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Brigid Laurito LMT, CPhT
I have been married to my husband 11 years and we have a beautiful 9 year old daughter. I was diagnosed with RA 3 1/2 years ago. I am a Nationally Licensed Massage Therapist and a Nationally Certified Pharmacy Technician. My mission is to raise awareness and understanding of the general public and those suffering from RA by telling my story and sharing what I've learned in school. The information on this site should not be used in place of, but rather to compliment directives from your healthcare professional. ~last modified 1/10/2013
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

a small milestone

My husband and I are coming up on our 11th wedding anniversary. We have seen so many things good and bad in our relationship. I'd say the biggest challenge has been my RA and all the complications that come along. We have survived thus far and will continue.

Last February we celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a great weekend away in Newport, RI (a special place for us). That weekend I wore my wedding rings, actually squeezed them on these sausage fingers is more like it. That weekend I came home, put my beautiful rings in a jewelry box and never wore them again. My fingers had swelled permanently just way to much. Size 7 to a 10 to be exact!

At the time I wasn't to disappointed. I was ready to go shopping for a temporary set until we had the money to get them reset because the setting was wearing thin. I ordered a new set and it came in a few days. This set of course was not the real thing. I'm not made of money!

Over the next few months I found myself getting sad looking down at my hand. RA had won. I felt defeated. What else was I gonna have to change? These are not the rings I got married with. These are not the rings that made me smile when I was having a rough day because they were so beautiful. These were not the rings that were there for the birth of my daughter and all the other important things in our lives. These rings were a symbol of the disease. Not a symbol of our family's fight.

I relayed my feelings to Joe and he got right on it. Saving money here and there so I could get them fixed, spruced up, and appraised. Today I picked up my rings. Today I won a small battle with RA. Now when I look down I will think of my family and how perfect they are and smile.


2 comments:

Deb aka AbcsOfra

Yippeee, you reclaimed something back from ra. I love when we can do this! Happy Anniversary :-) What a special gift to you and one special hubby as well.

KirBir

How sweet :) You are so lucky honey.

I keep trying to come up with ways to not have a wedding ring someday to avoid this same issue.

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