"Through my heart's work of writing, I share with you my complex journey a top the mountain, sliding down, crawling up, & living through the realms of Autoimmune Arthritic Illnesses. Taming "The Wolf" Thru each Day... One Step at a Time … Together We Are Learning to Survive. Please follow along, to New Beginnings - looking Thru the Window Pane of Pain in life where we shall find our journey leading us to - New Perspectives
Thursday, April 2, 2015
The Realms of My Own Happiness #HAWMC
Check out my true happiness and happy moments below! #HAWMC
Happiness for each and everyone in this nation, and on the planet for that matter, can vary from person to person, from day to day, and even from moment to moment under some circumstances.
It is a very interesting question that can lead to you learning a great deal about a person by what truly brings out those "giddy" feelings of being totally "in bliss"; in a complete and whole state of all being fine in your little corner of the world.
For me, of course there are different things or ideas that bring me that feeling of "glory", of wanting to smile at the world, and hold onto that "key" situation, moment, happening that brought so much joyful glee to my soul.
If I had to pick one thing, it would be having a true inner feeling of accomplishment. I mean having one of those days, weeks, and so forth that I feel I am totally finished with certain things, that I have completed the "list of tasks" that I set out to do, say for that day or week. Within that time frame, for instance, I started out with an extremely huge amount of items that really needed to be done. Whether it means, a blog post I've really wanted to write, and write well that is also received well, I've taken care of a number of things that needed to be completed at home; such as possibly baking a special cake and it turns out perfect, errands that go by quickly, allowing me to free up some time, having ALL of my household "honey do" lists (when I say lists I mean our own at home along with my Mom's usual list), and all goes as planned, no accidental trip ups, nothing else to go wrong, plans that have been made being completed, and all seems in a place of peace. That would include my own advocacy work also. It in itself gives me those feelings of happiness in the fact again, I've "conquered" the battle ahead, forged through, and completed it. I see also that others have benefited from my own ideas, and I've also been able to spread my own happiness with others. When I find that state of mind, that state of feeling whole and complete, accomplished, with major and minor items, than I am in harmony with myself. I then can justify a "day off" to the Casino with a "daughter and Mom" overnight stay. Or I can justify that I've done a great job, having freed up time to make a trip over to another town, our county seat, and shopping, possibly grabbing lunch, and finding a huge bargain on an item of clothing that I needed, or had been wanting. So, the means is the end result for me, happiness.
When I can take a look backward in a certain day, week or weeks, and watch what my jobs, errands, cooking cleaning, blogging, writing, doing my activist work all come together in a neat package that I feel I could tie a ribbon around and say,
"Wow"! I really did get so much done, had a pretty "stress less" time doing all of it, and I've given others a reason to also say, "Thank you", "Job well done", or I (we) appreciate your good attitude and accomplishment.
Although there are other things such as being able to play my drums for a short while, getting out of the house and going for a "girls night out" with Mom to the Winstar in OK, being asked to participate in something special, such as the "WEGO Activist Writer's Challenge Month", or any type of event or happening that involves me more into my activist, advocate and Ambassador dealings also gives me a sense of accomplishment, thus happiness is always the end result.
Rhia Steele
April 2nd, 2015
p.s. When I speak of accomplishment; along with the completion of a long list of things to be done, I also mean being able to not take to be concerned over my health. I am at least for a small while, free of many of the main symptoms of my illnesses have calmed and quieted down long enough for me to do those things, which brings me bliss in with all I set out to do and get done...
Happiness for each and everyone in this nation, and on the planet for that matter, can vary from person to person, from day to day, and even from moment to moment under some circumstances.
It is a very interesting question that can lead to you learning a great deal about a person by what truly brings out those "giddy" feelings of being totally "in bliss"; in a complete and whole state of all being fine in your little corner of the world.
For me, of course there are different things or ideas that bring me that feeling of "glory", of wanting to smile at the world, and hold onto that "key" situation, moment, happening that brought so much joyful glee to my soul.
If I had to pick one thing, it would be having a true inner feeling of accomplishment. I mean having one of those days, weeks, and so forth that I feel I am totally finished with certain things, that I have completed the "list of tasks" that I set out to do, say for that day or week. Within that time frame, for instance, I started out with an extremely huge amount of items that really needed to be done. Whether it means, a blog post I've really wanted to write, and write well that is also received well, I've taken care of a number of things that needed to be completed at home; such as possibly baking a special cake and it turns out perfect, errands that go by quickly, allowing me to free up some time, having ALL of my household "honey do" lists (when I say lists I mean our own at home along with my Mom's usual list), and all goes as planned, no accidental trip ups, nothing else to go wrong, plans that have been made being completed, and all seems in a place of peace. That would include my own advocacy work also. It in itself gives me those feelings of happiness in the fact again, I've "conquered" the battle ahead, forged through, and completed it. I see also that others have benefited from my own ideas, and I've also been able to spread my own happiness with others. When I find that state of mind, that state of feeling whole and complete, accomplished, with major and minor items, than I am in harmony with myself. I then can justify a "day off" to the Casino with a "daughter and Mom" overnight stay. Or I can justify that I've done a great job, having freed up time to make a trip over to another town, our county seat, and shopping, possibly grabbing lunch, and finding a huge bargain on an item of clothing that I needed, or had been wanting. So, the means is the end result for me, happiness.
When I can take a look backward in a certain day, week or weeks, and watch what my jobs, errands, cooking cleaning, blogging, writing, doing my activist work all come together in a neat package that I feel I could tie a ribbon around and say,
"Wow"! I really did get so much done, had a pretty "stress less" time doing all of it, and I've given others a reason to also say, "Thank you", "Job well done", or I (we) appreciate your good attitude and accomplishment.
Although there are other things such as being able to play my drums for a short while, getting out of the house and going for a "girls night out" with Mom to the Winstar in OK, being asked to participate in something special, such as the "WEGO Activist Writer's Challenge Month", or any type of event or happening that involves me more into my activist, advocate and Ambassador dealings also gives me a sense of accomplishment, thus happiness is always the end result.
Rhia Steele
April 2nd, 2015
p.s. When I speak of accomplishment; along with the completion of a long list of things to be done, I also mean being able to not take to be concerned over my health. I am at least for a small while, free of many of the main symptoms of my illnesses have calmed and quieted down long enough for me to do those things, which brings me bliss in with all I set out to do and get done...
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Clinical Trial possibly in your area, for a new "biosimilar" study!!!
Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trial
The currently recruiting trial listed on CureClick for
rheumatoid arthritis is a clinical study for a biosimilar medication. We
have received several messages about this trial so we wanted to post
some additional information:
According to the FDA, “Biosimilars are a type of biological product that are licensed (approved) by FDA because they are highly similar to an already FDA-approved biological product, known as the biological reference product (reference product), and have been shown to have no clinically meaningful differences from the reference product.”
For this trial, one group will be given the currently approved and
available medication Rituxan® (rituximab) and the other will be on a
biosimilar version of rituxumab. Neither group will receive a placebo.
The goal of the trial is to see if the study drug is as safe and
effective in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and attempt to show it
has no clinically meaningful difference to the reference product
(Rituxan®).
MORE ABOUT THE STUDY FROM THE SPONSOR:
The purpose of this study is to compare the proposed biosimilar
study drug rituximab (GP2013) against a standard approved treatment
rituximab (Rituxan®) to see if the study drug is as safe and effective
in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
- The study drug (GP2013 and Rituximab) is administered by IV Injection (IV).
- At least 174 people have already taken this drug in clinical trials
- All study related medications, analysis, hospital visits and procedures are free
Eligibility Criteria:
Participants must:
- be at least 18 years old
- have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis for at least 6 months
- have had inadequate response or intolerance to DMARDs (disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs) and 1 – 3 anti-TNF (tumor necrosis factor) therapies
- have received methotrexate for at least 4 months with 25 mg/week as the maximal dose
Participants must not:
- have significant liver disease, or congestive heart failure
- be taking a high potency of opioid analgesics (e.g. methadone, hydromorphone, morphine)
For more information about the study, please visit the link provided to you by your Ambassador.
#HAWMC Wordless Wednesday!!! April 1, 2015
Okay for "Wordless Wednesday" the "Official" start to WEGO Health's April Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge
#HAWMC |
Here you go, this represents "Rhia" and the things that I LOVE to do!!! Or may I say "did" LOVE to do! I have always been a "music freak"!!! And always wanted to play the drums, the guitar, and the keyboard. I took piano lessons for many years when I was a teenager. Thank goodness I can still "read music" fairly well.
BEFORE all of the Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Sjogren's... and before all of the joint replacements... my Husband, bless his soul, bought the drums for me in the background!!! They were a birthday present and I just had an incredible time driving the neighbors crazy!!!
We both play and write our own songs. He plays the guitar quite well (or did) also. I bought the blue "Fender" you see me holding and had just begin to learn a bit from him, when my own illnesses hit.
Then, a year ago March 26th, in 2014, while I was in Washington DC in fact at a Summit, he had been in a very serious traffic accident. Ran over by an 18 wheel tractor trailer from behind.... thus his days of guitar playing were also "iffy"....
Well, both of us have been able to play a bit here and there. We just can't go on for hours and hours like we used to... and we both miss it so much...
So, this picture does speak a thousand words for sure... about before, now and what we hope the future may hold... Rhia
Funny Times, Laughing years later, and Wonderful Memories that even 30 years ago are still so Humorous ....
Well today of course is "April Fools Day"!!!! I am sure you, I and many others will have a "joke" played on them before day end.
Actually, ironically for me, mine already happened, kind of..
I wanted to join in on WEGO's Blog post month or as it is called
"Health Activist Writers Challenge Month"
I had the "list" so I went ahead and wrote my 1st post several days back. Well, I noticed a mixup in "dates" on the information, so I found out actually they start today, but it is with a "Wordless Wednesday", and I had written about a couple of "still funny" things that happened many years back! I thought by the .PDF we needed to write about something funny that had happened to us.
So.. since I've already written it, I'll post it with the Twitter sharing tag for my readers and maybe those at WEGO will get a kick out of it also.
So, here goes, my 1st Blog post for April Fools Day! #HAWMC
April 1, 2015 WEGO Post #1 For April Fools Day - Something, or Someone, or a Time that Always makes you Laugh
Years back, I was about 30 years old or so, we used to go on an annual snow skiing trip to either Santa Fe New Mexico or on up to Pagosa Springs, CO at the Wolf Creek Ski Resort. It was our trip to celebrate my birthday on the 15th of February each year. I always spent months, in fact the entire year planning it, saving for it, and it was always a time I cherish in my life.
One year a couple that lived next door to us, Rex and Jeanie, were going with us that particular time. We had been friends for a long time, and always enjoyed going together. This particular year, we had decided to ski in Santa Fe, NM. I had only been a couple of times then, and it was a bit closer than going on up to Pagosa Springs in CO, so we decided to stay there and ski.
There was a particular restaurant we ate at, and also a particular hotel we always stayed at every year. Staying there and eating at this special Mexican Food Restaurant were “traditions” each trip. This one year we decided to stay at a different hotel, and since we spent most of the time on the ski slopes, we thought we would just share a room and save that money for more skiing. Well, we had left Ennis Texas extremely early as usual. I never slept a wink that night before we left, so we were usually out the door and on the road by between 3 or 4 AM. It was about 11 hours or so to Santa Fe, depending on which route we took. Most of the time we would travel on Interstate 40, so we would go through Ft. Worth and hit I-40 up that direction. I sometimes helped with the driving, but this time the guys changed out, and they did the driving. There was just a magic each year about that trip. We rented a video recorder (this was back when they were huge and weighed a ton), so we had most of the trip on “record” to remember the rest of the year.
When had arrived in Santa Fe, just about noon, as our plan usually was, always about time for us to eat, so we went to the Mexican Food Place and had the feast of a lifetime. Between a couple of margaritas’ or a “cerveza” we about laughed our way right out the door. All of us were a bunch of comedian’s on the slopes and off during these incredible journeys. Each year seemed to be more special than the last. So, we decided to go back to the room, get unpacked the rest of the way, and possibly go to the downtown area to see all of the wonderful artwork, bead work, and just awesome pottery that the people there in Santa FE always had out on the “square” around all of the beautiful buildings.
Jeanie and I were unpacking and talking. All of a sudden we didn’t hear the guys making jokes and cutting up, so we turned around and both of them were totally “sacked out” asleep, one on each bed. It was already funny enough, because both of them began snoring in “tune” together. The more they snored right in tune with each other, the more the both of us got tickled. Well, my “then husband” sat up in the bed very casually and said, “What and the heck are you two laughing about? What is so darned funny?” I about busted out laughing again and said you and Rex were “snoring in unison”. He looked at me very seriously and said,“NO, we aren’t. We are in Santa Fe, not “unison”! I cannot tell you how funny that was! WE made fun of him the entire trip, constantly asking him if he had found “unison” yet and repeating what he said. It was just hysterical.
So, that whole ordeal became a joke between all of us for years. Every once in a while we would ask my ex, “Hey have you seen unison” lately! He would just turn red in the face, and get almost mad at us for making such fun of him.
On the very same trip, the 2nd night there, we decided to try a new place to eat. I had never really eaten much “Chinese Food” or any type of Asian cuisine. So, we decided to try a Chinese dinner for a change. We went in and the place was not busy at all. But, this was in the middle of the week, so we figured they just weren’t all that busy because of that. It was fairly dimly lit. But, it was adorned with all of the Asian decor. I was quite impressed with the “ambiance”.
Anyway, an Asian gentleman came to take our drink orders, gave us menu’s and of course I had no idea about that type of food. I had only eaten this type of food possibly once or twice, and everything on the menu sounded good. It always did that first night after being on the mountain top all day long. Usually all of us were starving from all of the activity of the day. Anyway, we each picked an entree’ and the guys asked about “fried rice” and if it came with the meal. Well, I am sure quite sure if the woman taking our order at the time really understood the question or not. She made the comment about each would get a side of “fried rice” of our choosing, chicken, shrimp, vegetable etc. So, above our regular orders we asked for “one extra bowl” of fried rice on the side. I think most of us had chosen something with noodles in it, or figured the way she talked the “side” with the meal we ordered would not be all the big.
So, she took our orders, and it wasn’t long until TWO of them, her and the gentleman who had seated us came out with the HUGE serving tray of “many” plates and bowls of food. At first we thought they had mixed our order up with another group that was there. But, no it was “our” order. So, they begin loading our table up with the plates with the entree’s on them. Then here comes all of these “extra bowls” of fried rice!!! They not only brought the “side” order of rice with our entree, but they also brought EACH of an a huge EXTRA bowl of fried rice on the side. In fact our table was almost not big enough to hold all of the plates, bowls, and everything they had put in front of us. We sat there almost dumb founded, but thought well, that is what they thought we ordered so that is what they brought us.
We began eating, laughing, talking, and spent at least an hour just tasting the different dishes all of which were delicious. Yet, even with all of us hungry, and the guys could eat everything in sight usually, we still had bowls of rice left over. So, it was about time to settle up the bill and leave. The woman came out, refilled our tea glasses, and then looked up at us and said just as politely and calmly as could be “You want more fried “lice”?” Oh good gosh, all four of us burst into tears laughing. Here is bowls of rice there was no way we could eat, and I even thought about taking some of it back to the hotel, but I knew there was no way we would probably eat it that evening, so we decided not to take a “doggy bag” with us. But, between us having ALL of those extra bowls of rice, and her “Asian” accent; then asking us if we wanted “more” fried rice was almost too much. We just about wet all over ourselves going out, and for the rest of the trip we kept asking one another “Do you want more fried “lice”?” Again, between the “snoring” in unison, and now the “fried lice”, we had the trip to remember for a lifetime. In fact, it has been something like 20 plus years since that trip, and still to this day, my now husband and I get a kick out of making a silly comment about, No, we aren’t in unison, we’re in Ennis!”. Of course, we had to wonder if that entire kitchen in that Chinese restaurant were also hysterically laughing at us for ordering all of that “extra fried rice”? They had to have just been as tickled at us as we were. It was very obvious that we had not ordered Chinese food very often.
There were many “moments” during those ski trips each February that I will truly cherish for a lifetime, and can’t help but grin when I think about them. Now, I am not able to go snow skiing. Due to the replaced knees and shoulder, the Lupus, RA, Sjogren’s and chronic pain issues, my snow skiing days are well past me now. But, the memories, the laughter, and some of the things that happened back then will last a life time. Rhia Steele 4/1/2015
Actually, ironically for me, mine already happened, kind of..
I wanted to join in on WEGO's Blog post month or as it is called
"Health Activist Writers Challenge Month"
I had the "list" so I went ahead and wrote my 1st post several days back. Well, I noticed a mixup in "dates" on the information, so I found out actually they start today, but it is with a "Wordless Wednesday", and I had written about a couple of "still funny" things that happened many years back! I thought by the .PDF we needed to write about something funny that had happened to us.
So.. since I've already written it, I'll post it with the Twitter sharing tag for my readers and maybe those at WEGO will get a kick out of it also.
So, here goes, my 1st Blog post for April Fools Day! #HAWMC
April 1, 2015 WEGO Post #1 For April Fools Day - Something, or Someone, or a Time that Always makes you Laugh
Years back, I was about 30 years old or so, we used to go on an annual snow skiing trip to either Santa Fe New Mexico or on up to Pagosa Springs, CO at the Wolf Creek Ski Resort. It was our trip to celebrate my birthday on the 15th of February each year. I always spent months, in fact the entire year planning it, saving for it, and it was always a time I cherish in my life.
One year a couple that lived next door to us, Rex and Jeanie, were going with us that particular time. We had been friends for a long time, and always enjoyed going together. This particular year, we had decided to ski in Santa Fe, NM. I had only been a couple of times then, and it was a bit closer than going on up to Pagosa Springs in CO, so we decided to stay there and ski.
There was a particular restaurant we ate at, and also a particular hotel we always stayed at every year. Staying there and eating at this special Mexican Food Restaurant were “traditions” each trip. This one year we decided to stay at a different hotel, and since we spent most of the time on the ski slopes, we thought we would just share a room and save that money for more skiing. Well, we had left Ennis Texas extremely early as usual. I never slept a wink that night before we left, so we were usually out the door and on the road by between 3 or 4 AM. It was about 11 hours or so to Santa Fe, depending on which route we took. Most of the time we would travel on Interstate 40, so we would go through Ft. Worth and hit I-40 up that direction. I sometimes helped with the driving, but this time the guys changed out, and they did the driving. There was just a magic each year about that trip. We rented a video recorder (this was back when they were huge and weighed a ton), so we had most of the trip on “record” to remember the rest of the year.
When had arrived in Santa Fe, just about noon, as our plan usually was, always about time for us to eat, so we went to the Mexican Food Place and had the feast of a lifetime. Between a couple of margaritas’ or a “cerveza” we about laughed our way right out the door. All of us were a bunch of comedian’s on the slopes and off during these incredible journeys. Each year seemed to be more special than the last. So, we decided to go back to the room, get unpacked the rest of the way, and possibly go to the downtown area to see all of the wonderful artwork, bead work, and just awesome pottery that the people there in Santa FE always had out on the “square” around all of the beautiful buildings.
Jeanie and I were unpacking and talking. All of a sudden we didn’t hear the guys making jokes and cutting up, so we turned around and both of them were totally “sacked out” asleep, one on each bed. It was already funny enough, because both of them began snoring in “tune” together. The more they snored right in tune with each other, the more the both of us got tickled. Well, my “then husband” sat up in the bed very casually and said, “What and the heck are you two laughing about? What is so darned funny?” I about busted out laughing again and said you and Rex were “snoring in unison”. He looked at me very seriously and said,“NO, we aren’t. We are in Santa Fe, not “unison”! I cannot tell you how funny that was! WE made fun of him the entire trip, constantly asking him if he had found “unison” yet and repeating what he said. It was just hysterical.
So, that whole ordeal became a joke between all of us for years. Every once in a while we would ask my ex, “Hey have you seen unison” lately! He would just turn red in the face, and get almost mad at us for making such fun of him.
On the very same trip, the 2nd night there, we decided to try a new place to eat. I had never really eaten much “Chinese Food” or any type of Asian cuisine. So, we decided to try a Chinese dinner for a change. We went in and the place was not busy at all. But, this was in the middle of the week, so we figured they just weren’t all that busy because of that. It was fairly dimly lit. But, it was adorned with all of the Asian decor. I was quite impressed with the “ambiance”.
Anyway, an Asian gentleman came to take our drink orders, gave us menu’s and of course I had no idea about that type of food. I had only eaten this type of food possibly once or twice, and everything on the menu sounded good. It always did that first night after being on the mountain top all day long. Usually all of us were starving from all of the activity of the day. Anyway, we each picked an entree’ and the guys asked about “fried rice” and if it came with the meal. Well, I am sure quite sure if the woman taking our order at the time really understood the question or not. She made the comment about each would get a side of “fried rice” of our choosing, chicken, shrimp, vegetable etc. So, above our regular orders we asked for “one extra bowl” of fried rice on the side. I think most of us had chosen something with noodles in it, or figured the way she talked the “side” with the meal we ordered would not be all the big.
So, she took our orders, and it wasn’t long until TWO of them, her and the gentleman who had seated us came out with the HUGE serving tray of “many” plates and bowls of food. At first we thought they had mixed our order up with another group that was there. But, no it was “our” order. So, they begin loading our table up with the plates with the entree’s on them. Then here comes all of these “extra bowls” of fried rice!!! They not only brought the “side” order of rice with our entree, but they also brought EACH of an a huge EXTRA bowl of fried rice on the side. In fact our table was almost not big enough to hold all of the plates, bowls, and everything they had put in front of us. We sat there almost dumb founded, but thought well, that is what they thought we ordered so that is what they brought us.
We began eating, laughing, talking, and spent at least an hour just tasting the different dishes all of which were delicious. Yet, even with all of us hungry, and the guys could eat everything in sight usually, we still had bowls of rice left over. So, it was about time to settle up the bill and leave. The woman came out, refilled our tea glasses, and then looked up at us and said just as politely and calmly as could be “You want more fried “lice”?” Oh good gosh, all four of us burst into tears laughing. Here is bowls of rice there was no way we could eat, and I even thought about taking some of it back to the hotel, but I knew there was no way we would probably eat it that evening, so we decided not to take a “doggy bag” with us. But, between us having ALL of those extra bowls of rice, and her “Asian” accent; then asking us if we wanted “more” fried rice was almost too much. We just about wet all over ourselves going out, and for the rest of the trip we kept asking one another “Do you want more fried “lice”?” Again, between the “snoring” in unison, and now the “fried lice”, we had the trip to remember for a lifetime. In fact, it has been something like 20 plus years since that trip, and still to this day, my now husband and I get a kick out of making a silly comment about, No, we aren’t in unison, we’re in Ennis!”. Of course, we had to wonder if that entire kitchen in that Chinese restaurant were also hysterically laughing at us for ordering all of that “extra fried rice”? They had to have just been as tickled at us as we were. It was very obvious that we had not ordered Chinese food very often.
There were many “moments” during those ski trips each February that I will truly cherish for a lifetime, and can’t help but grin when I think about them. Now, I am not able to go snow skiing. Due to the replaced knees and shoulder, the Lupus, RA, Sjogren’s and chronic pain issues, my snow skiing days are well past me now. But, the memories, the laughter, and some of the things that happened back then will last a life time. Rhia Steele 4/1/2015
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