There are some gentlemen out there....

My faith in human kind was restored this morning when a very kind man offered me his seat on a busy central line train at 8:10am and proceeded to hep me take my back pack off so I didnt fall trying to do it myself n a moving train. Unfortunately I cant say the same for the commutors on the east bound district line this evening but thats life!

I have had a good day today. I started my new role and met the team I am going to be working with.  They all made me feel very welcome. I think im going to like it there.

Pain has been managable today and I have kept on top of it with my cocodamol.

I got to travel part of the way home with the lovely Bal. Its nice to be working in the same building again!

I can't wait to get home to see my wonderful family and hear about my monsters day at school. Harry monster has had his school disco tonight. they all seem so grown up but they have made me one proud mama. Time tonight to start preparing for our family adventures in Crete.  I hear the weather is good and warm which is a bit of a contrast to the weather here in the UK at the moment.  hopefully the warm air will be good for my joints. As a point of note to anyone travelling to Greece or he Greek Islands you can only take codiene based pain killers with you if you have a letter from your GP or take an alternative, I'll only be taking tramadol.

Its not just an old persons disease!

One of my frustrations and I know the frustrations of other younger arthritis sufferer's is the common misconception that it is an old persons disease.  It's not. I know a number of younger people struggling through day to day routines trying to find the most appropriate and effective treatment to alleviate pain. There are a number of websites, Facebook groups and support groups about. More awareness needs to be made. Younger people with OA tend not to be eligible for replacement surgery which they ultimately need, due to their age and the life span of the joints. Consequently they live in pain with limited mobility. 

Just my rant for the day.Time to get of my soap box! x

Time to Start Blogging!

Hello!

I've decided to create a blog to help me with living with osteoarthritis. Please bear with me as I figure out how to work this blogging out!! 

I'm 32 years old and have had problems with my knees since I was 12 years old. I have had numerous operations over the years with the most recent being a bilateral arthroscopy on 2nd March. I had been told previously that I need knee replacements but this would not be possible due to my age. After the surgery the consultant came to see me and advised that my only option would be bilateral full knee replacements. Needless to say I was and am still gutted. I have 3 wonderful children, Harry is 5 nearly 6 and twins George and Amelia are 4.

I can only walk using elbow crutches and take co-codamol and tramadol for the pain. Due to my asthma I am unable to take diclofenic.

We are now venturing into the world of blue badge and disability freedom pass applications. DLA enquiries and weighing up the options of knee replacements and finding out what 'help' there is out there for someone with osteoarthritis who doesn't fit the text book definition.

I've got some snazzy crutches in different colours! If you need to use walking aids then why not have some snazzy or pretty one! Switch Sticks are great and brighten up what are dowdy walking aids. I'll post a pic when I get a decent one!

One way of getting through the pain is to have something to look forward. I set little goals to look forward to. We have just enjoyed a very blustery weekend visiting family in Scarborough, celebrating my Grandma's 80th Birthday, my mums and my aunts birthday. I baked cakes for the celebrations. Baking is a great stress relief and I bake sitting down so I don't get into too much pain standing as I can only stand for a limited time.

I was a bit apprehensive about people seeing with on my sticks, I know my parents knew and had seen me on them before and friends and family down here in Essex know but Grandma hadn't seen me and neither had some other member's of the family. I get a bit tired of explaining I have the OA and find myself avoiding situations where I may have to explain myself. It was all good though. I was great to be back in Yorkshire with my family. The kids loved it and I have to give a huge amount of thanks to my beloved husband Paul for driving the 5 hours there and 5 hours back. What a star!

Next thing for me to look forward to is a start a new job on Wednesday. I am hoping it will be a more 'me' job. If I am happy in my job then hopefully that positivity will pull through in my battle against the OA. I also have a family holiday to Crete to look forward to. This will be our first family holiday abroad as a family an the first with my limited mobility. We have arranged assistance at the airport so fingers crossed all will be well and we will have some wonderful adventures!