What is Fibro Feelings?

I started off the week in a mini flare-up with horrid back pain and pretty bad leg and hip pain too. I wanted to limit it as much as possible, so I took it easy for three days until I started feeling better. After that I just had to accomplish some holiday tasks! I managed to get some Christmas lights up, address some Christmas cards, change my computers’ wallpapers to Christmasy themes and even do a few hours of gift shopping. I DVRed the NBC Christmas music special that aired this week and plan to listen to it later on, as I write Christmas cards. If you’re planning on doing your shopping online, check out ShopAnthropy and have a portion of the sales go to the NFMACPA! The president and founder of ShopAnthropy actually has fibromyalgia. There is even an app, if you prefer to use that instead.

I went to the rheumatologist yesterday and since the cortisone didn’t really improve my hip pain he is sending me on to an orthopedist. He wants me to have an MRI of my hip done and then have the orthopedist create a plan. I appreciate the fact that my rheumatologist took the time to recommend a specific orthopedist that he believes is more conservative. By conservative I mean that this orthopedist isn’t into suggesting surgeries that may not really be needed. I was surprised that I was actually able to get an appointment with him nine days from now. My rheumatologist also gave me an NSAIDS to see if that helps more than the Aleve we’d previously tried. While we’re on the topic, I was very surprised to see that just in the past couple weeks 4 of my twitter friends have also had to get cortisone shots for various reasons.

I always like to try to schedule something fun or productive on the days I have doctor appointments, so after my visit with the rheumatologist I met a friend for lunch. We tried out a new place and I gave our server the challenge of looking at the ingredients to make sure there was no soy. By the third item I’d picked (a veggie and ham omelet) we were able to find a way to make it soy free. Whew! After lunch I stopped by our local Arthritis Foundation to discuss some Arthritis Walk ideas with them.

Do you like to do anything particular on doctor appointment days?

I love the look of old Christmas lights!*

*Image Credit: from www.flickr.com by Ody5iu5