Seronegative Spondylo....what?!

You know that feeling that you get when you are completely overwhelmed and you don't even know where to start? Well I have been feeling like that since yesterday morning at 8am. Since then I have had what seems to be numerous appointments and an overload of information with some big decisions. So those few sentences make it sound like it has all been awful, it's really not. Let me explain...

Yesterday I was finally able to get into a rheumatologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, after 6 months of waiting. This new doctor was very clinical and kind of difficult to follow. Although within 10 minutes of the appointment he was able to figure out what no other rheumatologist has been able to do in probably the last 10 years, since my colitis diagnosis. We are running tests to confirm a new arthritis diagnosis of Seronegative Spondyloarthropathies. Super overwhelming to take it all in as it is hard to say! It is a form of arthritis that affects the ligaments. How we, or I should say he, figured this out is by the iritis (inflammation of the eye), colitis and back pain. The good news about this is that there is specific TNF blockers available to treat this form of arthritis, hence why no other TNF blockers have helped me in the past. The bad news is that I was highly encouraged to not go through with the foot surgery I have scheduled for February 1st. Due to the ligaments in the ankle that would be worked on during surgery and just surgery in general, in this new form of arthritis about 80% of patients experience a flair of the entire body. No thanks to that. It's mind blowing to think that if I had not seen this new rheumatologist I would have gone through with the surgery and not known about any of this. Thank God! Although I truly think something needs to be done with my feet in the future, I will be getting a second opinion from a Mayo surgeon on the 5th when I return for a full day of appointments and to hopefully start a new treatment. To end my full day yesterday I had a doctor attempt to remove fluid from my left knee. They are high tech at Mayo and even use an ultra sound machine. Well the procedure turned into 15 minutes of her with a needle in my knee trying to drain what looked like fluid but turned out to be tissue. So I left with 80 mg of cortisone and one hell of a sore knee. I looked like a freaking drunk trying to walk today with my knee going out randomly on me.

Today I shared all of this with Dr. J. He said that it makes complete sense to now focus on the gut and to control the inflammation that is stemming from the gut. Like I say if the gut is not happy the body is not happy. I started two anti inflammatory supplements and will be seeing a nutritionist next week at his office to get serious about an anti inflammatory diet. I have been telling myself I really need to get serious about making better food choices, now is the time. So if I ever tell you that we should go out to eat or have crappy food, I give you the right to slap me back to reality and tell me how much of a bad choice that would be! It's time to use the kitchen aid blender for something besides cookies. On another not so great note I found out that the inflammation that was almost gone a month ago in my left eye is now back. I'm back to dilating my eyes twice a day and doing steroid drops every 2-3 hours. I'm hoping that once I can get on a treatment to control the massive inflammation going on in my body that the iritis will get better.

Are you all overwhelmed from all of that information? It's the story of my life lately. Normal is boring.