Case of the Mondays

So...

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis which has been doing fairly well, but still, I've had to make a lot of adjustments to the way I live. And my doctor and I decided that trying Enbrel would be a good thing. It has a lot of scary possible side effects, but they're very rare and I'm not a high risk candidate for any of them. So... after several months of looking into it, we decided to go with that plan last Wednesday.

I did, however, need to get a test for TB first as that can be a high risk thing, so they need to make sure you don't have it when you start out. Had the test read Friday at about the earliest you can possibly read the test (barely 48 hours) and the nurse wasn't sure about it, so my doctor looked at it and said it was fine.

But, by Saturday it was red and raised and a fairly big splotch on my arm. So... I called this AM and they told me to come in immediately and well, turns out I have TB. Lovely.

So... did the chest x-ray today and made an appointment with my primary care person (talked to her nurse for a while as well) and started on the anti-TB drugs and told my parents and checked with a doctor friend of the family to see if my little nieces should be tested and all that good stuff (my primary care is away till Monday so I couldn't get that info from her today).

At the moment, since I'm showing no symptoms, we're hoping I have latent TB, which means I'm not contagious. I've got to call tomorrow to see what the x-ray showed. If I have active TB... wow. So not fun. Effects my job, my family, everything...

Anyway... Keep your fingers crossed that the x-ray is clear and that all's well.

Or send Carson over to check me out. ;)

Or any of the boys with soup and tea and support. ;) ;)

Thanks.

~ (A considerably less-freaked out than at 11 AM this morning) Mai