The other day I walked into the kitchen and my wife laughingly said to me, “You’re walking like Frankenstein”. I laughed back because I knew that I was like the “living dead” for many reasons but mostly because of changes in my joints. I have bursitis in both hips which radiates pain down the thigh and in the buttocks (I got two cortisone shots recently and they did nothing – but that’s another story), cartilage damage in both knees, and three surgeries on my ankles. Add to that, I could barely get out of bed and walk around this morning due to sharp pain in the same area of the right ankle that’s had two surgeries. I’ve felt that pain before which was from erosion in the heel bone causing spurs to dig into the Achilles tendon. Yep, I was walking stiffly and probably looked like a monster from a movie.
It’s a natural tendency to make adjustments due to pain or joints that aren’t working as designed. Joint changes from rheumatoid arthritis seem to be inevitable As bone and soft tissues are attacked, damaged, and eroded, the joints can no longer work as they should. Fortunately, disease modifying medications can slow down the damaging biochemical processes. In spite of being on medications, changes are still affecting my movement and activity.
When the term arthritis is mentioned, the first thing that comes to most people’s mind is probably bone damage. With the more common osteoarthritis (OA), there may be damaged cartilage causing bone to rub together. But with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the immune system attacks the body’s own tissue. The capsule surrounding the joint, called the synovium, becomes enlarged due to an increase of immune cells. Eventually an overproduction of bone eroding cells and enzymes begins to erode bone tissue and soft tissues.[i] The soft tissues that hold the joint together including tendons, ligaments, and cartilage are also damaged.[ii] [iii] When all of these tissues become affected, the entire skeletal structure designed for movement cannot work properly. Add to that stiffness caused by RA, and the result is walking like Frankenstein!
My joints used for walking are changing and the effects are becoming noticeable not just to me, but to those around me. Add to that the fact that any hope for strenuous physical activity is pretty much gone for now. My daughter wants to go snow skiing but the best I could do is drive her there and sit in the lodge drinking cocoa. The hope is that treatments can keep the process at bay long enough so I can avoid more surgeries and using assistive devices just to carry out that common, everyday task we take for granted – walking.
Aw, Andrew, my heart goes out to you. I know, exactly, how painful the hip bursitis is (and how frustrating it is to have injections done that don’t help at all). I also know the rheuma pain, stiffness, and the Frankenstein shuffle, though I haven’t had that sort of intense pain for a long time (knock wood!).
As for the snow skiing: Maybe you SHOULD go ahead and take your daughter to the slopes, but bring your own skis, too. I skied the Austrian Alps with bad rheuma, back in the day. I spent the evenings soaking my aching joints, but actually being out there, distracted by the beauty of my surroundings and the challenge of actually flying down those mountains made the rheuma pain take a backseat, at least temporarily. And there were times when I had to stay in the lodge instead. I tried to just enjoy that, too, for the warmth and quiet and the rare gift of having no place to go and nothing that I had to do but rest and relax. Take a good book and enjoy the cocoa!
Sending warmth, calm and patience your way, Frank.
Is that pronounced Fraankenschteen…horrible attempt at spelling it phonetically! I hope you too are a Young Frankenstein/Gene Wilder fan, so maybe you get it. LOL Oh my, Andrew. You truly have been through alot, my dear and I completely empathize…but, we must laugh at ourselves and our funny walks rather than lament in self-pity and you, my friend, are an inspiration! So glad I found your blog as I have found it informative, enlightening, and inspirational. Keep up the Good Fight!
I really appreciate the kind words. Luv the Young Frankenstein quote…yes I got it immediately. Although it’s easy to do, there’s no time to self-pity and it doesn’t help.
Hi Andrew,
Oh the Frankengaits of arthritis. A little self-deprecating humour does help in a small way.
Speaking of wry laughter, did you read what a former kindergarten student asked me: http://rheumfuloftips.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/if-she-walks-like-a-duck/.
As for the skiing, I hope that it isn’t time to put those boards in storage. As my RA progressed, I ended up switching from alpine to nordic and now, I reminisce. Of course, the beauty in that is that the runs get more challenging and the distances covered are greater. LOL.
I hope that your bursitis settles down.
Warmly,
Marianna
P.S.
Thanks to jmr0231′s comment, I’m reviving a distance memory of that Gene Wilder movie.
Ba-ha Marianna! I loved duck post. I’ve seen that telltale walk in people in public. It could be a number of things like osteoarthritis in hips, knees, or ankles. Or it could be an autoimmune disease. Whatever it is, I can feel their pain. Yep, the skis and boots are safely stored in the garage and they’re probably going into a garage sale. Hip bursitis is getting better as Actemera is starting to work. But my ankles are damaged to the point of never being close to normal. But I can’t complain as my infusion nurse today told me that she’s had two complete ankle fusions. Needless to say, she’s off to visit a rheumatologist since she’s got the same problem on both sides.
Take care, Andrew
[...] remember someone asked about my robot-like walk, or as Andrew’s wife says, “Frankenstein walk ,”—a Frankenwalk. I provided a brief explanation, because that’s all I had the [...]