Hand X-Rays Show the severe damage of Long Term Inflammation, Pseudo-gout & Chondrocalcinosis & More...,

After weeks of waiting due to mostly the COVID-19 Virus pandemic, I FINALLY got the copies of my Radiology Reports on the X-rays of my Left and Right Hands...

                                      So Here is the "NOT SO GREAT NEWS...

Well after (not very patiently awaiting) my Radiology reports on my hands.. as I figured the news is NOT great on my left hand...much like "gout" and "pseudo-gout" (which the pseudo-gout is one thing wrong".. I have chondrocalcinosis (calcification within cartilage) found which indicate long term inflammation..( I suspected for years I almost constantly had inflammation in the left hand especially between my joints in most of my fingers) from the RA and probably osteoarthritis also. That calcification is caused also by a build up of crystallization from certain minerals in the synovial fluid between the joints and I have a narrowing between most of them but the base of my thumb and my wrist under my thumb is moderate to severe from the X-rays and Exams by my PCP, Rheumy and Orthopedic surgeon. My Right hand also has much of the same, but it is not as bad as the left one is. Same thing the crystals that are causing the cartilage to calcify rather than be "like softer cartilage like your outer ear for example)" as it should be. There is no "treatment" really. I cannot take NSAID's other than aspirin, and Motrin, etc... the prescription doses is what would possibly help is anything. I am on all of the medications they use, unless we change and go over to another biologic.. I am on Enbrel right now.. along with Plaquenil, prednisone small daily dose, the Enbrel, Methotrexate (which if I do not get ill with an infection they can increase my dose on this), the BC Powder, Colcrys (which I found out can be increased also but it's the latest one so I am sure they are making sure I do not have any side effects first).. what concerns me, is that this may be also what is effecting my lower back and hips also. It does tend to go to those as well as the feet.. About the only thing that would possibly be the answer would be hand surgery..especially on the thumb, and where this cartilage is getting hard... This of course is chronic and will not get better, only worse as time goes by.. unless we have a miracle.. Right now the miracle needs to be for the COVID-19 virus. It was honestly a bit better than I expected.. I felt with the way my fingers are bending and trying to twist on my left hand it would show to be worse. Going to and already does.. make very hard for me to don anything with my hands and fingers..type, open anything, zip anything, you name it, it either is impossible for me to do or hurts like hell to do it. Until this Pandemic is cleared where I can see my PCP, Rheumy etc.. I will not have any answers, but at least now I DO know (THANKS TO MY PCP for sending me the reports and explaining them) :) HE is my lifeline... so all I can do is read more on this & pray all of this Pandemic clears up and PEOPLE can get well, stay well, and try to get back to some type of "good new normal".. although my stuff is certainly not good, right now at this moment, I am not ill with the other and praying I don't and everyone in our town, county, nation and world gets well.. I have to admit I was quite upset when I read these reports.. even though I knew what they would probably say... but life goes on and so shall I. My prayers to EVERYONE!!! Stay In, Stay Well, & let's keep HOPE ALIVE!!!

15 years ago My Dad passed away on that Easter Sunday... here is some of his story...

Today it was about this time from Seattle (I think) I was talking to Dad.. He "heard" me I know... about 10 minutes or so after we hung up, he took his last breath...almost like he was waiting on my phone call... It took me a LONG time to forgive myself for not going town from Seattle, But him going downhill so quickly I may have never made it... It was better now I know for me to go down like I did to be there with Mom and the kids... during the days after and for the funeral.. Dad sang in church often - and his favorite song was (the song below)

Dad passed away March 27th, 2005 on Easter Sunday. I had been on the phone with him (I think he KNEW it was me) waiting for me (I was in Seattle WA living when he suddenly got critically ill from a knee replacement surgery that went very WRONG! The best we know is he probably got an infection that spread to his brain, and/or maybe mini-strokes. He had Diabetes and wasn't great about taking care of what he ate and taking his medication. I still talk about Him often. Right now, with the Pandemic going on it so reminds me of what he lived through, he was born in 1923, but did remember the Great depression, some, even though he was very young. All of how they lived what they went through (one time when he was about 10 years old, he ate some "green pecans".. in the middle of the night woke up severely ill, so bad, that they thought he may die... back then there were no hospitals, and rarely doctors in the country.. but His Dad got up, took the wagon miles and miles to get the only doctor around...he brought him back, and Dad pulled through... but that was just one thing I remember when I see how things are today... they wore shoes till they could no longer patch them, then they got a new pair ordered from the Sears catalog, his Mom made bread or bisquits every morning... they had "lunch pails" that were much like a paint can round with lid on it... he often carried a bisquit and a piece of sausage for his lunch.. BUT back then EVERYONE was in the same shape.... no one thought about it being any different... he GRADUATED in a ONE ROOM school house that ALL AGES were in that same room, I think IT WAS A CLASS OF 12 SENIORS & HE WAS I BELIEVE Valedictorian or Salutatorian.. right now I can't recall which... this was the last time I saw Dad... It was in 2004... I flew back for Amanda's & Jimbo's (my daughter's) wedding.. and I drove 7 hours up from near Corpus to see bHim and my Mom before having to drive back to San Antonio to fly back out. Dad, there is not almost 1 day I don't think about you... things you taught me, and lessons that no school could ever teach, how to respect others, be honest and truthful, work for what you get, be kind, and so many other things that have stuck with me in my years... I Love you and I know you and Mom are Happy to be together....

"Pearly White City"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66AFGwKBiyw

Coronavirus, Climate Change, and the Environment - Harvard C-Change

03/20/2020 | Harvard C-CHANGEA Conversation on COVID-19 with Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Director of Harvard C-CHANGE

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/news/coronavirus-climate-change-and-the-environment/

Below are some of the most common questions we have been receiving in relation to the environment and coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19).

"This page will continue to be updated as new information arises. If you would like to talk to someone at our center about coronavirus, please email us at cchange-media@hsph.harvard.edu..."

(Lots of great information in this article.) And for further articles and information see my Daily Newspaper...

An Autoimmune Arthritic Systemic Life    by Rhia Steele

http://news.autoimmunearthriticsystemiclife.com/#/

Life Chronic Pain & Autoimmune Systemic Diseases & Dementia®

Coronavirus and update from the NIH

Monday, March 16, 2020

NIH clinical trial of investigational vaccine for COVID-19 begin

Study enrolling Seattle-based healthy adult volunteers

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-clinical-trial-investigational-vaccine-covid-19-begins

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*This study is for people who:

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*Other eligibility criteria also apply

Learn more! #sponsored #cureclick

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Specialists-A WASTE OF TIME & MONEY ON A SO-CALLED (NP) DERMATOLOGIST WHO KNEW NOTHING!

Going to a "Specialist", Getting NOTHING but MAD, when they do not know a thing about WHY you were sent! When My Rheumatologist (NP) & My PCP BOTH already had agreed I had "probable Psoriatic Arthritis"

I've been "waxing and waning" at least 4 months, maybe more at this "sudden acute break-out" that started on the outside of my right ear, sudden big "flakes" on my scalp (NEVER HAD that before at all", then the top part of my upper chest, and my upper shoulders, a spot over my ears, and one on my nose, then on the side of my face... and a bit on my right wrist... ALL APPEARED.. they are round, at the time very, very "flaky, thick" almost as if it had been a sore that took a long time to heal. But, no itching, looking horrible, and no sign of getting better, just every one of them flaked every day... I tried everything I could think of, yet nothing seemed to be helping.

I did my own "research" and found with my other Autoimmune issues, the RA, Lupus, Sjogren's, Raynaud's etc... and my joints getting worse with stiffness, pain, beginning to "twist and turn" all of my knuckles on both hands swollen, I felt it could be Psoriatic Arthritis". 

I had seen both the PCP & the Rheumatologist (NP) BUT this was after 3 months of them beginning to heal. They could still see it on my scalp, and how it flaked off a few places, BUT OF COURSE they had began to look a bit better. As always, about the time you begin to get well, & go to the doctor so then they cannot get a good idea. 

BUT, everywhere I had one, a round white scar almost with a bit of a sunken spot in it developed. Plus even now I still have a couple in my ear.

So, after waiting weeks, getting into a "Dermatologist" & try to avoid Dallas, I found one closer. I go yesterday, & before I went I called & asked if there were any "precautions" they were taking, other than the normal ones for the Coronavirus. Well, the lady on the phone about half acted as if she didn't even know what I was talking about. Then she said, "we are going by what the authorities are saying. So, still a bit hesitant with all of my other issues (even the pacemaker, it's been there 7 months but it can be like the autoimmune illnesses, a complication, even with the flu etc. I always am very cautious during the flu season. 

So, I go into the building, NO HAND SANITIZER, NO WIPES, NOTHING... not at the door, at the lobby EVEN NONE IN THE RESTROOM! Well, by now I was a bit nervous. Of course I had my own, so I put some on, after washing my hands, and & went to find their office. Again, I go in the office, NO HAND SANITIZER, WIPES AND EVEN NO KLEENEX!!! NOW I was REALLY getting to the point I wondered if they took "any" precautions. There was NONE in the rooms, and other than a very small "posting" you could barely read on the wall in the waiting room, NOTHING about it! They called me in, the nurse NEVER asked about a fever, if I had been exposed possibly, or had been out of the country. Plus again NO HAND SANITIZER, NO TISSUES, NO SIGNS POSTED, NOTHING. SO, that was bad enough, then she was an hour late!! And she "barely" looked at anything I was trying to show her, or listen to what I was saying. And just said, "I don't think it is psoriasis"and I asked what about these white round "scars" left? She had NO answer... for one thing they are ugly & with spring and summer coming it is bad enough with the scars I have due to surgeries. So, she basically, told me the same thing I knew, about lotions, what to use etc.. and said "if I have some that come up she can see "better"then call & come back. 

By this time I was fuming and disgusted, and she even tried to shake my hand! I almost walked out without paying the co-pay I was sob freaking peeved! I left there upset in tears, ruined my day, when I could have been home working on my lawn, a waste of gas and money for a co-pay I should really not have owed. I paid it, hurried out, used my hand sanitizer, then went to the restroom and washed my hand... & the closer I got home, the more upset I got.... I wished I would have taken pics when the places were so bad... so, at the last I asked her "would Enbrel be a medication they MIGHT USE TO HELP THIS?"  SHE SAID "YES"... one of them & there are several others out they use for it. So, I said well I went back on my Enbrel about 4 to 5 weeks ago. So, I told her that, & she said well let's "hope", that will help. (So all of the paperwork I filled out over the previous weekend, along with medications, illnesses, surgeries, whom my doctors were etc... she NEVER even looked to see I was on Enbrel, Prednisone, Plaquenil, & Methotrexate.. because those 3 are the older ones they use... NEVER, NEVER, EVER WILL I GO BACK NOR RECOMMEND THAT OFFICE TO ANYONE! I have had a doctor or two really upset me over the years, but this one really "did not know her rear from a whole in the ground"....

Coronavirus & Some Updates... CDC, WHO etc...

Coronavirus (COVID-19) & some Key Facts for now  of course they update quickly!

I had not posted much on the Virus just due to all of the "stuff" going around. No one wants to have the illness, BUT we do not want to PANIC either.

So, here are a couple of links from "trusted" sources" I Hope! bThe CDC, WHO, NIH, & some of the Pharma Companies trying to get medications out that work!


https://www.biospace.com/article/biopharma-industry-news-update-on-the-novel-coronavirus/


https://www.biospace.com/article/regeneron-and-sanofi-aim-a-rheumatoid-arthritis-drug-at-coronavirus/?TrackID=15&fbclid=IwAR1VaNxLYNv1kO4b3hbUermWDFnHlVrhWEui17_E6Du5ZfHlJMAHz96qjcs