Last night, my dad ended up in hospital. His blood pressure sky-rocketed to 212/85. He has a tendency to hypertension but his pressure has never been that high before.

Yesterday, I had a doctor’s appointment. We decided that since I will be in the area for a few more months we should try sitting for the monthly Orencia infusion in lieu of the weekly subcutaneous injections. Well, first off: Yay. I am not starting from scratch which means I should not feel worse for the time being. Still sucks though. I would hope by now my medications would stabilize.

Even though this is not the worst news it still worries my father. I think that worry translated into his famous “cluster” headaches which in turn caused his pressure to hit the roof.

I work in the medical profession as a veterinary technician. I keep my head during an emergency and I stay calm until I need to worry. Honestly, the first thing that RA has taught me: there is no such thing as a personal emergency anymore.

How long am I going to stay out? Do I have food and water? Do I have enough to take my medications at the right time? Do I have the most important medications in case I need to take them away from home? Do I have my insurance cards? Do I have my list of medications?

I never know what course my autoimmune will take or how quickly so I need to be prepared at all times.

I kept a cool head. My dad knew to take his blood pressure medication immediately so thankfully his pressure began to fall. I stayed with him while he was in emergency which was thankfully only a few hours while they ran blood tests.

When I got home, I fell asleep immediately. When I woke up this morning, my knees and hips were more stiff than usual and I had more difficulty completing my normal tasks.

I have to cook the dog veggies today so in order to do that, I need to rest up. Also, if I want to be functional tomorrow, I need to take it easy today and not exacerbate my current condition.

Round and round it goes, my health takes a dip so my dad’s takes a dip which means mine will inevitably take a dip as well.

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.