Yup. That's me apparently. Top left. According to these extraordinary trading cards given away with Galactic Zoo Dossier last year.
So there I was on Wednesday, having a whale of a time trying to find a parking place outside the rheumatoid arthritis day clinic so that I could be infused with the bi-monthly dose of the fearsome drug that enables me to function like a (fairly) human being.
Another half an armful of blood taken to be tested to make sure I haven't fallen to bits in the last month and then sit in a chair and do all the crosswords in the paper while the infusion goes into my other hand, while trying not to spill the cup of coffee that the lovely nurses supply me with...
2 hours later and I am home again with a hole in my bruised wrist, but with joints that don't ache as much. So that's me set for another couple of months...
Now. Why have I written all this? Because as I understand it, it is being recommended that people with RA are only allowed to have one try at these fearsome anti-tnf drugs. And if they don't work then that's it. Goodbye.
It has taken 4 years of trying drug after drug to try to suppress this rotten disease that I have and three different anti-tnf drugs until I found one that actually let me be human again. So I think it is blimmin' unfair.
Right what else has this elderly cult goddess been up to this week? Cleaning out the shed. That's what. Full of stuff that needed to go to the tip. With the aid of someone else though. Half the stuff I couldn't lift or move. Feeble thing..There's lots of room in the shed now and I found a lot of things that I'd forgotten were there.
That'll do for now. I'm going to Womad with theNeff tomorrow and I shall hopefully be able to meet up with my lovely publisher Rob and have a natter..
Toodle-pip....
2 comments:
Oh what other joys are this government going to bring in to supposedly save money??
They are shooting themselves in the foot. Not allowing people to try the drugs and if they then do not work, try another will mean that they will have lots and lots of people with increased pain, disability etc meaning more dla payments, more strain on social services let alone less quality of life for the poor bugger with RA or similar. Grrrr... anything to save a buck in the short term eh?
Others who have RA ( friends ) have taken yonks to find the right meds too... similar to most chronic conditions, it is not an exact science. Bringing in this policy will affect the people who really need the help and in the long term cost more dosh. Ministers are beyond stupid....
My, oh my. Since having the thrill of making your virtual acquaintance after all these years, I see that I've now scored three in the Astral Folk Goddess sweepstakes. I met Bridget St. John in 1974 when she was waiting tables at Kenny's Castaways on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. She was delighted to hear that I'd bought her album "Songs for the Gentle Man" at the Fort Polk Post Exchange a couple of years before, when I was doing my bit for God, Country and President Nixon. Mary Hopkin's sister, Carole, was one of my housemates in the Hamptons in the summer of 1979, and I met Mary when she came to New York for a visit. She seemed a bit disppointed when I said the song I remembered her for wasn't "Those Were the Days" so much as "Temma Harbour", which brightened many a grim Massachusetts February day as I watched the snow blow by my dormitory window and heard her sing about climbing a coconut tree, catching a fish and lighting a fire. Anyway, I must be leading a charmed life to have made the acquaintance of three AFGs, and hope that if and when I'm ever called to account, it will weigh in my favor.
I'm very sorry to hear of your struggle with RA, which I presume is the "serious health problem" referred to in Adrian Belew's blog. I hope the drug has good effect, and will add your name to the prayer list at Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, provided you don't mind your ongoing needs being the subject of the orisons of a bunch of Yanks who may be on the verge of ejection from the Anglican Communion for having the effrontery to be too nice to gays and lesbians.
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