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Doggone it! I am on day 2 in a row of feeling major aches in all my joints! Saturday and Sunday the aches were there, but minimal. I didn’t even take any NSAIDs on Sunday. Yesterday and Today… OUCH!
I wonder if it’s affected by the weather. Saturday was a very nice day, Sunday was pretty nice, humid but not too hot. Monday and today… hot and humid summer hell weather.
Hands, knees, elbows, shoulders… ugh!!!

I want to whine whine whine. Sorry.

Edited to add: just realized it’s the one-month anniversary of my relationship with Fifth Disease. Yuck.

Saturday, July 17th, one day after my 3xth Birthday, I woke up feeling worn out. Not surprising, since we were on vacation, and had spent the week driving to Maine, going for walks, traveling around, getting seasick on a whale boat… and of course, I was an entire year older than I was two days earlier. But I felt *really* worn out. We were heading to Portland to see Christy and John and family. We had a great visit, but I did turn in to bed around 10 Saturday night, and still felt worn out when we got back to Philadelphia Monday night.

At that point, I took my temperature, and realized I had a low-grade fever (100.3 or so). I also developed gigantically swollen lymph nodes at the base of my skull (high on my neck). I spent the rest of the week feeling flu-like without the cold symptoms, and finally I made an appointment to see the doctor and went in on Friday, July 23rd. I’ve been going to a new doctor’s office for the past two years. My old practice was difficult to deal with. If you needed to be seen, you had to call, follow all the prompts, and wait for a call back– you couldn’t talk to a human. At my new practice, a human answers the phone. But, every time I go, I have to see a student first. It make my appointments about twice as long. But I figure it’s a trade-off. I wouldn’t even go to my old doctor’s office because it was so difficult to get through to them.

I sat in the office with the new student and we went over my symptoms. We both agreed it sounded viral. I usually don’t go to the doctor for a virus, but I was a little nervous that I could have lyme disease, since we do trek around the woods a bit. As I was sitting there, I noticed a red lacy rash on both my arms. I pointed it out to the student, and he proclaimed, “Contact dermatitis”. Now, I do get contact dermatitis from things like laundry detergent and lotions, but I am very careful about the products I use and haven’t had an outbreak in a while. When the doctor came in, we discussed how it was probably just a random virus that would run it’s course… and then I showed him my arms. He immediately said, “Oh FIFTH DISEASE!” I had heard of Fifth Disease as a childhood illness, but didn’t know more about it. After we determined that, I went home and researched it a little more. I discovered that because I had the visible rash, I was no longer contagious (and could feel better about going to work that weekend in a public library). And I also read some scary things on the Internet about terrible lingering joint pain and chronic fatigue symptoms.

By Sunday, July 25th, my joints were getting swollen. And when I say “joints” I don’t mean just some of them… I mean EVERY SINGLE JOINT IN MY BODY. Monday, I felt pretty incapacitated, but made it into my three hour shift at the library… hobbling like an 85 year old. I called my doctor’s office, because I wanted to make sure that if I was walking or trying to move, I wasn’t doing any more damage, and waited for a call-back. Tuesday, we were heading to the Poconos to meet Joe’s parents, and I was moving like I was 90 years old. My toes, my ankles, my knees, my hands (fingers, wrists), shoulders, etc were all swelling up. I even thought I was experience swelling in my forehead! My normally loose rings were stuck to my finger. I wished I had taken them off, but it is actually a useful gauge of how swollen I am. When we arrived in the Poconos, I shuffled to the bedroom and fell asleep. I am not normally a napper, but the fatigue and urge to nap is overwhelming.

Wednesday, July 28th, my joints felt a smidge better. What a relief! I also got the call-back from my doctor’s office. It was the young student calling. I asked him if Arnica, a homeopathic that my mother-in-law had, would help. He hadn’t heard of it. He said stick to Naproxen, and then he threw in this gem: “You’re kinda old to have Fifth Disease.” Thanks, kiddo! Should I have said, “You’re kinda young to be a doctor!”? Fifth Disease is most common in kids 5-15, but I just happen to be a lucky one who didn’t get it as a kid. I hope my mother-in-law is right– that I am helping that student be a better doctor, but I would have hoped he had looked it up before calling me and see that it does happen to adults and that the arthritis symptom is not uncommon. By the weekend, I felt probably 75% better. But now, over a week since I had the crippling arthritis, I am still at probably 75% better. I’d like to be 100% better. Yesterday, I was sore, but able to go out and do some errands and even went out letterboxing (although I did not walk much). Today, I have been pretty sore but overwhelmingly tired, and I took another short nap, which was not rejuvenating.

I’m a little down in the dumps, because I’ve read some things about this lingering not just for weeks, not just for months, but for YEARS. I am nervous. I wish there was something I could do to fight it. I am hoping to start an exercise regimen again soon, and I’m going to watch my diet. I’ve been taking naproxen, but I’d like to not have to take it– I wish there was something natural that helped the swelling. Maybe someone will read this and give me some advice?

Now I just typed so much that my hands are pretty sore. I would like to make some fun updates about our vacations, but I think that will have to wait for another day.

My hand on Wednesday, July 28th– my fingers are normally VERY skinny

My swollen toes and ankle on Wednesday, July 29th– again, my feet are super skinny

We finally saw Food, Inc.
I already knew a lot of the facts in it, having read one chapter of The Omnivore’s Dilemma (I only read one chapter because it was recalled from the library before I could get through it), and having seen The Corporation. But it was very powerful, and makes me want to make even more changes. We already don’t eat much meat. We rarely cook anything other than chicken or turkey at home. I get the chicken and turkey from Trader Joe’s, and I think it doesn’t have antibiotics and hormones, but I’m sure it’s produced in large factory farms. And I’m not careful about the kind of meat I do eat, because my policy is not to be picky about what people serve me… but if I’m at a picnic, and eat a hamburger, I’m probably eating the kind of hamburger that has parts from hundreds of cows. So, maybe I should be more picky. I get cravings for meat when I don’t have it from time to time, so I don’t see myself become a vegetarian. Lilia used to love bacon, but at some point, I decided to tell her it was made out of pigs. She stopped eating it immediately, and hasn’t eaten it in a year or more. She says she will eat cows, but doesn’t often.
We joined a CSA this year, and had local vegetables for 26 weeks. We have signed up for it again next year. Joe already has a small garden out front– tomatoes, greens, garlic, peppers, and herbs.

But the scariest and saddest story in Food, Inc. was about the woman who became a food safety advocate after her two year old son died from e. coli in a hamburger. There have been a lot of stories about unsafe food– bagged spinach, peanut butter, hamburgers, tomatoes– and I was always thankful that we hadn’t bought anything involved in a recall. But one of those news stories did effect us, back in May 2007.

I was looking at my journal, and found these entries:
Thursday, May 24, 2007:
…Lilia ate chicken & noodles from my soup, some meatball, and some spring roll. And all of her Veggie Booty (her favorite snack). She was eating non-stop, it was adorable.
Sunday, May 27, 2007:
Lilia will be 15 months tomorrow! And she has her first tummy bug ever. It hit yesterday– she was super lethargic. And then she woke up in the middle of the night BURNING UP. Her fever (underarm) was only 101.7, so not too bad. I don’t have any pain relievers/fever reducers– they expired last year– so I just nursed her, gave her water, and crossed my fingers. Then she started with the Big D, which so far has not been TOO bad. She’s been mopey and clingy (to me), but is currently making her dad read ALL of her favorite books to her. So I’m hopeful this won’t last too long. Although Dr. Sears explains that intestines are slow-healing, so it could linger. Oh, this morning her temperature was 100.5. Much more reasonable.
Monday, May 28, 2007:
Saturday, it was hot, and we didn’t go out until late afternoon. We went for a little hike in Fairmount Park, and Lilia did not seem to be having any fun. I chalked it up to tiredness and the heat. We had to stop at 2 CVSes and the grocery store, and she was very tired looking– Joe said, She seems sick. Well, of course, she WAS sick.

Today, Lilia seemed better in the morning, and our pal M came over to hang out. Unfortunately, Lilia is not all better. I hope we don’t all catch it.
Aww, she just woke up with a cry, but is drifting back to sleep. Her eyes are purple from being tired and sick. I’m so glad we are still nursing, or she’d be starving!

Thursday, May 31, 2007:

Lilia is getting better. Still clingy and not quite eating a ton, but she’s definitely improving. She’s been waking up in the night crying though. That is not fun. Especially because nothing helps

June 28, 2007:
Robert’s Veggie Booty is recalled

Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
–

So… it dawned on me… Lilia’s favorite snack food was recalled for salmonella. Lilia ate it before she got sick (not just the one day I posted about– she ate it constantly). I had been worried that we all would catch it, but we never did. It was never confirmed that she had salmonella, but her symptoms, combined with the fact that we never got sick, seem to indicate that she did have it.

She had an allergy to dairy when she was little, so I couldn’t give her goldfish or anything with milk in it. I didn’t feel bad giving Veggie Booty to her. I know it was just a snack food, but it had green stuff in it– veggies- and a little bit of calcium. I personally didn’t really like it, so I didn’t eat it. I couldn’t buy it at Trader Joe’s– they sold Pirate’s Booty, but not Veggie Booty, and I didn’t realize why until later– the green veggie powder has stuff from China, and TJ’s has a policy not to sell items from China. And that green veggie powder from China was the source of the salmonella!

If Lilia had any sort of compromised immune system, she could have been much sicker. I don’t even see Veggie Booty listed on Robert’s Gourmet’s website anymore, so maybe they don’t make it? I wasn’t sure if I should contact anyone about Lilia’s case. In August, 2007, I did email Robert’s to let them know they might want to add another case to their list.
They emailed back and told me to fill out a claim form for medical costs reimbursement. We didn’t have any medical costs– just an increased cost of diapers for a few days, and a few days of a holiday weekend spent tending to our sick girl–so I did not fill out the form. I found an article, about a family suing– there little boy had to be hospitalized.
This is the kind of stuff that makes me feel helpless. I know that I can never ever buy something from Robert’s Gourmet again… but how can I make sure that it isn’t going to happen with another snack we get? With the peanut butter scare, we know that it just isn’t China’s fault, so avoiding all things from China won’t solve the problem.

I seem to have caught a cold. I blame coffee. The evidence: Last time I was really sick was when we had the flu (swine) in late June/early July. I gave up coffee at that time. I made it through the rest of July, August, September, and October without having a full-blown cold. (I have had terrible allergies and sinus things going on for months, but nothing contagious.) Lilia has had a couple of sniffly episodes that I would call full-blown colds– in September and October– but I managed to avoid them. She is having another sniffly episode that hasn’t been dragging her down too much (but is causing her to have croupy coughing fits at night). I started drinking coffee two weeks ago, and boom, I am having a sniffly episode too. It isn’t the world’s worst cold, but I’m dragging and feeling a lot of pressure in my head.

Today I am sticking to green tea.

Tomorrow we will be going to my dad’s house for Thanksgiving. We were planning to go today, but my head had other plans. I woke up this morning before 6 AM with a horrid horrid migraine. I won’t go into the details, but I wasn’t able to even drink anything till 2 PM. Ugh. I am feeling much better right now, and thankful that I do not get them frequently anymore. I can’t remember how frequently I got them as a kid– maybe one a month? I’m not even sure when I first got one, but I remember having one in Kindergarten, when I was 5, and it wasn’t my first one. The last incapacitating one I had was in April, and before that, it was last October, which isn’t that often, but before that it was like one per year for a few years, so I hope I’m not entering a more frequent migraine era. That would really stink.

Anyway, enough ramble about that. I forgot to mention that after this post last week, I DID have a Wawa Turkey Bowl. My first thought was that it was a little like dog food, but that didn’t stop me from having a second bite. The second bite was better (I think the first had too much gravy), and I actually enjoyed it very much. Tomorrow is our big Thanksgiving dinner at my dad’s house. I’m looking forward to it, but feeling guilty for not contributing anything… I asked a few times if I could bring anything, but never received a response, and planned on making the apple cupcakes today anyway… but the migraine interfered with those plans. Oh well… empty-handed. I’m sure there will be enough without us bringing something.