Here's another post after a long tim(e) of nothing. I need to be better about these things.

Life has been hectic for me, even though nothing major has been going on. Work is incredibly busy, as usual, and this whole pandemic thing has everything feeling like an introvert's dream. In the past, I would have said that I'm an introvert, and that I like my solitude, but as I've aged and grown my family, I find that I'm not a full-tim(e) introvert. I need interaction, apparently.

It's not been made known to this view of my life (this blog) that I have been on a bit of a roller coaster with my health over the last 10 years or so. As some of you may know though, I have an auto immune disorder called Ankylosing Spondylitis (pronounced ang-ki-low-sing spon-duh-lie-tis). Very vaguely, it's a disorder that causes the body to identify soft tissues (like cartilage between joints) as broken bone, and the body responds by growing new bone there, leading to fused joints. Some people without AS will have surgery to have certain joints artificially fused, and in those cases it can give them great relief. For people with AS though, the fusion takes a long tim(e), and the partial fuse can cause great discomfort. Another thing about that partial fuse is that it's not as strong as actual bone, which means that certain things can cause it to crack or break.

Over the years, I've had a couple instances of a fuse cracking, and it's incredibly painful. I had one just the other day though, and I'm still dealing with the effects of it. It wasn't debilitating, but it really hurt, and it did this weird thing where the pain radiated down my leg, then up my back, over my shoulder, and into my chest. The way it happened though was I tried to shift my weight while I was standing to pop my left knee, but my right sacroilliac (SI) joint popped instead, which it shouldn't have given the fusion.

I have tried to do some research to see what happens when you break a bone, in terms of enzymes or whatever being released into the blood stream, but I haven't been able to find anything that describes that. I posted on /r/ankylosingspondylitis about it, asking if anyone else has experienced the radiating pain, but the only response I really got was "Go to the hospital." Not helpful.

Aside from that, the medicine that I'm on to try and keep this autoimmune thing in check has been giving extra drama. These medicines are typically immunosuppressants, and that means that I get sick easier than most people. So far this year, I've dealt with:

• Transient Aphasia (sudden inability to read/write/speak)
• Sinus infections (no fewer than 3)
• Colds (2, I think)

On the other hand, there was a period of time from April to June when I was feeling great, and I got back to riding my bike. I put on something in the neighborhood of 100 miles (maybe more) during that period, then I got sick and it all came to a halt.

I've since been dealing with more joint pain, zero energy, and mild to moderate depression. I don't even feel well enough in general to make use of my 3d printer these days, though some of that has to do with needing to dry my filament.

I think that's all I have brain for right now. If you want to know more about any of this crap, let me know in the comments.