You Have GOT To Be Kidding Me!!!

Well, I was up at 3:30am this morning!

Blake was beginning to experience the onset of some pretty severe joint pain in his ankles..... just like last time, other than it was his knees before.

He also was feeling achy in his wrists and a bit in his upper arms.

We applied warm compresses on his ankles, but the pain just continued to get worse.

Before the pain got out of control like it did earlier in May, I decided to run him to Picton Emerg and get the morphine started, so as to keep the pain at bay.

As we arrived at Emerg, his pain level on a scale from 1 to 10 was at a 10 or 11. Within twenty minutes, it was down to a 3 or 4 and then diminished to just being achy. That was without any medication at the hospital.

The Resident Doctor appeared and I knew she looked familiar. Then she reminded me of where we had met. Back in May when he had this severe joint pain problem and Blake was transferred by ambulance to Kingston, one of the Resident Doctors at KGH was named Dr. Gustein. And lo and behold, look who is doing a four-month residency here in Metropolitan Picton..... Dr. Gustein.

It was soooo nice to not have to re-explain absolutely everything yet once again, as she quite remembered Blake's situation. At this point it was about 5am. She suggested we wait for a while to ensure the pain stayed minimal. She encouraged Blake to just sleep for a while and then see the Senior Doctor when he came in at 7am.

Blake had a lovely sleep all stretched out on that gurney.

I slept in the chair.

The hard chair.

With no arms on the side of the chair.

With Blake's fleece jacket and my fleece jacket rolled up into a ball to use as my pillow.

There was an extra flannel blanket laying on the gurney that Blake didn't use, so I covered myself up (because it was FREEZING in there!) and I lay my head on my "pillows" and nodded off.

[a-hem] I uncomfortably nodded off.

Now you'll recall I didn't get any sleep the night before because of Jon tossing and turning. See yesterday's post for twin-bed details!

I'm thinking on looking into a small portable cot. :o)

So at 7:30am Doctor Gustein came in and said that Dr. Beach suggested that, since Blake's pain had dissipated, we should make an appointment to see our own family physician to discuss seeing a Rheumatologist down the road.

I suggested that perhaps we just speak with our Gastroenterology team about this because we'll be seeing them next week (hopefully!) for Blake's next Remicade infusion. She said it was up to me.

I just think it's odd that twice Blake has experienced this and yet there are no patterns as far as medicines that he was taking during these attacks.

Last time he experienced this May 8th. He was not taking Remicade at that time. (His last dose of Remicade was March 2010). He had not started the Methotrexate at that time either.

This time he's not on Methotrexate anymore and he's had one dose of Remicade. If he was on the same med both times, I would consider that to be the link.

It's odd that he would have another viral infection. And why did the pain stop all of a sudden? It's been around 9 - 10 hours since he had the attack, and he's not experiencing any pain OR any aching now. What is going on???

There can be joint pain with Crohn's; however, the Rheumatologist checked this all out back on May 9th and felt it had nothing to do with Crohn's as well as not having anything to do with rheumatoid arthritis. So, we're kind of stumped at this point.

But I'm just thankful he's feeling better now. He's been fine since we returned home. He came home with an appetite and has been awake since we got here.

That's because he had a good sleep.

I didn't.

But it's not all about me now, IS it!

[grin] [wink]

So, we'll just continue on..... day by day. I've quoted this hymn before, but I'm gonna do it again... just part of the first verse:

Day by day and with each passing moment
Strength I find to meet my trials here.
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment
I've no cause for worry or for fear......

One day at a time is how we'll get through.

And for me today, it will be more like one nap at a time.

Gee, that sounds like a refreshing idea.

G'night!