I'm Sexy and I Know It...

What a difference 24 hours makes. Today was my first appointment for what I call my surgery rounds. I saw my Rheumatologist and I have to say the more I see him the more I like him. Yup, he's about my 3rd one within the last year but I think I have finally found a keeper.

I started Rituxan in April against my better judgement (I wanted to try Actemra). The first month was seriously a killer, between two huge doses of steroids and the obviousness of it being a cancer drug, well let's just say I wouldn't be a great cancer patient. I have never slept so many hours in my life as I did that month.

That said, holy shit, batman....it worked. Probably better than anything I have taken in years. Am I cured, uhm no! But a lot of what I'm still dealing with is deformed joints that have been damaged while trying to find the right meds. We are slowly addressing those issues one at a time (good times).

So you can imagine when I thought that I would need to stop taking Rituxan for my upcoming surgery I was pretty upset, for a couple of reasons. !.) Sometimes when you stop taking a med it loses its effectiveness. 2.) When I'm not on meds, RA gets to play...and it doesn't play fair.

Imagine my surprise when my rheumatologist started to figure out dates this morning after I told him the jist of the situation. I looked at him a little oddly and asked, "so I can have my Rituxan before surgery? and he said "Yes!" I didn't know whether to shout out loud or pass out and fall on the floor.

We are going to move to a 5 month schedule instead of a 6 month because I am starting to flare. This will work out perfectly with a surgery schedule if I can schedule for December and the 5 month window will work with exactly how long I'll need to be off my meds during the recovery.

So, long story short...I won't have to worry about my RA eating my joints while I'm recovering. I can't even begin to tell you what a load off my mind is. To not have to suffer on top of suffering is such a relief that I did end up shouting "YES!"

Let me tell you how exciting this news is...I have been swelling a lot in my feet and I have to wear compression stockings....not even that ruined my day. I'm just going to get a short, school girl skirt and let my thunder thighs do a little Brittany Spears routine....because I'm bringing sexy back....