Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Ankylosing Spondylitis and how to deal with it

Wow, really, I'll try to get better at updating! :) You know, it's been a really tough year medically. My back got all messed up when I was in Vancouver. In looking for a cause of that...well, we found out why. I've been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. Oh hooray.

It's a type of arthritis that affects usually the spine and causes inflammation which can lead, in severe cases, to a fused spine. But hopefully it won't get that bad for me. It does most likely mean chronic pain and flare-ups. And there's nothing they can do about it. Exercise, good posture and pain management...that's about it.

I've been thinking for a while about what I want for my third tattoo. For over a year I've been thinking about Randy Pausch and his comment about choosing to be a Tigger or an Eeyore. If you look two posts below this one you'll see my explanation. Well, this latest just made me want it even more. So this last Sunday, after careful research of artists, I got my third tattoo. :) I'm very happy with it.