A.S. Face 0109: Becky Rae Bury

A.S. Face 0109: Becky Rae Bury

Hi my name is Becky and i have AS. wow!!! I’m sitting here thinking how to put all of this down.i will try my best but it might be a scatter as that is how it all happened ! i can remember being in pain as far back as 7 years old. i always had pain in my low back,pain in my right hand,pain in my right eye,rashes on the back of my head and bad pain trying to urinate. my mom had taken me in but the doctors could never figure out what was going on. i didn’t know what was wrong and why i was in so much pain. so many times i would look at my sister and think, i wonder if shes feeling like this and I’m just a weak person? i then had stopped telling my mom what was wrong and i just dealt with it..i thought if doctors couldn’t find out what was wrong then its in my head and I’m just weak and all of the pain was normal and i was told they were growing pains so i just kept quiet for as long as i could. when i was around 11 insomnia kicked in and i would lay awak at night and then i would be so tired at school but i did my best.if i sat down in my seat at school to long my legs felt like they were on fire and the bottom of my spine felt so achy and then i would get stabbing pains in my back and my leg.thank god for recess cause it helped so much to get up and move around.i had good grades in school until i hit 7th grade and pain was so bad from all the sitting that i had to tell my mom… nothing was done and maybe it was that i didn’t push how bad the pain was. my grades started to drop and all i could think about was how bad the pain was.all the pain drowned out what ever the teacher was teaching and once again i just dealt with it,dealt with the pain.i then started having sever foot pain and my step dad looked at my foot and it was swollen and painful so they took me to a foot doctor and they did surgery on my foot where they broke my big toe and my Little toe and put screws and pins in to some how fix the problem. it didn’t help at all..well time went on and so did the pain and when i was 15 i started working as a cna working with the elderly and luckily my sister worked right along with me. there was so many times my back would just lock up and get so bad that i could barely move. my sister would see me in so much pain and she would help me with all my patients and anyone that knows how nursing homes work then they know what a big deal it is having double the patients.. my sister and i worked side by side as cna’s up until i was 19 and so many times she had to help me and i cant thank her enough..as time went on the pain got so bad. all the er trips and finally i just gave up being a cna all together. my back could not take it any more. i got a job at a gym and that’s were i met the man of my dreams,my rock,my support. my dream man  and i got married and had are daughter when i was 20 and after i had her pain kicked in full swing,heart problems,kidney problems,hip pain and most of all rib pain. i went to more and more doctors and had so many spinal injections that never once worked i tried just about everything and they did an MRI on my back and said i have scoliosis and its a 38 degree curve and its what they call a cork screw curve. that is were my spin is twisting into my chest making it painful to breath. i was happy to know all the pain wasn’t in my head but it didn’t explain what was going on with other parts of my body. time went on again and i had my son Bowen just 3 years ago and it was a hard pregnancy i was sick the whole time and they ended up taking him early cause there wasn’t enough fluid to hold and support him and my son was in stress.they started me and i was in so much pain. worst pain of my life. they said the meds they gave me wont work cause I’m was having a spinal pregnancy. meaning my son was laying on my spine. all i remember is looking at my husbands face and he looked scarred and my sister was by me and she was crying cause i was in so much pain. Bowen was born and he wasn’t in very good health so i didn’t get to hold him until the next day.it was so hard being in so much pain and wondering where my son was and if he was going to be OK.his health got better and we got to go home to are small town.6 months went by and i felt sicker and sicker. pain and fevers kicked in but i just dealt with them until last summer i started to grow lumps all over my hands which made it so hard to take care of my son and do everyday activity’s. so i went to the orthopedic in are small town and i will never ever for get him!! he felt my hands and asked me “Becky do you have any family members with RA or any arthritis or auto immune problems??’i said i think so on my dads side. the doctor looked at me and said ‘ you know what? lets do some blood work just to be on the safe side’. well a few weeks later i got a call from him and i thought that was odd cause the nurse always calls. he told me that I’m HLAB-27 positive and my c reactive proteins are threw the roof. he said hes referring me to a specialist and i said what do i have and he told me that hes pretty sure i have ankylosing spondylitis…it didn’t sink in at all what was going on and i had no clue it was serious. the appointment he made me had to be cancelled do to the fact my son was so sick. well life got in the way and i kept pushing my appointment back and money also got in the way.i didn’t think AS was that big of deal cause he didn’t sound to alarmed to me. well winter came and things got so bad that i was in the er and thought i had a brain tumor because all my muscles were jumping and my eyes were killing me and i had such bad vertigo.they did a ct and said it looked good so i went home thinking i was crazy and i was put on a super high dose of antibiotics and everything just got worse. i laid on the couch crying all the time, my husband didn’t know what was wrong my kids didn’t know what was wrong.so i went in to are small town doctor cause the top of my spine was killing me and my eyes were blood shot in pure pain. my doctor asked me a few things and he was trying to piece together what was going  on with me.so i brought up that i had blood work done last summer and gave him the low down on what the orthopedic was testing me for.well my doctor got my blood work tests and said that what i had is very serious and there is no cure but theres treatments that can help.in the mean time before i got into the specialist i was put on steroid eye drops and other steroids to lower my c reactive levels. the day came when i got to meet the specialist and when i went in she had so many x rays done and blood work and gave me the low down on AS. after that day i went into shock and shut my self out from the world! i snapped out of it when i herd my 9 year old daughter saying her prayers before bed and she begged god to help her mommy and to please take the pain away.a few days went by and Jordan my daughter was very upset and i asked her what was wrong and she said ” mom why isn’t god answering my prayers? does he not like me? i ask him every night to help you but your still sick’! i told her hes helping me and he will always answer your prayers Jordan!!! god loves you and he loves me!!!! i told her i will get through this and things will be OK .. to all my friends with AS don’t give up!! don’t stop moving and please fight!!! the way i look at AS is different but it helps me. i tell my AS that its not going to win today and it wont ever win because i will never ever stop fighting it! everything i do i will do in pain but i will do it!!!!!  i always think that i have an invader in my body and I’m not going to let it win!!!!! i have read just about every ones story and you all have touched my heart!!!!! thank you for letting me tell you my story. i have ankylosing spondylitis but it does not have me!!!!!
Lyman, Wyoming United States of America