New shirt....

for the Scarecrow.

The poor guy has had the same shirt for a couple of years now and it was sooo faded and wore out.

Here is is before. Shirt looks kinda whitish or gray.

Here he is now. The hubby was wearing this on Saturday at my sisters baby shower and was horrified. It has a huge hole on the front and a few small holes on the sleeves. Then he goes and wears it yesterday while he was fishing. I had to wash it before I put it on the scarecrow so it doesn't smell like fish and attracts animal friends. He still has no pants. Eventually I will find some for him.

Here is the original color of the faded shirt. Nice gray blue plaid. Notice how faded it got? It was tearing so easily. The sun had started to degrade it.

Off to West Point

And he's off. Watch out West Point. No Matt is not attending school there (as if I could afford it). He is joining his Boy Scout Troop 322 and other Scouts for the 51st West Point Camporee.

If you have never herd of West Point, it is a very prestigious military academy that is very hard to join. I don't ever see Matt attending school here. Seeing how he loves all things military, I figured he would enjoy this trip.

The camporee this year is held in memory of Army Second Lieutenant David Rylander. He died May 2, 2012 in Afghanistan when insurgents attacked his unit with an explosive device. Is is an Eagle Scout and attended West Point. We will be keeping David and his family in our thoughts and prayers this weekend.

There is going to be lots of competition events that will be graded at this camporee. Events such as how to properly apply US Army camouflage, knot tying, US Army Drill (that they will use at the closing ceremony), Grenade toss (dummy grenades people) and lots of others. All events are things that the military need to know and use.

There are also non-graded events such as displays of US military weapons (Matt should be drooling over these) and accessories. There will also be lots of demonstrations. They will see UH-60 helicopters fly in, a drill demonstration by the USMA Cadet Drill Team and a parachute demonstration by the USMA Cadet Sports Parachute Team. Sounds like this will be one fun, but busy weekend.

I am hoping one ofthe parents going from our troop takes some pictures. The hubby and I are not going. We will be childless this weekend. What will we do? hehe

The first things I saw when closing up Matt's pack. His Pooh lovie and his pillow. Guess the little boy is still in there somewhere.

Vectra DA results and what to do next

Last week my rheumy asked for me to get a new blood test called Vectra DA. The vampires take out three tubes a blood a month, what's another one. So I had the test done. Easy peasy for something that costs 900.00. Thankfully insurance covers it or I would never have had it done.

What the test does is gives a number to my RA's activity level. Lower the number the less active it is. I have been feeling pretty good recently, but that could also be this high dose of Tramadol, so I figured my RA was under control and that the Remicade has been working.

Boy was I wrong. I get a call today from my rheumy (it's always bad when he calls) and he tells me that according to this test, my RA is still very active and not as under control as we thought it was. He said that there is still a lot of inflammation that the normal blood work has not picked up.

We talked about what to do next. I am at the max dose for Remicade, so there is not raising that up. I asked him if we can make it every 4 weeks instead of every 6. He would like me to go on Actemera. It's a once a month infusion that only takes an hour to do instead of three hours like my Remicade infusions. It also goes after a different protein in my body that the Enbrel and Remicade do not. My rheumy said that this particular protein is very high and the Actemera is made to go after that.

So, for now I am having my Remicade raised every 4 weeks while I think about switching biologics. I just hate to hear that another medicine has failed. Having RA sucks. FURA!

Planning the Garden

Right now we have two small and one large raised beds, as well as five large pots, that we grow our veggies in. We need more room, so in the next couple weeks, we will be making one more large and one more small bed.

When I started growing my own veggies, our yard was small and five different levels. We lived on the side of a cliff. So, we grew in containers. We started with just tomatoes in five gallon buckets. Soon we added squash and peas.

Now we have a much larger (and fairly level) yard. Even though we live in a mobile home park, we still have a good sized lot. I believe ours is the biggest lot too. The park owner gave us permission to put in a garden. We have a side yard and a backyard, but our garden is only in the back.

This is the small bed behind our shed. The snap peas and shelling peas will be planted there. In the two pig pots I have some broccoli. My herbs are in the smaller pots. So far there is rosemary, curly parsley and cilantro. My poor scarecrow needs a new shirt. This one use to be a blue plaid. Now it is so faded and it is tearing very easily. Maybe he will get some pants this time too. LOL.

This is a view of the second small bed and the large bed. This small bed will have my tomatoes and basil. The large bed will have the onions, cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini. From this picture you can see where our two new beds will be put. A third small bed will go next to the one behind the shed. In that bed, our bush beans will be planted.

There will also be another large bed on the other side of our compost bin. In this bed our bell peppers, butternut squash and pumpkins will be planted.

The hubby and I built two trellises out of PVC pipe. One for the peas and one for the cucumbers. I used hemp twine to make the netting. This took me a bit to do, but I like how it came out. We will have to build another one for the butternut squash eventually.

What To Plant 2013

I have been so itchy to get into the garden. Being cooped up in the house all winter long drove me bonkers. I told my Rheumy that my goal was to be able to get into my garden and do it with no or as little pain as possible. Something about growing and tending to a garden that I find soothing and relaxing. I have no problems getting my fingers dirty.

I've been pouring over catalogs since January thinking about what I want to plant. I tend to always buy from Burpee though. One of these days I will try some heirloom seeds from one of the companies in this picture.

Here is a list of the plants that I will be starting from seed this year. I don't start my seedlings in my house, no room honestly, so I just sow them directly in the ground.

Snap Peas
Shelling Peas
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Slicing Cucumbers
Pickling Cucumbers
Pumpkin
Bush Beans
Sunflowers
Butternut Squash
Potatoes
Strawberries
Onions

I like to try at least a couple new veggies a year. Last year it was pumpkins, butternut squash and melons. This year, it is potato, onion, broccoli, and strawberries.

Every year we buy our tomato and pepper plants from a farm near by. We haven't had any luck starting them from seed. I also like to buy my herbs as plants. I also bought my broccoli as plants this year as well.

These arethe herbs I plan to get this year.

Rosemary
Thyme
Parsley
Cilantro
Basil
Dill
Spearmint

Our spearmint plan from last year came from my dad as a tiny cutting. It grew huge. However, it died over the winter. Dad said it would be ok, but because i had grown it in a huge pot and not directly in the ground, I have a feeling that is why it did not make it. The hubby wanted to bring it in the house (I honestly had no clue where to put it cause it was in a big pot), but dad said not to. Oh well, we live and learn.

Now off to finish my plans to where to plant my veggies.

My MRI and the results

So, this past Tuesday I had my MRI. They booked me an "open" MRI because I am claustrophobic. Thank goodness I had them book it, because if this was the "open" MRI, I don't want to know what the regular one looks like. The tube you go in was still way to closed in for me.

They had me laying on my belly with my arms bend above my head. Because I was having one of my hands done, they had that in a tube thingy all stuffed with pads so that I don't move. That kinda freaked me out. Not having control of my hand. I was given a nice comfortable headset and some nice country music to listen to. Was hard trying to lay still when a good song came on and I wanted to dance. LOL

I spent the whole MRI with my eyes closed tight because I knew that if I opened them, I could see how close the walls were. It was bad enough that my elbows were touching the sides. I was only in the tube up to my chest, but that was enough to freak me out.

30 minutes of loud banging, clanking and whirring, and I was free from my restraints and free to leave. Good thing too cause my neck and shoulders were killing me. I also had an itch from hell on my nose. LOL

Yesterday, my Rheumatologist called with the results. The whole reason I had the MRI was to see if there was any widespread inflammation to maybe explain all the pain I have been in. My blood counts have been good and I shouldn't be in pain.

There was no wide spread inflammation. The third joint of my middle finger was a little swollen and there is damage to the second joint on my ring finger. That I knew. It is very puffy and kinda warped. Because there is no wide spread inflammation and my blood counts show that my RA is pretty much under control, he said that I do have Fibromyalgia (Chronic pain). Guess it is a good thing to know what has been causing my pain and that it isn't all in my head.

I see my Rheumy in 3 weeks and we will go over this more then. *sigh* The joy that has become my life.

My Latest Rheumy Appoinment

This past Tuesday I had an appointment with my Rheumatologist. Of course Mother Nature decided that she was going to drop a bunch of snow on us that day, so I had the hubby drive me. I hate driving in the snow. I should be use to it after living in New England my whole life, but I hate it.

I got to my appointment late, thanks to this moron who was going 15 miles per hour. The roads were not that bad honestly and I only live 10 minutes away from the hospital that my doctor is at.

So, I get called in and my hubby decided to come in with me, mostly to make sure I tell the doctor everything and to make sure I tell him the truth. I have been in a ton of pain, but I am afraid of sounding like a hypochondriac when I ask for pain meds. I know I shouldn't feel this way, but I do.

The doctor asks how I feel. I tell him I am really sore. Hubby looks at me, then at the doctor and tell him that it took me 20 minutes to make the bed the other day and all I did was swear and make noises like I was in pain, which I was. He asks me where I hurt. I tell him my hips, back, elbows, wrists, ankles, feet, toes, hands, fingers, and shoulders.

When he was squeezing all my joints to feel any inflammation or whatever he does. I swear he enjoys doing that just to see me squirm and make faces. He squeezes the tips of my fingers and it really hurt. The tips of my toes have been hurting a bunch too and have swelled up so much that I have blisters on them thanks to my shoes.

He tells me that the tips of my fingers and toes are not normal RA inflammation spots. Same with my hips, back and my shoulder blades. He feels the rest of my joints, my elbows, my knees. My god was I horrified when he asked to lift my pant legs. I was so freaking hairy cause I hadn't shaved in like 2 months LOL.

He doesn't feel any inflammation and the joints are not hot to the touch. All nice and cool. According to my blood counts, my RA is doing good and pretty much under control. He did up my infusions from ever 8 weeks to every 6 weeks and the does from 400 to 600mgs.

He also said that I more than likely have Fibromyalgia, a chronic wide spread pain. Joy of Joys! Something else I do not want. It would explain all the pain in the wrong joints, the extreme tiredness I have and how the pain gets way worse at night. My sleep at night is really bad. I wake up constantly in pain and am always rolling over to try and get comfortable.

I have to have an MRI of one of my hands, my left one hurts the most, so see if there is any inflammation. If there is none, than he knows I do have Fibro. For now, I am going to look into alternative ways to treat the pain, like acupuncture and massage.

He also gave me a new prescription for Tramadol. This time it is the extended release 100mg with the option to go up to a max of 300mg. I took 1 pill (100mg) that night and it really did nothing. I tried the same does the next night, that again did nothing. So the next night I upped it to 2 pills, then I started to notice a difference. I am still sore, but nothing like I was before. I am going to keep it at this dose until I get worse. I seem to always build up an immunity to all my meds. I think most people do anyway.

I am still really tired and sleep still sucks. I have to take my naps everyday and try to take at least an hour long one. Two hours is better, but it depends on when I fall asleep.

A friend of mine noticed yesterday while we were walking, that I seemed to me a bit more chipper. I know it is because my pain was a ton better and so I wasn't so focused on how I was walking so I wasn't in so much pain.