Downtime

I made it through exams, and am officially 1/6 done law school (yay!).

The exams themselves were challenging but doable, and the most difficult aspect was definitely the physical. Since finishing on Friday, though, I've been getting more sleep, resting my hands and spending as much time as possible outside, and things are looking much better. The swelling in my right hand has even gone down a bit.

Henry has been accompanying me on my walks:

(I think Henry looks hilarious here!)

He also distinguished himself at my parents' Christmas party by saying a particularly exuberant hello to a friend who happened to be holding a glass of red wine (on a carpeted floor). Oops.

Besides walking, I've also been reading for pleasure, cooking interesting things, and knitting a scarf after finally catching on to my friend's patient instruction. I'm using wool from local farmers who use no dyes, so you choose your yarn by the name of the sheep. How cute is that?

I tend to think the word "balance" is over-used, but the last few days have reminded me what a difference it makes when I take good care of myself. I don't just mean food - actually, I haven't been eating nearly as well as I usually do, but there's no point depriving myself at Christmas - but rather taking the time for rest and thinking and the things I love. And I've still got a week and a half off!

Prednisone fail

The snow has abated, school has re-opened and I've written two of my six exams. Now I'm preparing to write property tomorrow; I think it'll be the hardest. It will be good to get it out of the way.

I'm also actively ignoring the fact that the prednisone push my rheumatologist ordered to help get me through exams did absolutely nothing.

Thankfully, I've been okay typing anyway - I think the adrenaline carries me through. Still, the fact that the prednisone had zero effect has left me feeling a little uncertain. It's been years since I've taken prednisone, and it always did the trick in the past. Now, even the high dose I took for several days last week did nothing to de-puff my hand or lessen the pain and stiffness in my wrists and elbow. All it did was keep me up at night (not that I needed any help with that).

I don't see my rheumatologist until February. I know she'd happily see me earlier, but I think I'd rather take that time to start paying closer attention to my symptoms and think about what, if anything, I would like to change in my treatment.

We both know that Enbrel isn't doing as much as it used to. I'll have been taking it for eight years this January, which is a long time in the world of biologics. Add to that the fact that I stopped and restarted twice - once for dental surgery and once when I had trouble getting coverage - and my rheumatologist thinks its effects have been weakened significantly. But she also thinks patients experience diminishing returns with each new biologic they try, and I don't know if I really want to make that change yet.

Oh well. Three exams left, and then two weeks' holiday full of food, fun, and Henry - more than enough to keep my mind off my joints.

Snowed in

Entirely. Our mayor is considering calling a state of emergency.

I'm currently curled up with my books and laptop in the pub around the corner from my building (I just drank an entire pot of Earl Grey, which may not have been the best idea). I had to get out of the house, even if I am just a block away.

The pub is one of the few businesses left open. Banks are closed. Shops are closed. All city buses have been pulled off the roads. Schools are closed - so far, my first two law school exams have been cancelled. Ambulances and police cars are getting stuck in the snow. The plows just aren't able to keep up, and many who drive can't actually find their cars (and once again I'm thankful for my underground parking!). We've gotten more than a meter of snow, and it doesn't look like stopping soon.
As much as nobody was prepared for this one, I kind of love snowstorms.

I love the muffled silence that descends over the city.

                                                                                       My campus.


I love the sense of spontaneous community. The groups of strangers joining together to push cars - and ambulances - out of snowbanks, neighbours lending shovels, walkers exchanging laughs when they pass each other on the narrow sidewalk tracks and neither wants to force the other into the snow.

I love the texts that have been flying back and forth with friends and family members - do you have enough food? did you get home safely?

I love being forced to walk everywhere, even though climbing around in waist-high snow isn't exactly great for my hips.

Welcome to winter, I guess! (And one more photo from today for good measure):

A few of my favourite things

This week's Patients for a Moment theme centres around the things we can't live without - things that empower us to live well with chronic illness. What a cool topic: I’m excited to read your lists and see what helps you through each day. It also forced me to stop and think about what I really need. Sure, there are lots of things I want (like maybe some new black heels?), but there are also a few things I really wouldn’t want to go without. I’m thankful I don’t have to.

Here they are:

1) A tub! This is always on my list of must-haves when I’m apartment-hunting, which hopefully I won’t be doing again for a while. My ex-boyfriend lived in a cute basement apartment with a brand new kitchen and a big back yard, but… only a shower! I love my tub; sometimes I just need to soak my achy bones.

2) Extra pillows. I sleep on my left side. Two pillows go under my head, one props up my right hip, and I stick the fourth beside me so I can keep my right hand elevated. Me + only one pillow is not a pretty picture.

3) Indoor parking. Luckily, I’ve got this at my apartment, too. Otherwise, chipping the ice off of my car in the mornings would do me in before I even started my day.

4) My suction-powered bottle opener. Not a daily necessity, of course, but a wonderful tool nonetheless. My parents got me this for Christmas last year. You pop it over a bottle of wine, twist the screw down into the cork (which requires next to no effort) and then the cork just magically gets sucked out of the bottle. Before this, I couldn’t open a bottle of wine myself (and there may or may not have been tears the few times I tried).

5) Tiger Balm. I use this when something, usually my back, is really hurting and likely to make sleep difficult. I don't know if it actually eases pain, or if it's just that the mildly pleasant tingling sensation is enough to distract me, but that it does, and it usually lasts long enough that I'll fall asleep before it wears off. My massage therapist started using it on me and I liked it so much I picked up a tin for myself. (When I was a kid, I used to think it was made out of actual tigers, and swore I'd never buy any. It is not.)

So there you have it - considering how hard and how much it's snowing today, I'm extra happy to have number 3! What are your must-haves?