Guinea Pig: Day 5/Bring A Dish Of Guilt To Pass/Thank You

Got my rings on again today. I haven't been sleeping with them for fear that they may get stuck. That used to happen alot. They'd be so tight that it would wake me up and I'd be in the bathroom soaking my hand in ice-cold water and using soap to try to wrench them off. Not so smart, I know. Most of the swelling in my joints is gone. My left elbow is still swollen but not nearly as much. It's so close to being straight that I'm not sure if it had improved over the past day.

I bought the kids a slip-n-slid and they had it out today. It's pretty cool. It has 3 sections and it comes with 3 mini blow-up things that you can use to slide on. It's not as long as the slip-n-slides of my childhood but it also doesn't have the metal stakes to hold it down like mine did. Scott was playing on it with them while I was working in the garden. He told me to come and play but I opted out. I really wanted to but I have this fear of hurting myself. That still keeps me from doing things but maybe it's justified. I don't know.

Took Mackenzie to her first-floor school picnic today. It was great to be able to walk around the grass bare-foot and not limp. I brought a chair instead of a blanket but I didn't have to use it. I was comfy sitting on the ground. Glad I ate before I went and that I brought a yummy spinach salad with apple cider vinagrette. There wasn't much for a non-dairy, non-gluten me to eat. I was talking to a person there and my diet changes got brought up. I was telling her why I'm doing it and how there have been some improvements. She made the comment that since it was working then I didn't need meds and the "arthritis" would go away. I told her that RA isn't like that and I'll probably always have to be on meds. I guess I have to accept that I'll be explaining this for the rest of my life.

Part of me feels guilty for feeling so good these past few days. I feel like I shouldn't be talking about it because I'm goingto upset recent new friends I've made. Since I started this blog I've met a couple of really great people on Blogger. These girls and guy have been a wonderful source of support for me. They are people who I wish could be finding this same success that I may have found. They are wonderful people who are struggling daily with this rotten disease but still find the time and ability to reach out to others. I wish there was a way to thank them! All I can say is that whatever Phizer Corp. has stumbled upon is pretty damn good and I hope that it can help more people with RA, starting with my Blogger friends.