one weak enough to feel this way. But I know now that that is far from the truth: Many people feel this way and it's because they are strong. I know I'm not the first when I say 'I don't want to be alone in this disease.' I don't think anyone has ever said, 'I want to fight this alone,' and actually meant it. It's an ongoing thing that never seems to end, with surprises at every corner. I couldn't go on if it weren't for the wonderful people behind me. I know that for a fact because there was a point when I had almost no one. I did it almost alone for a long time. I had my mum, and she had me. Even then, sometimes there was a wall of fatigue between us. I was newly diagnosed and was taking methotrexate. It ...

Oh the dreaded 'W' position. A way of sitting that has scared parents, doctors and teachers for generations. Children have found it comfortable whilst the adults around them shift and squirm. What's so big about sitting W? From what  I understand, sitting W puts stress on the knees, ankles and hips and is typically easier for some children because it requires less trunk strength. It also provides more area to spread weight, making it easier for children with less body strength to sit up. At the same time, it forces the hips to swing out in an unnatural position. There have been cases of hip dislocation and other injury resulting from it, in fact I even had a cousin who's knee popped out after sitting in the W position all day at school. I was a W sitter. I figured out how comfortable it was when I was about two or three years old. I only stopped when I was about ten years old after a doctor yelled at me to stop. It was the most comfortable for me. I didn't have ...

I remember being about three years old and announcing that when I grew up, I wanted to be a doctor. Even as a young child, I thought medicine was absolutely fascinating. Though my title changed from doctor to nurse, I loved the idea of caring for people. I wasn't interested in anatomy as much as I was interested in treatments and procedures. In fact, at the age of ten I could preform virtual heart surgery in forty seconds flat, tell you what IV and PICC stand for (intravenous and peripherally inserted central catheter- I never forgot), and I read medical journals all the time. It was adorable. Also, I thought hospitals were cool. I still think they are. I always knew I was sick- we didn't have a name for it, but pain doesn't happen for no reason. I liked the idea that I would make sure no one would walk around knowing their sick but getting no answers. I wanted to be that miracle nurse or doctor who never gave up and let their patients suffer. When I was eleven and going ...