My Rheumatoid Arthritis Blog: 200th Post! | Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior

My Rheumatoid Arthritis Blog: 200th Post!

Nasa store

Rheumatoid Arthritis, blog, and birthday cake

It’s my birthday as I write this blog – Sunday night. Since my Rheumatoid Arthritis diagnosis, I’m so grateful for every birthday. I am so glad for another precious year to enjoy my beautiful children. Time seems to pass quickly.

In some ways, my whole reality is altered with RA. The law of gravity certainly is. Things are much heavier in this RA reality. Maybe we RA’ers need to visit the zero G of outer space!

People who do not have Rheumatoid Arthritis (Non-RA’ers) still tell me, “No, that’s not heavy” as if I can be convinced. But I cannot be convinced. Whether it’s a laptop holder or a coffee cup or a purse, it is heavy to my hands.

An RA blog, the universe, and seeing is believing

Every day I get letters from people who are so grateful to find someone who shares their reality.  Sometimes, we cannot hide RA in the closet – it is too large to fit in there. It helps us to talk to someone who seems like they are from our same planet!

Another reason I write this RA blog is a hope to allow Non-RA’ers a glimpse of our reality. Space shuttle Endeavor flew overhead tonight right before it landed at Kennedy Space Center. My house shook for several seconds. No one will ever convince those astronauts that Earth is flat. They’ve seen for themselves.

Launching ideas with an RA blog

This is post number 200 on the blog! I could hardly believe it today when I noticed that. I’m just a little girl with laptop trying to publish her reality in the enormous universe of the World Wide Web.

I spent this whole weekend updating the section of the blog called RA 101: Basic Rheumatoid Arthritis Information. There are new sections, new links, and improved organization. It is my primer on RA from a view of 10,000 feet. No spacejunk, just my reality –life with RA.

I’ll hope you’ll click here to check out RA 101 and tell others if you find it helpful.

Related posts:

Kelly O'Neill

Kelly O'Neill (formerly Kelly Young) has worked about 12 years as an advocate helping patients to be better informed and have a greater voice in their healthcare. She is the author of the best-selling book Rheumatoid Arthritis Unmasked: 10 Dangers of Rheumatoid Disease. Kelly received national acknowledgement with the 2011 WebMD Health Hero award. She is the president of the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation. Through her writing and speaking, she builds a more accurate awareness of rheumatoid disease (RD) aka rheumatoid arthritis (RA) geared toward the public and medical community; creates ways to empower patients to advocate for improved diagnosis and treatment; and brings recognition and visibility to the RA patient journey. In addition to RA Warrior, she writes periodically for newsletters, magazines, and websites. There are over 60,000 connections of her highly interactive Facebook page. You can also connect with Kelly on Twitter or YouTube, or LinkedIn. She created the hashtag: #rheum. Kelly is a mother of five, longtime home-schooler, NASA enthusiast, and NFL fan. She has lived over fourteen years with unrelenting RD. See also https:/rawarrior.com/kelly-young-press/

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27 thoughts on “My Rheumatoid Arthritis Blog: 200th Post!

  • February 22, 2010 at 7:09 am
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    Yay!! Happy birthday to our dearest Kelly! 🙂 I’m so happy for you, it’s a thoughtful 200th post you did. You’ve came a long way from a new blogger to a well recognized in your field. I’m proud that you are still going strong, ever more firing to improve your site. 🙂 Best wishes! I know you’ll have a great year ahead!

    @wchingya
    Social/Blogging Tracker

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    • February 22, 2010 at 8:36 am
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      Thank you so much for your help & support & good example. Thank you also for being willing to learn about this evil disease we need to cure!

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  • February 22, 2010 at 8:32 am
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    Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Kelly!! I’m one of the newbies that thanks God I found your blog, and thanks Him for having someone like you on my side. Thank you for being you, and bless you for using your voice to speak out for RA.

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  • February 22, 2010 at 9:31 am
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    happy bday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    wheres the party tonight?lol
    love u

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  • February 22, 2010 at 9:47 am
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    Wow – another nail hit on the head!! I am so grateful for your blogs. Just this morning I was thinking that everything is so heavy. Even myself. I’ll stand and feel like I could just fold to the floor if I let myself go. Even just sitting her at the computer and I am feeling like I could just fold up into the chair. I wonder if the zero G in space is anything like what I feel in the pool. I don’t sink – I have a lot of built-in floatation. 😀 I like to go to the deepest part of the pool where I can’t touch bottom and just hang there – suspended in the water – no pain anywhere. Its wonderful. Until I go to get out of the pool. The weight of myself seems to have doubled or tripled while I was in the pool and its even more of a struggle than normal. So, I don’t do it alone.

    Anyway – thank you for your posts. You have validated so much of what I’m going through. I don’t feel alone anymore 🙂

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  • February 22, 2010 at 10:25 am
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    Happy Birthday Kelly!!! :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :evilgrin: :cake:

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  • February 22, 2010 at 11:16 am
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    You share a b-day with my daughter. She turned 8 yesterday! Congratulations on your blog post and I hope you had a fabulous birthday!

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  • February 22, 2010 at 12:27 pm
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    Happy belated birthday, Kelly. Here’s hoping that this new year in your life will see your RA under control and your pain reduced to nil. Your blog is wonderful — you’re doing such a great thing for all of us who share this painful and maddening disease with you. Thank you.

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  • February 22, 2010 at 12:56 pm
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    I was thinking after reading your post , I wonder if there is a way to sound off where we all live and post it on a map with pins.. To show how many people across the globe youve reached at this time.. Consider me Clearlake California..

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    • February 22, 2010 at 12:56 pm
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      I think it would be fun as heck

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      • February 22, 2010 at 4:11 pm
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        Actually Google lets me see a map. Of course, I don’t know who is who, but I can see where visits come from. Maybe it would be fun to post that map on the bulletin board sometime so you all can see. We love to see how many countries & states have visitors.

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        • February 22, 2010 at 4:41 pm
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          i think it would in a whole let us know how not alone we are when we see a pin board of how many people read you and comment on you and yanno see that we arent alone in the world.. it would be touching to see anyhow

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        • February 22, 2010 at 7:41 pm
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          I think that is a fabulous idea! It could help us with the “Is it just me, or…..” LOL

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  • February 22, 2010 at 2:06 pm
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    A very happy birthday to you Kelly and many congratulations to you on 200th post.

    It took me more than 6 years to come out and start writing about my experience with RA. And when I did, it was such a pleasant surprise to see that I had people like you telling that there is hope and that “sharing” does make a difference! Thanks so much for that!

    Wish you the most fabulous life ahead. God bless!

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  • February 22, 2010 at 2:11 pm
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    Kelly, your website is amazing! Congrats on your 200th blog and birthday. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and resources. I find your arguments and ideas compelling. I have had RA for 20 years, been on most meds and treatments, even plasmapheresis for a time. I feel connected to your sight/blog like I have not experienced with any other RA support system.

    I am off to meet with a prior co-worker who looked me up after being diagnosed with RA. I will definitely tell her and my RA dr’s office staff about your sight. Thanks for all you do.

    Consider me San Diego, California

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    • February 22, 2010 at 4:14 pm
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      Thank you so much, Linda. I always need the encouragement & I love hearing more about your experience! You are a veteran. :soldier:

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  • February 22, 2010 at 3:33 pm
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    Happy Birthday and 200th post Kelly! You are doing an incredible job. I appreciate all the careful work and study you put into it. You have helped me a great deal, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve laughed, cried and nodded my head while reading your blog. Also, some of my family members have read your blog and learned the truth about RA.

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  • February 22, 2010 at 4:36 pm
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    Kelly, I just recently found your website, and it is the very best thing I have ever found about RA. I do not feel alone anymore. And I shall never feel guilty because I hurt or don’t feel well. Thank you so much for all of your work and for being here. By the way, I am 55 years old and have had RA for about 5 years.
    By the way, Happy, Happy Birthday!!

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    • February 26, 2010 at 9:46 pm
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      Thank you so much, Sue. I love the statement about not feeling guilty. That should go on a t-shirt! 😎

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  • February 22, 2010 at 7:46 pm
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    Happy belated Birthday, Kelly! You have helped me so much since my diagnosis! Not only have I learned so much from you and all others who post on your site, I do not feel alone and I know this is not all in my head. Thank you for your help and your compassion. I feel blessed. You are priceless.
    Noelle

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  • February 23, 2010 at 12:44 am
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    Yeah – Happy Birthday to one of my favorite teachers!

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  • February 25, 2010 at 4:30 pm
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    Happy Belated Birthday, Kelly! I am so grateful to have found your site … not yet ‘officially’ diagnosed, still somewhat in disbelief and a little denial – but as scary as this all is, it is such a great comfort to know that there is a place for the RA community to meet, support one another, learn, laugh and cry together. What a wonderful fellowship you continue to house and inspire. You are living proof of ‘playing big’ even in the face of a very formidable disease that threatens to limit your life as much as possible.

    You are appreciated! =)

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  • April 24, 2012 at 9:17 pm
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    Happy Birthday, Kelly, and congrats on your 200th blog posting! You mean so much to all of us as you validate all that our RA and JRA families go through with this dreadful disease. Hope the coming year will give you less discomfort with your own ailments and give you even more strength to continue helping us to help each other! We are all truly blessed to have you as our inspiration and our advocate!

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    • April 24, 2012 at 9:54 pm
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      Vi, I checked the date on the bottom of this post and it’s 2 yrs old! I knew we had more than 200 posts now – so that’s why. I recently checked and we have about 650 pages on the blog now. Seems like this was just last month.

      Reply
  • October 31, 2015 at 1:26 pm
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    It is time to give back to this wonderful woman who gave so much to us! Be safe and best wishes.

    Reply
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