#also I have to miss ender’s Christmas concert at preschool bc of my GI appointment

[deadlifts-and-deadlines]

Last Wednesday I went to the rheumatologist. Turns out my blood work was negative for lupus, but they forgot to call and tell me that 🫠 But that explains why I still have joint pain. Anyway, we both agreed that while I still have pain, it is pain is improving, and she was about to release me from regular appointments, just told me to call if I have severe pain come back. But she did ask me to run down to the lab before I left and give two vials of blood so she could test me for RA, just to make sure we had ruled out everything. So I did, even though neither of us thought anything would come of it.

She called me back one day later to tell me that my blood tested high for rheumatoid factor and high CCP. So, very positive for rheumatoid arthritis. Now we have to change my biologic (GI switched me from Humira to Stelara in April bc Stelara only targets the intestines and at the time, we thought the joint pain was a Humira side effect, then a lupus symptom) and I get to juggle two specialists and autoimmune diseases for the foreseeable future.

I took a couple days to be sad and mad, but I feel okay now. Even though this feels like a few steps back, it is still progress. I’m just so sick of the cyclical nature of all this, the try something new and then and wait for half a year to see if the effects of it give me any new issues or if my body develops any new diseases or if it actually helps me. I think I’m saddest because I thought things were finally going to stabilize and be normal for awhile. I know they will eventually, I’m just sick of the process.