A.S. Face 1802: Kim Rogers
My name is Kim Rogers. I live in Gympie, Queensland,
Australia and I was diagnosed with AS in January 2016 at the age of 48.
I am a wife and mother to an active 10 year old boy, and
work full time as a project officer in water resource management.
My passion in life, besides my family, has been playing
sport – especially field hockey. I started playing when I was five years old,
and still played until shortly before I was diagnosed.
At the age of 19, I injured my lower back. Originally
diagnosed with a strain, my back never got better, and I was eventually
diagnosed with two prolapsed discs (L4, L5). I suffered with sciatica and
constant pain in my back and legs, with several occasions where I had severe
spasms requiring hospitalisation until 2006, when I fell pregnant with my son.
During this time I had continued to play hockey, even though I lived on
ibuprofen the whole time. Magically, my back pain disappeared while I was
pregnant, and did not return once my son was born.
Following the birth of my son I had bursitis in my right
hip. I went back to hockey and commenced a fitness and diet regime so that I
could represent Gympie in the State Ladies Masters Championships, and just be
healthier in myself. I lost 20 kg and was the fittest I had ever been. That
year, I won every trophy available to me and Gympie were runners up in the
State Championships. We went on to win the Championships the next two years in
a row. That last year I really struggled with my body and was having a lot of
trouble with my fitness. The following year, I struggled to play, suffering a
lot more injuries and started to have a lot of pain in my feet. I was taking every
supplement that I could to help reduce muscle tightness and body pain.
Everything went downhill from here – bursitis, torn muscles, plantar fasciitis,
dactylitis in my right big toe, tendonitis in my shoulder, elbow and wrists. I
even started Pilates because it was too painful to walk or run.
I was still playing hockey, but it was difficult and in
September 2015 I had a massive flare up in my right sacroiliac joint. I have
lived with pain most of my life, but I have never had pain like that! Three
weeks in extreme pain and throwing up every time I tried to take any drug to
reduce my pain.
A few weeks after going back to work, another flare up in my
left SI joint laid me up again, but this time I had prednisone and cut the
length of time in extreme pain significantly. My osteopath was the first to
identify the problem and recommend I ask my GP for a referral to a
rheumatologist. It took 4 months to get to see him but he diagnosed AS straight
away. My blood tests, MRI, history matched the markers in my body – psoriasis,
dactylitis, bursitis etc. he told me that he believed that I had had AS all my
adult life but had finally reached my pain threshold when it flared up SI
joints. I agree. He put me onto Humira and I do not have flare ups while I’m
continually medicated.
The first 12 months has been difficult and I have struggled
to adjust to life where the simplest things are so very difficult. I have been
grieving for the life I’ve lost and feeling guilty for the not being able to
contribute to things the way I used to. I worry that my reduced fitness and
mobility will shorten my life and I will not see my son grow up.
In addition to the AS, I still have two prolapsed discs and
degenerated discs some with stenosis.
I am still learning my limitations and how to manage myself.
I still pine to play hockey, mow the yard, garden, and go bushwalking. I dream
of being pain free, something I haven’t been since I was 18. But I’m happy too.
I now know what’s wrong with me, and there’s so many people out there just like
me. I know that I’m very lucky in many ways that the AS did not get bad until
my forties. I know that there are many people much worse than me. I have a
husband and child who love me and look after me on my bad days, and give me a
hard time on my good ones 😊. I wonder what my
future holds and hope that my medication continues to work for me.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell my story.
Queensland, Australia
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