Ooo! Pretty!

Well, my cast came off this morning. I forget how painful moving joints post-op after they have been immobilized is! Yeeouch! I'm taking it easy until I can get in to see an occupational therapist. And now that the cast is off, I can schedule my physical therapy too. I see the rheumatologist again on the 24th of October, so I'll probaby get lab results and what not then.

So here's my wrist post op... the incisions really arent bad and they will heal up lovely!

back of wrist: tendon repair and scope

palm of hand: nerve release

I still have zero feeling in my armpit from the nerve block and pain pump, but that may (or may not) come back in its own sweet time.

My hand looks so skinny in that picture... LOL! Gotta love atrophe!

No News is Good News?

Still no word back about my labs or my echocardiogram. I see the rhuematologist again in October, so I'm sure we'll just go over everything then.

Anyone else out there feel like Autoimmune diagnosis is a huge game of "hurry up and wait?" Get these labs done! Now wait... Get your heart scanned! Now wait...



I knew a diagnosis would be time consuming, but I hate the feeling of not knowing.

Sleep...

Everything I have read lately regarding living a healthier lifestyle is pushing "get plenty of sleep." I understand that during sleep is when your body resets and repairs. When your own system uses all those healthy nutrients you've been supplying it with throughout the day to repair the damage you caused it while you were awake.

Sweet. Let me get right on that. I LOVE to sleep!

Oh wait... I can't sleep through the night. I can't get comfy, can't tune out annoying hubby's snoring, can't turn off my brain...

So I tried cutting out caffeine last week. I ended up being crabby AND exhaused all the time... and still not sleeping through the night.

Rheum prescribed flexiril as a sleep aid. I wake up groggy and am still not sleeping well through the night. I just want some coffee... And pop... And SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR!!!!!

I admit, I totally have a sugar addiction. Yeah, I've been toasting marshmallows almost everynight on my stovetop this week. Healthy? Not even close... But tastes so good!!

I know my nutrition and lifestyle needs an overhaul. Starting is the hardest part, right?

So where do I start? No more proccessed sugar? No more gluten? No more caffeine? No more dairy? And how do I convince my family to hop on board with this? Annoying hubby has already stated that he will not give up pasta and bread. Flat out. Not giving it up. Period. I know I can swap out with GF options, but will the stubbornness and lack of support drive me to give up before I've even started? All I can do is try... Decide my life is more important than giving in to whining and kick my own butt into gear!

Wait, What Do You Mean I'm Not Super-Human??

So in my last post I mentioned a little bit about myself. One aspect was my annoying husband. So while I have been laid up with my most recent "put body parts back on" episode, I had been counting on him to step up his game around the house. Even before my surgery to get my hand put back together, I had been trying to prep him...

Me: You know, I'll be back in a cast again after my surgery... which means I won't be able to do jack. No dishes, no laundry, no changing the small boy's diapers...

Him: Yeah, sure, no problem babe. I've got this!

Here we are 3.3 weeks post-op and he clearly doesn't "got this!" The house had grown more cluttered, toys and stuff everywhere, dog hair in the corners, dishes piled in the sink, dirty wet towels on the bathroom floor... and annoying hubby comes home from work and complains about the mess, yet doesnt do anything about it. So yesterday I had had enough. I am not supposed to be using my left arm at all - so I attempted not to use it too much. The cast isnt waterproof, so that makes for a good reminder not to use it.

Let me tell you... if one handed dishwashing becomes an Olympic sport, I am headed for GOLD baby. Tho I admit, it was intensely awkward and I can only imagine comical to watch.

Kitchen? Cleaned.
Bathroom? Cleaned.

I even began sorting through childrens toys to be put away in their rooms.

I was a Domestic Goddess. A cleaning Super Hero, if you will. I was... a complete idiot.



While my family is basking in the glow of a little corner of cleanliness in the house, I am paying for it today. I hurt. My surgery arm burns like blazes and the rest of me is just sore. I over did it. I knew when I did it I would pay for it later... but I was just tired of listening to the complaining. And I know that all I did by giving in and getting it done was enable annoying hubby. Squeeky wheel gets the grease. Complain enough and bum-arm wife will do it for me.

I'm not Super-Human. Right now I don't even feel sub-human.

THIS is the hardest part of dealing with FM, JIS, and whatever auto-immune goodies I have brewing in my lab results... Not being able to do it all. I read an article about "Living with Lupus" and it did a beautiful job explaining how you only have so many spoons to spend per day. Each activity of the day takes a spoon and there are only so many to spend in a day. I'm not ready to admit I have a limited amount of spoons.

Joint Insta-what-now?

Ok, here's the low-down on me.

I'm 32 years old, female, 176lbs, have 2 small children, an annoying husband and we eat like crap. I know, not exactly "healthy." I've been battling dislocating body parts since I was 11. Mostly it's my kneecaps that blow, but I had my left knee reconstructed back in 2003. My hands and fingers are hypermobile as well. All was well until 2007. That is when I had my first baby and all hell broke loose. I essentially undid my surgery with all the fun pregnancy hormones that make your connective tissues go wonky (relaxin, to be more specific). Then in 2009 I had another baby. 18 months apart. WHEW! More wreckage as now I have diastasis too (seperation of the abdominal wall, giving me that always pregnant appearance. HOT).

In 2010 I started to notice something wasn't "right." Moreso than just my wonky joints. I was tired. REEEEEEEEEEALLY tired. All the time. I went to an internist. He thought I might have sleep apnea and sent me to a pulmonologist. Then that jerk of a doctor said "Um, maybe you're tired because you have 2 small children at home..." Gee, thanks. So I let it go.

February 29, 2012. I dislocated my forearm and part of my hand... by taking towels out of the dryer. Clearly this was bad news... Went to an orthopaedic and was put in a cast for 8 weeks. Cast came off and... hmm... somethings wrong with my hand. Sent to a hand specialist! She schedules me for surgery and strongly urges me to see a rheumatologist. I heed her advice and one week after my hand surgery, I am in to see the rheum. He is the one who hands me the mystery diagnosis of Joint Instability Syndrome. Oh, I also have Fibromyalgia to boot. Not to mention having an abnormal ANA blood test, so I just got all my labwork done yesterday to rule out Lupus. I'll keep ya updated when those results are in. Also had an echocardiogram to make sure whatever is causing my connective tissues to be "wispy" isnt doing the same crap to my heart.

Piece of cake, right? Shit...

What's In A Name?

Picking a name for a blog is like naming a kid... You want it to be profound, to be unique, to be "just right" in capturing your hopes and dreams and putting forth the message you want to be heard, loved, accepted.

Keeping It Together.

Yep. It's completely on point. Keeping It Together is exactly what I'm trying to do right now. You see, dear reader, I have recently been diagnosed with Joint Instability Syndrome - thus the swanky "jointinstability.blogspot" web address. I'm literally trying to keep my body parts from falling off.

So what exactly IS Joint Instability Syndrome?

Hell if I know! But this blog will be my online playground where I plan to collect all the little tidbits I can about this oddity, and YOU get to come along for the ride! Or, if you've stumbled across this blog as you too have been diagnosed with JIS, welcome to the party! Hopefully what I learn and share may someday help someone else who is feeling lost, confused, afraid, and utterly alone too.