Invisible Illness week

I first saw this on my friend Patti Edmon's blog called Altered Attic. 

Now I've never made a secret of my illness, which I was born with, but, unlike Patti's illness, mine is not invisible, especially if you know where to look.  Just peruse many of my tutorials and you'll see deformed hands in action.

It didn't take any time at all to find a photo of my deformed thumb and "bloated" wrist.  You used to be able to see the wrist bone below my pinky finger, but now it is only a memory.   And that's not fat, either, dear friends because that's my "good" hand, the one they operated on to find the problem was not carpal tunnel.  Of course, I also appear to have  very dirty/inky fingernails in this photo, something I'm not used to, although in this case, I guess it was a badge of inky goodness.

How about an out of focus photo of the hand that was not operated on!

Here's one showing the bone that protrudes from my left thumb.

For those who aren't aware, I was born with a rare form of arthritis.  Apparently the word "arthritis" means different things to different people.  I was always told it meant "inflammation of the joints."  According to the CDC:

While the word arthritis is used by clinicians to specifically mean joint inflammation it is used in public health to refer more generally to more than 100 rheumatic diseases and conditions that affect joints, the tissues which surround the joint and other connective tissue. The pattern, severity and location of symptoms can vary depending on the specific form of the disease. Typically, rheumatic conditions are characterized by pain and stiffness in or around one or more joints. The symptoms can develop gradually or suddenly. Certain rheumatic conditions can also involve the immune system and various internal organs of the body.

Seems my diagnosing doctor knew what he was talking about those many years ago when I was just a child and some of my joints became inflamed.

When told the news I was born with "no calcium around my joints," I assured my doctor I drank lots of milk.  He then asked me if I lost my finger, what could I eat or drink that would bring that finger back.

Then my grandmother, a voracious reader (my grandparents raised me and she was with me at the time), asked if there was medication I could take, since she had read about shots that could be given.  He said the shots and pills were designed to break the calcium up.  Since I didn't have any to break up, there was nothing he could give me for my disorder.  That put it all in perspective for me.  Birth defects are a real bummer!!

After that, it was an uphill battle to ignore the symptoms, and there are days when I simply can't.  But most of the time I'm lucky enough to put mind over matter and ignore pain, weakness, lupus side effects, and joints that simply don't move forward or backward like normal peoples' joints.

So if you meet me on the street, you'll see my deformed hands, my enlarged wrists, and my sometimes swollen knees  Just please don't turn away.  I'm a really nice person,
but you must overlook those quirky hand gestures I make when I talk.  In fact, I'm not sure if I talk more with my hands or my mouth!

So, today, although I'm a bit late, I'm joining Invisible Illness Awareness Week to bring awareness to all "INVISIBLE" diseases or disorders.  I hope those of you who have an invisible, and maybe not so invisible, illness will join the cause.