I have been pecking away on my latest art piece, still, and it is very slow going. I realize that the past few months have been very unproductive ones in terms of art, and I have got to try and do better. Truth is I have been flaring up with arthritis for months now, with very little let up in symptoms. Lots of fatigue, and pain, more fatigue, and more rest, and then more pain from resting. It is a cycle that is hard to beat. Add to it the disk issues, and all I've been able to do is crawl to a horizontal space at the first available moment following a bout of standing or sitting, usually with a bag of frozen okra in my pants to numb my sciatic nerve. Not good. Not being able to maintain artistic productivity is self-defeating and disheartening, to say the least.
Because the sciatic nerve thing flared so badly last week, I gave it some extra prednisone and it immediately calmed down and behaved itself. In fact, the RA did, too, and I felt better all over. Amazingly so. I was able to come home from work, feed the "farm," and jump back into my artwork. Felt like the old days when I used to be able to work on art more frequently, when the disease was better managed. Still have pain, but nothing like the type that competes with every thought for immediate attention. If only prednisone was a safe drug to take long term...but it isn't. The daily maintenance dose of prednisone I take, already too high, has caught up with me and is no longer managing the arthritis on a daily basis. Or, disease activity is worse. Or, the biologic med I currently take has stopped being effective. Or, or, or.
Today at the rheumatologists I got another biologic infusion that is most likely not doing much to help at this point, and the decision was made to switch to a new drug next month. It is a biosimilar to one I took a few years ago that worked for a while before stopping, so maybe it will do something. It is also great as I won't have to miss work to get it as it is just a shot I will take at home twice a month. Will it be better than what I am on now? I don't know. Worse? I don't know. Will there be a reaction to it? I don't know. Will it take time to work, during which time things could get worse before they get better? I don't know. Until then, prednisone waits in the wings for when I just can't stand the constant pain levels anymore and I need a break from it.
"Santa, I've been a good patient...can I have the holidays off from this misery and get my art mojo back? Please? I really need to complete the current piece. Then I want to make...and...and...and..."
Off to feed the farm now, and then stitch. THe Pred Forecast predicts I will be able to stay awake longer than 8pm tonight -- needle will be on fire! Unless I can't. Cheers.