Training Log Archive: Yukon King

ice & elevation appear to be assoc. w no groaning, I like that...
Sunny & warm today (a summery 21 degrees!), then back down tomorrow to normal 10-12 degrees.
Now, the "pyramid" - it's a classic (older) way of thinking about arthritic medication, & this is my understanding -
first and broadest tier is analgesics just for pain, some of these also mushing up into the rather well-populated anti-inflammatory tier, which goes one step further in trying to reduce the inflammation of the joints & affected tissues. (like tylenol & opiates just treat pain, but ibuprofen treats pain & inflammation). This latter class is the NSAID's - non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, and those coxib med.s some of which are notable in the news for assoc. w heart attacks or sumthin are in this tier. Most arthritics spend alotta time fooling with these guys as a background to other treatments, and balancing their good effects against their harshness on stomach lining thus also chomping on a nice collection of tummy-protectors.
Just above these basic med.s are the DMARD's, disease modifiers, which are a funky collection of materials to say the least - anti-malarials, gold injections, older chemo's, and I think some older antibiotics to list just some - how did they figure some of these out? - gold injections?!! These guys slow the actual disease down, which is good. But they are harder to tolerate. Typically they trot these out pretty quick esp. for younger patients to try & slow the disease as much as possible. Sometimes corticosteroid injections are in this group, but they have a limited usage window, more like one or two injections "just to see".
Next are the really fun biologics, the BRM's - these are mostly genetically engineered molecules that take out very specific components of the inflammatory disease machinery, like "surgical precision". Very expensive, infused or injected. Only about 4 or 5 in existence.
After that, you are at the top of the pyramid - you can opt for surgery to repair certain joints if they get really gross (on a defined scale), & in fact that is getting better and better, the artificial joints are getting pretty good & long-lived, the procedures are getting very standard & minimally traumatic w good recovery times...
I'm messing around up in the top two tiers, but oddly I feel like I'm really strong & healthy & flexible & active compared to most arthritics, & in fact compared to some of my ("healthy") friends who spend all their time hunched over their computers. ha!

over to Taylor Park to work on our suntans, read, & watch dogs & airplanes. Met Buddy & Kelli on the way back, G played w Kelli til neither of them could run. Also train stn & some toddling downtown, & two trips to corner grocery.

weird groaning-aloud level of foot pain right when I get into bed the last two nights, lasts about 20 minutes. what's that all about? totally new. track it a bit? hmmm, NB some pain IS a message, see if this might be different? maybe ice viciously in the evening for a few days.
Husband indicates that there is a basic lack of understanding on AP re the visual subtleties of my log - so, for the record, the green is carefully chosen "chartreuse", to represent a spring meadow in sunshine; then the other colors again are carefully chosen & ordered to appear as various little bright blossoms upon the spring meadow at my whim. For example, right now I am feeling the urge to rassle the dog cuz of the lack of blue - motivation from no-where, won't Gypsy be surprised. The YDY appears most often (apart from the walking) & at the top, to act as the stamens on the various flowers or as its own flower. And my ongoing logging is like a leisurely stroll through the afore-mentioned meadow. (I modelled it somewhat on the original Mario Brothers game, but more restful) So now we all know. :)

C • colors 2

down the creekside more or less in the woods, across via Ledgestone to the park, hung out a bit, saw Lady, met Bao (too hot to play), and played w Whistler. Got really hot, headed home, met Bosco. Thai-influenced salmon chowder w cute baby potatoes, gai lan, maybe some fruit, & remaining pita & dips from yesterday. Eclectic menu. Very interesting news from immunologist, gonna start on another home-administration w FOUR needles. yowza.

forgot trip to train stn to go for Thai lunch w dad-in-law...

realized a few days ago that as stressful as it was to consider hip surgery & the whole wheelchair/ scooter thang, it was so worth it.
My Cunning Plan has worked!
The deal here is, to transfer from one population to another is really stressful & complex, say from athlete to, uh, permanently injured/seriously less able, from non-wheel-chair to wheelchair person, from non-cancer person to cancer survivor ...but, there are people who are in each of the latter populations who are really good at being that, and are d*mn glad & grateful to be there, ie not dead or totally paralyzed or whatever (the next population, heheheh). There are clubs & chat-groups & so on for ALL the latter populations well except the dead one, it's such a standard experience being, say, a wheelchair person. But, Becoming one is Hard - D & I got so upset while we were "trying on" me as a scooter person, it was so hard, & for years I had a line there, basically wheelchair was so shameful, impossible, & I'd rather die. But, earlier this week, I was looking at a lady in a scooter at the store, and I was like hey now that chair's cool I want THAT one.
Transfer complete. Now, if the time does come, most of the emotion has been worked thru, & we can get down to the practicalities more effectively, without all the distress being piled on top...
so, hummous, pita, tzatziki, & falafel for dinner, plus a huge stirfry & some mango slices. A mediterranean vegetarian extravaganza.

C • we're all on the road to so... 3

afternoon walk timed just after monsoon - down the first bit of stairmaster, thru the woods, back up the bikepath, met Dallice & Tiffy, Tiffy puked, home via the corner grocery; mail, visited garbage room to check recycling for toys (there werent any!?), finished the pita breads (am getting good at those!) teatime....

PM walk while D ran. Saw Sybil the Shepherd, ahahahha! & G tracked D back by scent to the apt, I think.

thought I heard swallows this morning while still in bed, looked out when I got up, and they ARE back! about 2 weeks delayed from last year.
Off downtown today to tour Richard's cute little retro boutique hotel/pensione that he is AGM for, & is in charge of remodelling, what a dream come true for him! (Also perhaps the cupcake store. Perhaps. Our mouths are regrettable designed by millennia of selection to accurately identify & adore all the really primo yums out there - fats, sugars, & proteins rank high tastewise, so we'd unerringly stuff the nut or two, the berry, & the bit of gazelle fat into our skinny, needy hunter-gatherer bodies & thus (perhaps) survive. Now it's a different story, & here I am drooling over the very idea of cupcakes, delectable but un-needed blobs of sweet & fat that they are...)
http://www.buchanhotel.com/
Finished the kimono, now I will start on taxes.

train station downtown, went & looked at the Mercury at Canada Place instead of visiting cupcake shop since I love cruise ships even more than cupcakes. Then afternoon walk over to Taylor park, played w/ Leo on the way home. Evening walk, met Shelly, Coalie, & Rockie.

upon reflection, I am pretty sure my rheumatologist is an imposter, either a plain ol' space alien just trying to make it on earth, a shamelessly vicious drug company rep, or a rather dreary & ignorant female version of the character L. DeCaprio played in catch Me if You Can - (1) doesnt know her meds, (2) doesn't bother to/can't re-read patient chart (what does she write on there & why? -"fuh-fuh-fuh... wombat...I love pickles..." - it sure doesn't trigger any memories of ever having seen me before for her) (3) doesn't know Basic Info about inflammation...and so on. I wonder how her other patients cope.

C • doc 2

down to parkway, fiddled around, met Kelli & Blue. Over to park, met Cassie & Lady. Ate biscuit, read mail, watched kids & airplanes & civic workers. Meandered reluctantly home. Heard wild geese! Tea. Disc Drive. Tofu marinated in soy sauce, sherry, & tons of black pepper; peppers, onion chunks, snow peas in hoisin prep. Huge fruit salad. Time to lose weight!

AM swim. hope this was not too much, felt absolutely great, getting really strong! Cute little girl swimming w her grampa, had a neat suit on w/ built-in flotation, styled like a shortie suit.

down stairmaster to Ledgestone, then the Drama Queen stepped on a bramble or something in some grass & screamed & flailed, so the Drama Queen Enabler picked up the Drama Queen & did some cardio intervals (or whatever) carrying 13% of her body-weight (well, 113%) most of the way back UP stairmaster. Then the Drama Queen felt better about things, so the walk continued along parkway & up the bikepath (Drama Queen having decided Never To Walk On Grass, Never). Met Bilbo, Whistler, Breeze, Blue, & Casper, who was also being carried but he only weighs two lb...
Then downtown on train to transfusion, quite tired afterwards.

did everything I could think of. really cleaned out alotta joint pain.

walk over to "the other park" with D & G which was really fun, cool, grey, almost drippy weather. No dogs to speak of, altho we did see an X-Terra & picked up a Super-Manky Ball, gah...