Even for someone with chronic illness, it's never easy to hear that something is wrong with you. In fact, it may even be more difficult. And maybe even more so for those, like myself, whose lives are affected severely by multiple illnesses.
After my heart surgery, when I began to feel that my body wasn't as healthy as I liked to pretend and decided it was time that I take EDS seriously. For the 5 years between my diagnosis and heart surgery, I thought my EDS was very minor and that it didn't need treatment, let alone acknowledgement. Part of this was the from the cold way in which I was given the diagnosis of EDS and the lack of knowledge that my body could get worse. Not to mention that I never realized that it wasn't normal to go to the doctor so much, be sick so much, to have pain, migraines, to pass out, and have seen multiple specialist all before I was 15. And, truthfully, back then I pretended I didn't have EDS, even though countless doctors agreed with the diagnosis.
When I first saw my Rheumatologist he gave me a thorough exam, and he told me that it fairly inevitable that I would develop arthritis at a young age and throughout my body and that I could also develop early onset Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis, and/or other bone conditions. So, occasionally, I examine my joints. Today I was looking at the silhouette of my hands: since my hands were the first joints to mess up and over the past few months they have been very stiff even with the osteoarthritis medication I take twice a day. Over the years my fingers have slightly curved and twisted, but looking at my fingers today I noticed an odd bump on the side of one of my middle knuckles. I quickly held up my other hand to check the opposite finger which didn't have the bump. So I felt the bump and it was hard like bone. I turned on the light and held my hand straight and the bump was still there, and there was still nothing on the other finger. Mom came in and she looked and felt the bump, then looked at my other hand, and then at her own hands. She has a similar bump on her bad finger, the one she broke, had operated on, and now has arthritis in.
While I knew I was more than likely going to develop at least one form of arthritis on at least one joint by the time I'm 25, it was still sad. Especially since my hands have been the one thing I've prayed for not to get any worse since the doctor who diagnosed me told me that I would have to stop doing art when I was 15. My rheumatologist said I would more than likely develop arthritis in my knees, hips, back, shoulder, and hands. I would gladly take arthritis in all of them as long as I didn't have to have it in my hands. But it doesn't look like I'm that lucky, I can feel the starting of more of the bumps in a few other knuckles. I see my pain management PA Mrs. M next week, so I let her look at it. I guess now I can just hope that it isn't a more serious form of arthritis.
The nodule is on the left side of my middle finger if you can't tell
After my heart surgery, when I began to feel that my body wasn't as healthy as I liked to pretend and decided it was time that I take EDS seriously. For the 5 years between my diagnosis and heart surgery, I thought my EDS was very minor and that it didn't need treatment, let alone acknowledgement. Part of this was the from the cold way in which I was given the diagnosis of EDS and the lack of knowledge that my body could get worse. Not to mention that I never realized that it wasn't normal to go to the doctor so much, be sick so much, to have pain, migraines, to pass out, and have seen multiple specialist all before I was 15. And, truthfully, back then I pretended I didn't have EDS, even though countless doctors agreed with the diagnosis.
When I first saw my Rheumatologist he gave me a thorough exam, and he told me that it fairly inevitable that I would develop arthritis at a young age and throughout my body and that I could also develop early onset Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis, and/or other bone conditions. So, occasionally, I examine my joints. Today I was looking at the silhouette of my hands: since my hands were the first joints to mess up and over the past few months they have been very stiff even with the osteoarthritis medication I take twice a day. Over the years my fingers have slightly curved and twisted, but looking at my fingers today I noticed an odd bump on the side of one of my middle knuckles. I quickly held up my other hand to check the opposite finger which didn't have the bump. So I felt the bump and it was hard like bone. I turned on the light and held my hand straight and the bump was still there, and there was still nothing on the other finger. Mom came in and she looked and felt the bump, then looked at my other hand, and then at her own hands. She has a similar bump on her bad finger, the one she broke, had operated on, and now has arthritis in.
While I knew I was more than likely going to develop at least one form of arthritis on at least one joint by the time I'm 25, it was still sad. Especially since my hands have been the one thing I've prayed for not to get any worse since the doctor who diagnosed me told me that I would have to stop doing art when I was 15. My rheumatologist said I would more than likely develop arthritis in my knees, hips, back, shoulder, and hands. I would gladly take arthritis in all of them as long as I didn't have to have it in my hands. But it doesn't look like I'm that lucky, I can feel the starting of more of the bumps in a few other knuckles. I see my pain management PA Mrs. M next week, so I let her look at it. I guess now I can just hope that it isn't a more serious form of arthritis.
The nodule is on the left side of my middle finger if you can't tell