rheumannoyed

[rheumannoyed]

hi hello i have recently diagnosed osteoarthritis & I'm about to have meniscus repair surgery & have been told to 'expect a knee replacement inside of ten years'

how do you manage the social expectations tied up with it? so many people have told me I'm too young for surgery and should get a second opinion. how do you convince people that surgery is necessary and vital, even at a young age? how do you convince yourself?

Oh my gosh I have no idea how long this has been in my inbox; I'm so sorry!

Osteoarthritis sucks. The social bias against young people having an invisible but crippling illness is a lot to deal with. Usually when people say "you're too young!" in a pitying way I respond with something like, "haha tell that to my bones!"

If it's a doctor saying so, I asked what tests I needed done and what my alternative route of treatment would be. It ended up being replacements after all.

But it sounds like you're most often getting genuine disbelief that you would need a replacement. I would tell them all the alternate routes I took, and show them proof of how much better a replacement will be for you. You could always get a second opinion if you want. I genuinely had photos of my x-rays on my phone to show people at one point.

Once it was officially scheduled, I had several pre-op appointments that were extensive Q&A sessions between myself and several different surgeons and orthopedists asking, "Are you sure? Are you SURE?" and talking about every single step of the process. That definitely helped with the self-conviction and assuring others that everyone was on the same page.

That being said, convincing myself wasn't too hard because I was in and out of a wheelchair by the time I got my knee replacements lined up. I knew I had to go through with it after exhausting all other paths. And I was right. And it was worth it.

Best of luck with everything. I'm sorry you have to go through this, but you'll come out the other side!

[rheumannoyed]

Yo whats up I still love my new joints and my RA is under control ✌️

Always feel free to shoot a message or question my way. Reminder about who I am:

Robyn, 32, she/her

Rheumatoid arthritis diagnosed at age 14, secondary osteoarthritis diagnosed in early 20’s

I got 2 knee replacements and 2 shoulder replacements before age 30

On my 7th different biologic

Joints all working pretty well now! Woo!

[rheumannoyed]

Oops I was away from tumblr so long that I had to update my age by 2 years. And I’ll have to update that again in 2 months lol

[rheumannoyed]

The best sleeping positions when you are injured.

[rheumannoyed]

every new doctor reading my medical history

[rheumannoyed]

I FORGOT TO MENTION STRAPLESS BRAS GET A STRAPLESS BRA MY BOOB-WEILDING FRIENDS

Shoulder Replacement Recovery Must Haves

-Hello! I’m Robyn! I’m 28 and have had four total joint replacement surgeries. Two of those being my shoulders, done in 2017 and 2018.

I’ve decided to put together a little list of tips & suggested products to help recovery go smoothly for shoulder replacements, specifically. It’s a source that I didn’t have, and want to provide for whomever it could help out now.

If there’s a demand for it, I’d be happy to type up what to expect from the surgery & recovery itself, but that’s for another post another time. This is specifically recovery tips to make your life as easy as possible!

Keep reading

[rheumannoyed]

Shoulder Replacement Recovery Must Haves

-Hello! I’m Robyn! I’m 28 and have had four total joint replacement surgeries. Two of those being my shoulders, done in 2017 and 2018.

I’ve decided to put together a little list of tips & suggested products to help recovery go smoothly for shoulder replacements, specifically. It’s a source that I didn’t have, and want to provide for whomever it could help out now.

If there’s a demand for it, I’d be happy to type up what to expect from the surgery & recovery itself, but that’s for another post another time. This is specifically recovery tips to make your life as easy as possible!

Get pump bottles for all your toiletries! Instead of bar soap, or a squeeze shampoo bottle... get some pump bottles from a dollar store (or save some used ones from other products) for all your toiletries. All of them. I transferred my shampoo into a pump bottle, my conditioner into another, made sure to have liquid hand soap, even my hair gel and lotions. I got some heavy ceramic ones at the dollar tree. This made it much easier to function in the bathroom by myself. I was able to use one hand to pump product into that same hand. So easy.

Tank tops! Seems a little obvious, but can slip your mind when you’re preparing for everything else. I specifically found that spaghetti-strap tank tops a size or two too big were the most helpful. Something where the straps can easily slip over the thick-ass bandage that’ll be strapped to your shoulder and give easy access for ice packs to reach. I even cut the straps on my tank tops and re-tied them with bows so I could just untie myself out of a shirt. I surprisingly found myself taking advantage of that very rarely though. The bagginess of the straps themselves helped enough.

Ice pack with velco strap. Specifically, I got this one on Amazon. Ice pack pouches with long velcro straps are such a huge help. During my first shoulder recovery, I relied on balancing regular ice packs on a series of oddly stacked pillows.

Reacher grabber thing-a-ma-jig You know what I’m talking about. One of these things! Bending over is painful during recovery. Just think about how gravity pulls on your arm and rotates it around. That stinks when you’re recovering! Get yourself a grabber and save yourself the trouble of picking things up off the ground. Plus it reaches into cupboards and such. Pretty great.

Sit-up pillow Like one of these! You can’t lay down while recovering. At least not for the first two weeks, minimum. You have to sit up pretty much all the time. That gets uncomfortable. These pillows help it become comfortable. If you have one, a Lay-Z Boy chair is perfect for sleeping in. But we aren’t all that lucky. I ended up carrying around this pillow with me around the house to use wherever I ended up. Made life much more comfortable.

Straw. Lifting a cup to your mouth is exhausting when you’re already using one arm for everything else. I used a big ol’ Baja Fresh cup with straw that I washed and re-used throughout recovery. I have metal straws now, and a ThermoFlask with a straw in it. I don’t care what you use, just try to have a straw handy so you don’t have to keep tipping cups up at your mouth.

Pants with elastic bands instead of zippers/buttons. Zippers & buttons are very tough to do one-handed if you’re not already accustomed. You’ll want pants that you can just tug up. Or no pants at all, just become a dress and nightgown enthusiast if you want! Make sure your undies fit too. You want to be able to tug those up one-handed!

I’ll reblog with additions if I think of any. Feel free to add some of your own! And as always, feel free to hit me up through asks or messaging at any time with questions or input. I’m all ears!

[rheumannoyed]

2019 Update!

Hello! We’re nearly at the year mark for my last shoulder replacement! I’m doing very well now!

I’ve gained back a lot of range of motion. I have no bone-related shoulder pain anymore. It’s all muscle stuff now, that the doctor suggested I get massage done for.

My knee replacements are still going strong. Nothing wrong there. No knee pain, full range there, and I can get on and off the ground.

Feet are still pretty arthritic, but that’s osteoarthritis and to be expected. Special shoes and/or inserts help a lot.

I’m active on my other blogs under this tumblr account, so even when I’m not posting on here, know that I’ll get any messages sent my way and will always be responsive! 

[rheumannoyed]

I’m starting to feel so able-bodied that sometimes I reach up to scratch my face and get super confused when my arm won’t move lol

I’m doing well!!! Got bandages removed, am starting PT in a few weeks, am off pain killers (except for when doing PT), and don’t have to wear my sling at home! Things are looking great!

[rheumannoyed]

It tickles under my giant bandage duhfichkdgujd

[rheumannoyed]

y’all this is a good year

[rheumannoyed]

Healing up great! 💪✨ Went out with Christina for Pokemon Go community day! It was a blast! I’m also alright at showering myself too! And with a little help I’m having a great hair day 😘 This has been the best surgery recovery yet, for sure.

[rheumannoyed]

New Shoulder!!!

What up everyone I got a new left shoulder on June 13, 2018! I got my right one done last March! So now here I am.

So far recovery has been alright! I’ve been a little more independent right off the bat this time, and pain has been more manageable! But I’m still pretty sore, understandably.

Sleep schedule is wonky but that’s also to be expected. It’ll get back on track in a few days I’m sure. I just fall asleep at random times for a few hours st a time right now lol

I have great help at home! All is well! I’m already getting a little restless though haha but it’ll be fine. A lot of my recovery pain hasn’t compared to bad flare up pain. It’s all worth it!

[rheumannoyed]

Understanding Chronic Illnesses: Spoonies and Unchargeables.

Understanding and explaining how having a chronic illness affects the lives of those who suffer from them.

[rheumannoyed]

Next shoulder replacement!

It’s been brought to my attention that I haven’t really flat-out told half my family that I’m getting my left shoulder replaced soon lol whoops

I’m seeing the orthopedic surgeon in a couple weeks to officially schedule it. We’re aiming for end of May/very beginning of June. It’d be rad to get it over with over a weekend so nobody’s scheduled got too badly messed up. It’s pretty much an outpatient procedure. They say that if I get the surgery early in the morning I can even go home the same night. So we’ll see.

There’s pretty bad muscle tearing, fraying, and a lil atrophy with this shoulder, if you didn’t see the earlier posted MRI results. So I dunno how healing will go exactly. I was hoping this shoulder would be easier to deal with than my right one was, but with how bad the muscle is jacked up it might be about the same. Oh well!

I’ve been in physical therapy to strengthen this as much as I can before surgery, but with the bone spurring and muscle tears they don’t want me to really go that hard before the replacement. We’ll work a lot more on it afterwards instead. Some stuff depends on what they do with the tears. They hypothesize that the bigger tear is too frayed to stitch back together but we’ll see!

So yeah! A lot of wait-and-see. Shoulder feels like poop but it’ll get better. Surgery in like a month. Woo!!!

[rheumannoyed]

Here’s the MRI results of the shoulder that’s getting replaced :D (it’s terrible lol)

[rheumannoyed]

I’m looking to turn this blog into something less like a journal, and more of an interactive experience. I want to offer advice and information to anybody who is suffering from RA and/or OA, newly diagnosed or an old warrior.

Anybody have anything specific they’d like to see? I’m already planning on making some posts/infographics about biologics, picking a doctor, helpful home devices, dealing with flare-ups, and joint replacement surgeries.

Any specific info you’d want to get from someone with experience? I don’t want to just offer info that you can find in a google search, I want to include as much personal experience as I can!