Hi All:

I'm still trying to catch up on all the messages I can here. So much info!

I saw my rheumy today. My right heel/ankle/Achilles tendon area has been
swollen & in pain for a few mos now, to one degree or another. Last time I
was in to see him, I'd had surgery for a bone spur on one of my toes, & I
ended up w/ a nasty infection, possibly due to the methotrexate's affect on
my immune system.

The toe's healed up, so now we were able to address this other problem. I'll
have to look it up (it was a huuuuge long name), but basically, the RA is
messing w/ the Achilles tendon, & it needs to be dealt w/ *now*. He won't
inject it - he says it's a tricky area to inject, & one wrong move could
injure the tendon. He's had a ruptured Achilles himself, so he says he knows
how horrible it feels, & how long it takes to heal up. So, he upped my
methotrexate from 1mg/wk to 1.5mg/wk, & tomorrow, I have to go to our local
medical supply store & get one of those huge honkin immobilizer boots, so
that I can immobilize & rest that joint completely. He does't even want me
to stretch it. I've been in one of those boots before (bunion surgery), & I
don't relish having to wear one in the horrible heat we're having right now.
It got up to 96 F in north central Ohio today, & I haven't heard we're going
to have a cool-down anytime soon. Since I have very heat sensitive MS, that
means I'll be spending a lot of time in the house w/ the AC cranked up.
Bummer. Also kinda messes w/ my hopes of taking some dance classes this
summer. Maybe she'll let me start a couple wks into the session.

The dr really cracked me up today. As I was on the way out, he was trying to
remember why he started me on only 1mg of the methotrexate, when he normally
*starts* people at 1.5. I told him it was cos my old rheumy had me on that
dosage, & it was working well for me at that time. He said, "oh, that's the
guy who said steroids were better that methotrexate, right?" I said yeah,
that's the guy. After a brief pause, he then said, "did he also inform you
that the earth is *flat*?" I about lost it. He had that guy pegged.

Oh well - back to trying to catch up here. Stay cool & take care, everyone!
And thanks for listening.