Have you ever wondered what RA feels like?

Well basically you feel like crap. I did find this article that gives it a good overview.

Combine these feelings:
- what you feel like when you have a really bad case of the flu and all the aches and pains
- what you feel like after a bad fall
- what you feel like the day after you ran a marathon

Combine all those and there you are. Except with RA it doesn't get better. You can control symptoms and medications can slow progress of the disease but it will never go away. You can be in remission for a long time but it will probably always come back at some point.

Today I am home with a cold and feeling all achy and sore. Life with RA sucks.

Right to choose

Would you move to Oregon if necessary? I would.

I hope that you do not disagree with this woman's choices but I completely support her. She has a very unfortunate medical diagnosis at age 29 and has taken steps to live her life as best she can. She has gotten the medication she needs to die with dignity as she wants. She isn't rushing to use it but is much more relaxed knowing that when the time comes, she will be able to choose.


I am a firm believer in DNR's and palliative care. But sometimes I think it doesn't go far enough. First of all with a DNR, someone else is making the decision on your body that it is time to stop treating you. Second of all, what if the DNR happened after months of agony? Instead of at the beginning of all the agony. Palliative care is wonderful but it can only do so much. What if your body develops a resistance to all the pain medications? Where would that leave you?

I would move to Oregon in a heartbeat if necessary.

I've got owies

So mature of me but I am having pain issues these days. Everything from a sore toenail to some more serious back pain. (Insert snarly, perky voice here 'on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain today?') Its definitely in the 7 range.

I have not been god to myself recently and in some ways, I have been downright bad. Everything from carrying heavy things to cutting my lymphedema hand to standing too much.

On the plus side, I put on a new pain path this morning, on the minus side, I cannot expect much relief rom my back until then. And with additional stupidity, I may border on cranky or possibly even crabbiness.

One of my other ailments

No today's post is not about my cancers. It is about one of my other ailments - rheumatoid arthritis. This is the ailment that makes my hands and feet hurt and getting out of bed in the morning a bit difficult. As opposed to rheumatoid which makes my whole back hurt or my degenerating disks which resemble an ice pick in my spine when its cranky or my left hip bursitis which also can remember an ice pick. (And I am on all the good drugs.)

The problem with RA is that your body's immune system turns on itself and starts attacking your joints. Currently it can be slowed and controlled by a wide variety of medications available. But it cannot be stopped and will continue to cripple your joints endlessly.

However now there is new research (because we always need more research to keep those researchers busy) which shows a way to possibly halt RA progression. Here is a less technical version and here is a very technical version. Basically there is a TLR gene which has a TLR5 receptor which hangs out with myeloid cells and that is proof that it is a technical topic.

I am just happy to hear there is something which might be able to stop the progression of RA. It is much worse than osteoarthritis which is what most people get from overuse. RA just happens - if you are lucky enough (which apparently I am).

So a perky little glimmer of hope on the RA horizon. Now I hope they can do something with my other ailments too. Go researchers!

The word for the day is "Ow"

On a scale of 1-10, how is my pain today? Probably about a 4, all over my body. With spots of 6-7 in certain areas.

I don't know why but for the past few days my body has be very achy and sore. I have been living on Tramadol again. I hate this. I prefer not to take pills if I don't have to. I mean I do take a lot of pills but prefer not to take any more than needed. And since everything hurts, I need tramadol to survive without rampant crankiness.

And to start my day I have a dentist appointment. This is where they will go in and pick at my teeth with sharp metal objects. Its a new dentist office but not a new dentist. The dentist moved to a new office so we followed her. Apparently the hygienists are very 'good' at cleaning and whip the patients into shape. I can't wait.

This is where I also talk to the dentist about not getting a crown on my root canal until January when we will have dental insurance. Its been a month and it hasn't been a problem so I want to wait. I'm cheap. Actually I just don't want to pay for a crown right now if I can wait and get one through insurance. I already paid for the damn root canal.

To recover from the dentist, I will go to the gym. To recover from the gym, I will go to the grocery store. But not the grocery store which is on strike right now.

First things first, I will go take a tramadol, and then take a shower, and brush my teeth after breakfast.

Treating Chronic Pain with Exercise

It seems a bit contradictory but exercise helps relieve chronic pain. Its one thing if you have an injury that needs to heal but then they send you to physical therapy to regain range of motion and start movement. It may be include some ouching but it means it is helping as well.

I have fibromyalgia and RA (in case you  haven't figured it out yet) and I go to the gym three times a week. I am one of the 40% or so (or whatever that low number is) of Americans who get the recommended amount of exercise weekly. At the gym, I do 45-60 minutes of cardio followed by strengthening exercises and weights (yup, I can lift the giant 1 lb weights with ease).

Some days are a little harder than others. Yesterday the muscle on the top of my right thigh was very unhappy with some of what I was doing and my left hip told me how I could not do some exercises. But I did finish 95% of my workout which is just fine.

Exercise does make me feel better. Some of my doctors are impressed with the range of motion I have in my shoulders and hips because of my ailments. Exercise and stretching has allowed me to retain this. It has been suggested I try swimming. But since I hate swimming laps, that has not happened.

However there are always overachievers. I am not an overachiever regarding exercise these days. Katie Pumphrey is an overachiever. She swims to help with her fibromyalgia. But if that wasn't enough, she is training to swim the English Channel. No I am not kidding. The English Channel is not what we call an easy swim. To put it in context:

"Fewer people (1,429) have crossed the channel solo than have climbed Mount Everest (more than 4,000), and only 446 of the swimmers have been women. Eight people have died trying since Matthew Webb first accomplished the feat, in 1875 — though the success rate, which was tiny in the early 1900s, has risen sharply in recent years.

If all goes well, Pumphrey will enter the water in Dover, England, on Aug. 8 or 9, 2015, and emerge in Cap Gris Nez, France. The distance is 21 miles, but the shifting tides guarantee that few swim directly across. In July 2010, 56-year-old Jackie Cobell reached Calais, France, after swimming 64 miles in nearly 29 hours."

This will be a feat for the record books as far as I am concerned. So to the non-exercisers out there, I just say aim high and start moving. For those with pain, remember every journey starts with a single step.

Fibromyalgia foibles

I have been taking my time to deal with fibromyalgia as it is somewhat complicated. Its not easily understood by most people - as it can have many differing symptoms - all of which have one thing in common: PAIN.

My husband knows that he doesn't understand fibromyalgia either and he wants to. He signed us up for a community education course at a local school on fibromyalgia. Originally only he was going but then it turned out both of us were going. I mean I should probably learn as much as possible about one of my many ailments. I know how to spell and pronounce it but there is obviously a lot more.

We went to the class. As expected it was basically a local practitioner shilling for clients. What was interesting is that she is a certified acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist and a practitioner in Western  medicine so she combined both schools of treatment. She also could explain the fibro pain points to my husband so he understood more.

Some of her information was  a little dated but she did offer some options and thoughts about differing triggers for fibromyalgia - such as major stress. I said how about a cancer diagnosis? She thought that was a possibility.... See, cancer is the gift that keeps on giving.

Coincidentally, I received an email from the National Pain Foundation for a survey on "Do fibromyalgia medications work?" Of course it included Lyrica and I completed it and signed up for their newsletter. I mean I should be in their fan club considering on how much time I spend in pain even though I am on so many medications.

The NPF is different than the American Pain Foundation which is different from the American Chronic Pain Foundation which even has a local support group. But then there is even the National Fibromyalgia Association.

But I still need to educate myself. My husband did learn a lot at class. But still I have to deal with my fibro... and the fibro fog that comes with the pain.

Day Two of Pajama Girl

More pajamas for me. To continue yesterday's sagas, I finally got out of my pajamas in time to take my younger niece and nephew shopping with my husband. The kids were happy with books, ice cream, and a music store where a weird piccolo was purchased. We came home in time to watch a movie with popcorn. Then we proceeded back to my parents to eat left overs. After which I took my older niece shoe shopping for her birthday.

I was tired by the time we came home so it was pajama time again. Today I am still in my pjs at 11 am and promise to take a shower shortly before going to an early dinner.

The reason for my pajama girl discussions is the contrast in my health from a year ago. Last year I was just diagnosed with RA and fibro and had much more energy and capacity for doing things with others.

What a change a year makes. I need more naps. I need more rest. I have less energy. I just get damn tired too often. Crap.

Today I will go to the early dinner and come home for PJ time again. Tomorrow life might begin to return to normal as I will stay home except for a quick trip to the gym.

The placard question

I have had a somewhat long term debate with myself of whether I should get a handicapped parking placard. Some days finding a parking place and having to walk long ways - with full grocery carts, etc - get very tiresome and painful. RA and fibromyalgia can be a nasty combination. When one isn't hurting the other is.

Last year my primary care doctor told me I don't want to go down that route. I am not sure what she is thinking. Other than the fact that she is very healthy and in her 30s. I think my rheumatologist would be much more likely to sign the form if I asked her. She is more aware of my mobility issues.

I have already taken the safest parking space at work - this is a perk when you work for a small company and every uses the same space every day. When one woman retired a couple of years ago, it only took me one icy day to decide I was taking her space right next to the front door. Its also helpful when I leave my phone or lunch in the car.

But its not the same at the grocery store or the doctor's office where I park in the giant garage and go up to the top to park near the elevators/stairs. The thing about the placard is you don't need to use it if you don't want. If I'm having a good day, maybe I'll take a distant space. But there are times when my husband leaves me at the door to go park the car and then get the car.

Most days I am okay but some days I am not. I am tired and just need to finish what I need and get home and lie down. Those are the days where a placard would be helpful. Sometimes I look at people who park in the handicapped spaces with a tinge of jealousy. Other days I enjoy the walk from the far recesses. Some people look handicapped - canes, limps, oxygen, etc - and some don't - like me. Not all handicaps are visible.

And then there is this woman in Australia who got yelled at by some crabby man because she had a placard and didn't look handicapped. Just because you don't look like you need the space doesn't mean you don't need it. Appearances can be deceiving.

And am I too young to  need one of those damn placards? Would it put me in the old fart category already? I may have the medical records of a 90 year old.

Stupid me

I have excuses. I have chemo brain. I have fibro fog. But sometimes I am just plain stupid. This was one of those times.

We are on vacation (note to all the burglars - we have a house sitter and our neighbors know we are away and we don't have anything valuable anyway). Two weeks before we left I made a big project to make sure we had enough of prescription medications to get us through our trip. I checked all of the bottles, refilled a couple.

The day before we left, I went through and filled up our medicine boxes - daily ones - with enough pills to get us through. I carefully packed my break through pain pills. We then designated a little tote bag for all of our medical needs. The first tote was rejected because it was too small so we moved to a slightly larger one. This is serious business.

Then I packed up some over the counter medicines including some Emergen-Cs - you know the packets of vitamin C. I put those in the little zip pocket because they are flat. I put in Tylenol, Mucinex and all that kind of thing.

The next day I went and put elastic bands on the pill boxes so they would not pop open in transit. Then I put in the extra prescription bottles  and double checked and triple checked. I had everything I needed.

As we went out the door I said to my husband the only thing that would get me to come back home would be if I forgot any medication. I told him that I had it all under control and had triple checked it twice.

We arrived on Sunday after driving 90 minutes (we are on the beach if you must know). Monday is pain patch change day. I am on Butrans pain patches - they last a week and provide a consistent dose of opiate medication to keep my pain all under control.

I went to get a replacement patch. THEY WEREN'T THERE!!! What I thought were replacement pain patches were the Emergen-Cs. Damn, triple damn, [insert all obscenities you know here].

Yesterday I went with plan A - taking my breakthrough pain tablets every four hours. It wasn't enough. At all. I didn't even tell my husband until last night. His first question was when was I going home to get them? I said I hadn't decided.

This morning I decided. I was in so much pain. I got in my car at 10am with the plan on going home and coming back by 2pm so I could enjoy the beach. While driving, I was trying to decide what didn't hurt. The answer was my right shoulder. [But now that is hurting too.]

I had to lie down for a couple hours before I could contemplate driving back. Now that I am back I am finally getting to blogging and have taken pain pills and am lying on an ice pack until I feel better.

I was really stupid.

PS The cat is royally pissed off at me. I left. He is not happy. He doesn't eat when I am not there. He will just have to suck it up until I get home.

I am confused

I admit to being confused. I have rheumatoid arthritis. I am on injected methotrexate. Am I supposed to be feeling better? Because I am not. I keep forgetting to ask my rheumatologist about this.

I know I have other pain causing ailments - degenerating disks in my back cause pain in my lower back. I know all about these pains. If I bend over to pick things up, my back reminds me I should not - never mind that you are supposed to squat and lift with your knees. But that is one set of pains.

Then I have the fibromyalgia induced pains. Those are the ones which are not back pains or rheumatoid pains. They appear as things like bone deep pain in my arms or elecgtrical pains across my lower back.

And I have osteoarthritis pains. That is when my  knees crunch when I bend them. I have Snap, Crackle, and Pop and their extended family reunion living in my left knee. And my right knee and a few other assorted places.

But I know I have RA pain in places that never really feel better. This includes my hands where my knuckles always feel inflamed and swollen. My wrists, my shoulders, my ankles, and my feet. And other places that are symmetrical. RA pains are easier to pin point as they are symmetrical. I am on medication and anti-inflammatories but they are always there.

If I judge my health based on the television commercials where people are moving about freely while they are on medication for their RA. I clearly not atfor a commercial any time soon.

But my real question is am I supposed to not have pain from my RA? Or is the treatment not working or am I living in a constant flare? And combined with fibro fog and fatigue, I am a walking disaster.

I think I need to write myself some notes and bring them with me to my next rheumatologist visit in January. Crap. That's a long time from now.

The word for the day is "Ow"

On a scale of 1-10, how is my pain today? Probably about a 4, all over my body. With spots of 6-7 in certain areas.

I don't know why but for the past few days my body has be very achy and sore. I have been living on Tramadol again. I hate this. I prefer not to take pills if I don't have to. I mean I do take a lot of pills but prefer not to take any more than needed. And since everything hurts, I need tramadol to survive without rampant crankiness.

And to start my day I have a dentist appointment. This is where they will go in and pick at my teeth with sharp metal objects. Its a new dentist office but not a new dentist. The dentist moved to a new office so we followed her. Apparently the hygienists are very 'good' at cleaning and whip the patients into shape. I can't wait.

This is where I also talk to the dentist about not getting a crown on my root canal until January when we will have dental insurance. Its been a month and it hasn't been a problem so I want to wait. I'm cheap. Actually I just don't want to pay for a crown right now if I can wait and get one through insurance. I already paid for the damn root canal.

To recover from the dentist, I will go to the gym. To recover from the gym, I will go to the grocery store. But not the grocery store which is on strike right now.

First things first, I will go take a tramadol, and then take a shower, and brush my teeth after breakfast.

Have you ever wondered what RA feels like?

Well basically you feel like crap. I did find this article that gives it a good overview.

Combine these feelings:
- what you feel like when you have a really bad case of the flu and all the aches and pains
- what you feel like after a bad fall
- what you feel like the day after you ran a marathon

Combine all those and there you are. Except with RA it doesn't get better. You can control symptoms and medications can slow progress of the disease but it will never go away. You can be in remission for a long time but it will probably always come back at some point.

Today I am home with a cold and feeling all achy and sore. Life with RA sucks.

Treating Chronic Pain with Exercise

It seems a bit contradictory but exercise helps relieve chronic pain. Its one thing if you have an injury that needs to heal but then they send you to physical therapy to regain range of motion and start movement. It may be include some ouching but it means it is helping as well.

I have fibromyalgia and RA (in case you  haven't figured it out yet) and I go to the gym three times a week. I am one of the 40% or so (or whatever that low number is) of Americans who get the recommended amount of exercise weekly. At the gym, I do 45-60 minutes of cardio followed by strengthening exercises and weights (yup, I can lift the giant 1 lb weights with ease).

Some days are a little harder than others. Yesterday the muscle on the top of my right thigh was very unhappy with some of what I was doing and my left hip told me how I could not do some exercises. But I did finish 95% of my workout which is just fine.

Exercise does make me feel better. Some of my doctors are impressed with the range of motion I have in my shoulders and hips because of my ailments. Exercise and stretching has allowed me to retain this. It has been suggested I try swimming. But since I hate swimming laps, that has not happened.

However there are always overachievers. I am not an overachiever regarding exercise these days. Katie Pumphrey is an overachiever. She swims to help with her fibromyalgia. But if that wasn't enough, she is training to swim the English Channel. No I am not kidding. The English Channel is not what we call an easy swim. To put it in context:

"Fewer people (1,429) have crossed the channel solo than have climbed Mount Everest (more than 4,000), and only 446 of the swimmers have been women. Eight people have died trying since Matthew Webb first accomplished the feat, in 1875 — though the success rate, which was tiny in the early 1900s, has risen sharply in recent years.

If all goes well, Pumphrey will enter the water in Dover, England, on Aug. 8 or 9, 2015, and emerge in Cap Gris Nez, France. The distance is 21 miles, but the shifting tides guarantee that few swim directly across. In July 2010, 56-year-old Jackie Cobell reached Calais, France, after swimming 64 miles in nearly 29 hours."

This will be a feat for the record books as far as I am concerned. So to the non-exercisers out there, I just say aim high and start moving. For those with pain, remember every journey starts with a single step.

The placard question

I have had a somewhat long term debate with myself of whether I should get a handicapped parking placard. Some days finding a parking place and having to walk long ways - with full grocery carts, etc - get very tiresome and painful. RA and fibromyalgia can be a nasty combination. When one isn't hurting the other is.

Last year my primary care doctor told me I don't want to go down that route. I am not sure what she is thinking. Other than the fact that she is very healthy and in her 30s. I think my rheumatologist would be much more likely to sign the form if I asked her. She is more aware of my mobility issues.

I have already taken the safest parking space at work - this is a perk when you work for a small company and every uses the same space every day. When one woman retired a couple of years ago, it only took me one icy day to decide I was taking her space right next to the front door. Its also helpful when I leave my phone or lunch in the car.

But its not the same at the grocery store or the doctor's office where I park in the giant garage and go up to the top to park near the elevators/stairs. The thing about the placard is you don't need to use it if you don't want. If I'm having a good day, maybe I'll take a distant space. But there are times when my husband leaves me at the door to go park the car and then get the car.

Most days I am okay but some days I am not. I am tired and just need to finish what I need and get home and lie down. Those are the days where a placard would be helpful. Sometimes I look at people who park in the handicapped spaces with a tinge of jealousy. Other days I enjoy the walk from the far recesses. Some people look handicapped - canes, limps, oxygen, etc - and some don't - like me. Not all handicaps are visible.

And then there is this woman in Australia who got yelled at by some crabby man because she had a placard and didn't look handicapped. Just because you don't look like you need the space doesn't mean you don't need it. Appearances can be deceiving.

And am I too young to  need one of those damn placards? Would it put me in the old fart category already? I may have the medical records of a 90 year old.

One of my other ailments

No today's post is not about my cancers. It is about one of my other ailments - rheumatoid arthritis. This is the ailment that makes my hands and feet hurt and getting out of bed in the morning a bit difficult. As opposed to rheumatoid which makes my whole back hurt or my degenerating disks which resemble an ice pick in my spine when its cranky or my left hip bursitis which also can remember an ice pick. (And I am on all the good drugs.)

The problem with RA is that your body's immune system turns on itself and starts attacking your joints. Currently it can be slowed and controlled by a wide variety of medications available. But it cannot be stopped and will continue to cripple your joints endlessly.

However now there is new research (because we always need more research to keep those researchers busy) which shows a way to possibly halt RA progression. Here is a less technical version and here is a very technical version. Basically there is a TLR gene which has a TLR5 receptor which hangs out with myeloid cells and that is proof that it is a technical topic.

I am just happy to hear there is something which might be able to stop the progression of RA. It is much worse than osteoarthritis which is what most people get from overuse. RA just happens - if you are lucky enough (which apparently I am).

So a perky little glimmer of hope on the RA horizon. Now I hope they can do something with my other ailments too. Go researchers!

Crap, crap, crap

I have been a bad person. Once again I didn't break any laws or get arrested or anything. But this weekend is my last two craft shows of the year. I have been knitting like mad to get as many UFOs (Unfinished Objects) completed so I could sell them. I usually try to space out my knitting because of my arthritis so I have less self induced pain. I wasn't very smart this week. I am done knitting for a while.

Yesterday I drove on a gray day an hour away to a craft fair that was a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. It was in a lovely old building's basement. That had two sets of steep stairs to get in or out.

While I was there I lightened my load by selling a few things. But I did buy a gift basket for a friend. I also entered their raffles and did not win the MP3 player I really wanted, but I did win two food baskets - one Chinese and one Italian - which are full of canned goods. One was so heavy I could barely carry it.

I unpacked the baskets into my bubbe cart, which is my best friend at these events which are on one floor.

And dragged it up the two flights of stairs,  hoping some nice healthy person would show up and help. That hurt.

Then I made a second trip with my giant duffle bag on rollers which contains all my scarves. Much lighter but still not with out its share of pain.

Then I made two more trips of the light weight things.

Today my body hurts. I had an ice pack last night. Today I need more pain pills, arm splint and maybe compression sleeve.

But I have to uncover the car while Walter shovels snow and I can hit the road within an hour to go to another show where I will stand on my feet for six hours.

Crap, crap, crap.

Tomorrow I will sleep late and stay in bed until I feel like getting up.

Fibromyalgia foibles

I have been taking my time to deal with fibromyalgia as it is somewhat complicated. Its not easily understood by most people - as it can have many differing symptoms - all of which have one thing in common: PAIN.

My husband knows that he doesn't understand fibromyalgia either and he wants to. He signed us up for a community education course at a local school on fibromyalgia. Originally only he was going but then it turned out both of us were going. I mean I should probably learn as much as possible about one of my many ailments. I know how to spell and pronounce it but there is obviously a lot more.

We went to the class. As expected it was basically a local practitioner shilling for clients. What was interesting is that she is a certified acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist and a practitioner in Western  medicine so she combined both schools of treatment. She also could explain the fibro pain points to my husband so he understood more.

Some of her information was  a little dated but she did offer some options and thoughts about differing triggers for fibromyalgia - such as major stress. I said how about a cancer diagnosis? She thought that was a possibility.... See, cancer is the gift that keeps on giving.

Coincidentally, I received an email from the National Pain Foundation for a survey on "Do fibromyalgia medications work?" Of course it included Lyrica and I completed it and signed up for their newsletter. I mean I should be in their fan club considering on how much time I spend in pain even though I am on so many medications.

The NPF is different than the American Pain Foundation which is different from the American Chronic Pain Foundation which even has a local support group. But then there is even the National Fibromyalgia Association.

But I still need to educate myself. My husband did learn a lot at class. But still I have to deal with my fibro... and the fibro fog that comes with the pain.

Did I say it was a bad week?

Last week I had an exceptionally bad week in several different ways. It was just your basic cluster of everything coming together to remind me of how life with my health can take its twists and turns. Here is a brief outline:

• Monday at work, where I am also the IT person, we had a complete hard drive failure on our data computer to the point that we had to get new hardware and start over from scratch. It just meant a longer and stressful day for me.
• Tuesday at work, I had to deal with the outside hardware people to fix the computer. And the alarm guy was there bleeding the sprinkler system or something that entailed of spraying water outside the building on a 15 degree day (I had to move my car) away from the spray. Later it snowed on top of the spray that turned to ice and I fell on my knee because I couldn't see the ice under the snow which jolted my body and made my knee and my back hurt for days.
• Wednesday my back and knee were very sore from my fall and cancelled my hair appointment and skipped the gym because I felt that bad but I made it through my full 6 hour work day.
• Thursday I felt okay and went to the gym. Then about 2pm I couldn't keep my eyes open and took a nap. I woke up and felt horrible couldn't talk, cancelled all my appointments except my pain doctor for Friday.
• Friday I felt a little better but stayed home except for my one appointment where I had a series of trigger point injections on my back (they still needles into the sore spots). 

So in one week I fell, had a 24 hour cold, exceptional work stress, lots of aches and pains, and had to spend a day off my feet because of my health. Did I say it was a bad week?

Its sort of a normal week for me. My health takes a dominant role in what I do. But I try.

This week is slightly better but I didn't sleep well last night so I couldn't wake up this morning. The cat insisted on sitting on my shoulder with his paws digging into my sore spots and woke me up at 230. I think I got back to sleep around 4 but had some very weird dreams.... I have to go into a conference in town this morning on the subway. I almost bailed but I really want to go to it. I may need a nap after but I hope to go to the gym.

Nothing like being 'healthy' to make me sit on my butt and watch bad TV to recover from normal life.

PS I do not count my fall on the snow covered ice as related to my ailments. It could have happened to anyone.

Right to choose

Would you move to Oregon if necessary? I would.

I hope that you do not disagree with this woman's choices but I completely support her. She has a very unfortunate medical diagnosis at age 29 and has taken steps to live her life as best she can. She has gotten the medication she needs to die with dignity as she wants. She isn't rushing to use it but is much more relaxed knowing that when the time comes, she will be able to choose.


I am a firm believer in DNR's and palliative care. But sometimes I think it doesn't go far enough. First of all with a DNR, someone else is making the decision on your body that it is time to stop treating you. Second of all, what if the DNR happened after months of agony? Instead of at the beginning of all the agony. Palliative care is wonderful but it can only do so much. What if your body develops a resistance to all the pain medications? Where would that leave you?

I would move to Oregon in a heartbeat if necessary.