IM: Rheumatology Clinic

This morning I met several classmates at the PCC for the required Rheumatology Clinic, where we met with four older ladies who told us about living with arthritis, from the first signs and symptoms to how they're doing now. Then we split into different groups with just one of the women so we could learn more about her condition in general. Kim, Jedd, and I had a woman who was initially diagnosed with seronegative RA but feels that she is now seropositive after having had it for 15-20 years. She barely had any telltale signs of RA; she had some ulnar deviation and one finger with a swan-neck deformitiy, plus some decreased range of motion in her right shoulder and hip, but that was it. Sadly I forgot her name, but she was an excellent teacher and showed us several gadgets that she keeps on hand to help make life easier (i.e. long handle for car keys, a picker-upper, etc) This workshop, we all agreed, was more educational than any lecture on rheumatology we could have received. =)