Tuesday, 11 April 2000
.....
Almost exactly a year ago, I was hit with my latest debilitating medical problem: Inflammatory arthritis.
My doctor explained the treatment options as being a tradeoff between "toxicity and efficacy", or, in essence, I could take the nasty symptoms of my arthritis or choose from a wide range of nasty symptoms from various drugs.
After two months of being unable to move, I opted for the drug symptoms.
Now it's a year later, and I'm taking only one drug (well, with occasional additions), doing occupational and physical therapy, and experiencing a diminished amount of pain.
One extremely tedious aspect of the kind of arthritis I have is that both hot days and cold days...well, they suck. Basically, I have stiffness due to "hardening" and stiffness due to swelling, and the cold makes the hardening worse and the heat makes the swelling worse.
But it's spring in this northern temperate clime, and sometimes there are moments of genuine grace.
One occured the other day: I played Frisbee for the first time in about two years.
I couldn't really run around, and certainly couldn't dive, but I could wing that sucker (for a suitibly gentle interpretation of 'wing') and I could catch most tosses without hurting (much). The evening was clear, lightly breezy, cool, and comfortable.
We fed ducks and saw geese.
I played a reasonable game of Frisbee.
And I didn't feel horrible afterwards.
I've been learning how to store up these moments when me, my body, and the motion of the night air are all in charity with each other.
This is Frisbee interlude <http://monkeyfist.com/articles/424>