Monday 1 March 2004

Apart from the first day of the year when it all began, today was the most significant and memorable, as it was the day something at last started happening. Strange that it was also the first of a new month again.
I finally had my appointment at the Royal Cornwall Hospital.
First of all it was the usual checks etc, then I went thru to the specialist department.
He asked me about everything that had happened since the start, and then told me that what I had was Reactive Arthritis, and gave me a leaflet about it. It is specifically brought on by a bad reaction to a virus, and unlike normal arthritis, it normally clears up within two weeks. In rare cases it can take longer, and as I had now had the symptoms for 6 weeks without showing any signs of improvement, the best course of action was for me to have a steroid injection in my right knee, then see how it reacts and make a decision about doing the other knee after a while.
It was a weird place to have an injection as, unlike when they're in your arm, I actually felt the needle going through different parts of my knee, both on the way in, and on the way out!
The specialist then prescribed the tablets Dr.B changed me onto on January 20th, plus some more antibiotics.
Just as I was about to leave, he noticed my right eye was red. I told him it had had something in it for the last 3 or 4 days and he suggested I go to the Eye casualty department while I was there.
The eye doctor examined my eye and it turned out it was something called Iritis. This is an infection which should be dealt with promptly and can be brought on by - arthritis!
I was given two types of drops, one to use hourly, and one to use three times a day. That one dilates your pupil so your eye thinks it's dark, so you see everything far too brightly. It also means you can't focus.
So as one door opened, another door was closing!