On Monday I had a follow-up appointment with my rheumatologist. Since we just got Felix, we didn’t want to leave him with anyone else. So all five of us piled into the van and headed down!
On the ride down, I sat in the backseat with the pups with Felix right next to me in case he had trouble with the long car ride. He was totally fine and just cuddled up with Hestia the whole time! Alice was nervous as usual, though. I did some name training on the car ride down, but Alice wasn’t interested in treats.
After a 1 hr 15 min ride, we arrived at my rheumatologist, and Brad stayed in the car with Alice and Felix while Hestia and I went to my appointment. Brad got some pictures of Alice and Felix with his new wide-angle lens that has almost a fisheye effect.
My appointment went well. The Plaquenil is working well for my hands and back, so we are continuing on that. My hips are a different kind of arthritis so they’re unchanged. I explained how well I’m doing with my hands and back, and that for my hips I’m walking as much as I can, but if I have to walk or stand more than 15 min at a time, I’m using the wheelchair.
The doctor asked me about taking my Celebrex, which is an NSAID, and I replied that I haven’t had to take it much. He wanted me to take it more so I could walk more. But it has the propensity to upset my stomach, so I don’t like to take it. Then he said I could take another medicine to make it not hurt my stomach as much (it’s one that can have serious, system-wide side effects). I tried to explain how I am not upset to use a wheelchair, and would rather use a wheelchair than take two extra meds every day. He was surprised by this, but accepted it eventually.
I know that to most people, a wheelchair seems like the end of life or something, so they will do anything possible to avoid it. But for me, it’s a minor inconvenience. I’d much rather use a wheelchair than be nauseous or taking a ton of medications.
We concluded the appointment by realizing that I probably am more likely to have rheumatoid arthritis than psoriatic based on how I responded to this medication. But we still don’t know for sure. And the best news is that I don’t have to go back for 6 months!!!
When I got back out to the van, everyone was happy to see me. Brad took some pics of our seating arrangement, which was slightly different as I put Alice on my lap and had Felix and Hestia on the seat. Alice is the one who needed the most support for the car ride. Felix and Hestia just slept snuggled up together the whole ride home.
When we got home, we spent about an hour hanging out in the yard with the pups. We had a really good time! Alice is starting to accept Felix a little more, and Felix and Hestia were playing a ton. Brad played around with his new lens some more, too! And he got some really interesting shots. At one point, Felix got very, ahem, excited about humping Hestia and Brad got a not-so-PG shot that I’m not including below. It is hilarious, though, so if you want it, let me know and I’ll send it to you privately.
In the pictures I am wearing a white dress with blue botanical drawings. Felix and Alice are sable and white Japanese Chin. Hestia is a black and white Japanese Chin. Brad is wearing dark colors.
The pictures start with Felix and Alice in the car, with some spectacular closeups of Felix, and one of Alice’s paw really huge in the center of the picture with her body smaller in the background. Then there are some of me with the pups in the car. There are several of Felix and Hestia running in the yard, and shots of Alice climbing on Brad’s shoulder. The rest of the pictures are of me holding Felix, and of me reaching my hands out to the camera for some neat effects with the wide-angle lens.
