More hand pictures

Today I'm feeling incredibly stiff. It was a struggle walking upstairs for a while and this knot in my back just won't go away. The steroids have definitely given up on me now, and far too quickly with 4 weeks to go before I see the rheumatologist.

When I'm feeling this stiff it's nice to remind myself how much progress I have made. Whilst new things keep popping up I'm confident that with the correct treatment they can be helped.

My hand at its worst

This picture shows how little I could bend my middle finger at it's worst. I could not use it to grip anything at all. In fact it put me back to pre-beginner guitar playing. Open position chords were perhaps the hardest thing to do, and not managing them was what made me finally concede that I had to stop playing.

I'm almost certain now that I am going to end up on methotrexate it's just a matter of when. I can't get it privately as it's ridiculously expensive. I just hope Dr Kirkham won't  have to rerun a barrage of tests that have already been done. I have all the evidence but I suspect the NHS won't care.