Case #1: let’s imagine a purely hypothetical situation in which I receive housekeeping services from a particular organization. Let’s further imagine them hypothetically calling me to inform me that my regular housekeeper will be away for five weeks and that they will be contracting out housekeeping services to a temp agency. We could also imagine that I asked whether I will get the same person every week, to which they hypothetically respond that this can’t be guaranteed. Leading to the hypothetical situation of having to take three hours every week – an amount of time that often represents most of my entire workday – to run around after someone telling them how to clean my apartment.”

Read More: theseatedview.blogspot.com/2012/04/customer-service-what-concept.html

I’m tired of having only negative things to say when I post to RheumaBlog. After all, there are lots of positive things that happen in my life every day; it’s not all doom and gloom. But the fact is that I wake up each morning stiff as a corpse. The first hour of each day aches, literally; the dose of painkiller that I took before retiring the night before has worn off completely. The new, first-thing-in-the-morning dose takes about an hour to work. My creaky joints loosen up some. Even then, the pain isn’t gone. The drug dulls it and sends it into the background, but it’s still there, mocking me, reminding me each time I move that I have rheumatoid arthritis and its co-morbidity, trochanteric bursitis, and that the many therapeutic drugs I take to keep it under control don’t seem to work very well.

Read More: http://rheumablog.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/working-on-it/

(April 7, 2012) – Show Us Your Hands! is pleased to announce that its inflammatory arthritis community collage has grown to more than one thousand photos. This interactive collage includes the hands of individuals who live with many different types of inflammatory arthritis, and can be viewed online at showusyourhands.org/interactive-collage/. To commemorate this milestone, Show Us Your Hands! plans to release a new 1000 Hands Poster this coming May as part of Arthritis Awareness Month.

The one-thousandth photo was submitted by Kathy Winkelmann of Rochester Hills, Michigan. Kathy was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in December 2011. “I’m just learning how to come to terms with it and not let it take over my life,” she says. Kathy will receive a complimentary copy of the upcoming 1000 Hands Poster, in recognition of the fact her hand was officially the one-thousandth photo that was submitted to the community collage.

The interactive collage debuted in December 2011. People of all ages from around the world are represented in this community project, and new photos continue to be added to on a regular basis. This community collage project serves not only as symbol of the wonderfully supportive inflammatory arthritis community that continues to grow and connect online, but also acts as a reminder that people who live with these diseases should be proud of, and not ashamed of, their inflammatory arthritis hands.

“When I first came up with the idea for this collage, I thought it would include, at most, one or two hundred photos. I’m so excited to see that the collage has expanded to more than a thousand photos in such a short period of time,” says Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy, creator and one of the founding directors of Show Us Your Hands! “I can’t wait to see how much more our proud community of hands will continue to grow into the future!”

Autoimmune diseases occur when a body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue. In the case of inflammatory arthritis a person’s joints are frequently attacked, resulting in chronic pain and debilitating inflammation. The most common inflammatory arthritis diseases are Ankylosing Spondylitis, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, Psoriatic Arthritis, Reactive Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Scleroderma, Sjogren’s Syndrome, Still’s Disease, and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Show Us Your Hands! is an international awareness movement which serves to unite and inspire the inflammatory arthritis community. For more information, please visit www.showusyourhands.org. Show Us Your Hands! can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

“…Shortly after getting up on Sunday and having nothing left in me to do anything, the lightbulb went off. It was so bright that I’m sure scientists are currently studying satellite photos of Toronto trying to figure out what that flash was. I realized that this is what usually happens when I get sick. The “just one more week” syndrome. The part where I make myself work like a demon for five days, believing that I just have to get X, Y and Z done and then I can take a week off. And then a nanosecond after I cross off the last item on The List, I get sick and lose the next two weeks or more.

I realized that I was a juggler who had added one too many balls, desperately trying to keep control. Yelling “I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” while everything is crashing down around me, I very clearly don’t have anything other than a raging case of exhaustion and an overinflated idea of my own capabilities.

I’m starting to think that despite 30 years of having a disability, I’m still in denial about the reality of having a disability.”

Read More: http://theseatedview.blogspot.com/2012/02/respecting-crash.html?spref=tw

(February 14, 2012) – Show Us Your Hands! is pleased to announce its Photo Book Project, the latest in a series of successful initiatives aimed at uniting the community of individuals who are living with inflammatory arthritis, and increasing the public’s awareness of this group of diseases. This photo book will showcase both the hands and the stories of people from around the world who are proud of the fact that no matter how much pain and damage their hands have incurred, their hands still work, and their hands still do.

Starting today, Show Us Your Hands! invites individuals who wish to be included in this photo book to submit a brief explanation of what their hands do, and why their hands are special. A Call For Submissions form is available online at showusyourhands.com/photo-book-project. The deadline for entries is March 2, 2012. Individuals who are selected for inclusion in this photo book will be notified in mid-March.

The Show Us Your Hands! Photo Book Project will be released as part of Arthritis Awareness Month this coming May. The photo books will be bookstore quality, with top-notch binding, gorgeous paper, and professional printing. They will be available for purchase in more than 70 countries, and all of the net proceeds from the sale of these items will go towards the costs and expenses associated with current and future community projects by Show Us Your Hands! “By showing the world what our hands can do, these books will become portable ambassadors for increased awareness. We look forward to meeting the people behind the photos,” says founding member Lene Andersen.

Autoimmune diseases occur when a body’s immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue. In the case of inflammatory arthritis a person’s joints are frequently attacked, resulting in chronic pain and debilitating inflammation. The most common inflammatory arthritis diseases are Ankylosing Spondylitis, Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease, Psoriatic Arthritis, Reactive Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Scleroderma, Sjogren’s Syndrome, Still’s Disease, and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Show Us Your Hands! is an international awareness movement which serves to unite and inspire the inflammatory arthritis community. For more information, please visit www.showusyourhands.com. Show Us Your Hands! can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.