Nappies. The bane of every parents life. For a Mummy of twins...its been a very expensive bane adn one that is becoming more painful by the day. When I was diagnosed with RA I thought about my Mum, in a wheelchair despite having 10's of operations to have joint replacements and spinal operations, but I had never really given any thought to how she got there.
Mum was diagnosed in 1978 or 1979 (Dad is a little hazy), I was born 1981 and my sister in 1982 so we grew up being raised by a Mummy with RA and serious sero-positive RA at that, a strong lady with a wicked sense of humour who never went into remission and trialled most of the drugs available to us now (including Enbrel). Mum had her first hip replacement in 1985, bless her. So, this morning as I crocodile wrestled my ds (dear son) to the ground on the changing mat attempting to grasp his legs with my left hand and cleaning with my right whilst singing along with Raa Raa the naughty lion (CBeebies programme), I thought about my Mum (sorry Mum, not the most appropriate moment). Changing nappies has become very painful, the very movement of holding the legs in the air whilst I clean and change seems to twist my wrists and fingers in ways that before, never bothered me. But now...Ouch! My dd (dear daughter) is a typical girl, doesnt like to be dirty and will attempt to hold her legs in the air, whilst pulling off her socks of course (which I have to find later and replace), but at least she tries to help her Mummy who is singing through this simple task "Ouchie, Ouchie Ouchie Ouchie". I sing alot, random words, but as long as my kids laugh and find me funny, ill keep it up.
Mum must have struggled with nappies too, at least I have DMARDS cursing through my veins, although not quite working well yet, Mum had steroids. So although she was pumped on steroids to control her RA the damage was being done, so it must have been as painful for her, perhaps even more so. Never thought about Mum like this before, my sister and I just accepted it, but since my pain has been ramped up I've been thinking about Mum alot and the advances in medicine that we have seen. Numerous DMARDs and 9 biologics (at last count) on offer to us, with research being done all the time. All Mum had was steroids and pain control. So as scary as it is for me ann how I wish I could talk to her about it, it must have been terrifying for Mum. Changing nappies is just one of the many daily (or 3 or 4 times daily per child in the case of nappy chnaging) which I find so hard and painful. A year ago, I never gave these tasks a second thought. Its just another way that RA has affected my life.
In the meantime I will look forward to the end of nappies...although toilet training twins...hmmmm...think id rather have the wrestle thanks :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment