I had a brief stay in the ER a couple nights ago due to severe pain in my lower back. I decided to make a little video clip to explain what has been going on and why I have been a bit quiet on my blog recently.
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
I recently have been diagnosed with ra. I was upset because running is my first love and my first thoughts were how will this impact my running.I have goals to run many more road races.This site is an instrument of motivation to athletes with ra and for athletes in general. I won’t let this diagnosis be my excuse not to go after what I want. You are a true inspiration.
I just wrote you a comment before seeing this video. I just want to give you a big hug. I know you want to write positive comments for people but we have really really bad days and there is nothing we can do about it. And that’s ok. It shows your strength and what you have to deal with daily. We are in constant chronic pain. Some people don’t understand that. I’ve had JRA for 31 years so all my joints are bad. My neck and back are the worst and those are the 2 places i cant do anything about accept occasional epidural injections in my cervical spine. But my neck has permanently fused itself so where i cant move it all the way so the injections only help so much. I saw your other videos as well and as i’m watching them all i was thinking was, “this girl is real. Not looking for pity or simpathy. Just tells it like it is. And i could really see myself being good friends with her. She knows herself and is a caring, understanding person who will never give up.” You know what my biggest pet peeve is? People who have absolutely NOTHING wrong with them complain about having to work or on their days off sit and play video games for 15 hours every day because they “worked hard and deserve a break.” Meanwhile, people like us who struggle daily just to do simple household chores or take care of our kids, do it because thats life. It has to be done. We are less lazy than a lot of healthy people. The reason i say this is because i just explained my husband. He gets 4 days off in a row and the kids and I dont see him at all. Hes playing video games. There’s a list a mile long of things that need to be done and he works so hes too tired. I tell him Im tired, sore, fatigued and healing from a major foot surgery and i do more than he does. He doesnt care. People like that annoy the hell out of me! Look at you! You are in constant pain and you’re a triathlete!!?? I can’t run or do physical training like that due to every joint being deformed badly but i do freelance photography and take portraits for extra money. Ive always loved it and even though im still in pain every day, i still make those appointments, take the pictures and sit and photoshop them. sitting and standing too long are bad for me but its not going to stop me. I love that you posted this video because it shows that you and me are not that different. We both stay positive most of the time and say “I have RA but F it! I’m not gonna let it bring me down!” But after seeing this video i see that we are even more alike because even though we don’t like to show it, we have really bad days, weeks, even months. We cry, get depressed and anxiety because if feels like nothing will ever make the pain go away and when the pain is that bad all i think is “i don’t want to live like this anymore.” But then i snap out of it and think about my daughter and do the best I can to at least look like it doesn’t bother me. You are allowed to have these days and to share them like you did makes you an even stronger person. You are an inspiration to me and someone i would love to meet and sit down and have a cup of coffee with because i think we could learn from each other. I hope you are feeling better and feel free to contact me any time.
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