Friday, January 10, 2014

Introducing Me!

So, now it's my time to YoBro you.

You've probably been thinking, "Oh I've been reading 2 posts about this weird crazy chick already and she mentioned something about autoimmune stuff but hasn't said anything about it, and when is she going to?!"

Well, to answer that question....now.

It all started when I was 6 years old and was complaining of pain in my ankles. My mom thought nothing of it, but after a few months they took my to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and it was there that I was Diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA).

You're probably thinking:
 1. What in the world is that?
and
2. I didn't know kids could get that, I thought it was just for old people?

To answer those questions...
1. Basically, it's where your cells attack themselves and it causes joint pain, swelling, and stiffness making it hard for kids to move.
2. It's actually the most common type of arthritis in kids and it ranges from them experiencing symptoms for a few months or for the rest of their lives. I experience the latter.

Back to the story now.

Everything was fine and dandy until I so wonderfully hit puberty. It was then that my body started to, well, for lack of better words...defeat itself. I had to quit most of the sports I played and it became so bad that I was out of school for a few months. When I was 14 they performed a bone marrow biopsy (they stuck a needle in my spine and took marrow out. As seen on Grey's Anatomy and House. I was sound asleep though!) and a lymphendectomy (they went in and got a lymph node, once again...I was asleep). My Blood counts were so out of whack and insane that they wanted to do these procedures to make sure I didn't have Cancer...which they thought at one point. After all of the results came back, they found that I was being treated for the wrong disease and that the medicine being used was slowly shutting my body down (you know that Enbrel commercial...yep that's the drug). I was then diagnosed with Psoriatic (affects my skin) Systemic (affects my organs) Juvenile Rheumatoid (affects my bones) Arthritis.

Now that I'm older (I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22) I can drop the Juvenile part, it makes it a tad bit easier to say when explaining it to people.

After years of finding meds, getting on them, finding I'm allergic to them, and then trying more....we finally found one that works (Yay!).

I now live a wonderful, drug filled life, with hopefully no more major health scares. A few emotional and irrelevant details have been left out of the story for your benefit. Yet, should they become important or relevant, I will share them.

Now that you've been YoBro'd, I hope I haven't freaked you out.

Imagine how the guys I've dated felt when I told them that story...

No, that's not why I'm single....well....maybe just a little....

:)


1 comment:

  1. Love finally reading about this! I knew about you being sick but not the whole story

    ReplyDelete