I know that I have given my story many times and I have mentioned going to
rheumies in different locations, well one of the locations was Townsville
where I visited Dr. Peter Keary. Today I found a letter that he had written
to the workers compensation people regarding my situation. I did not realize
until today that Dr. Keary is the one who has won the prize for recognizing
that my problem was caused by spondyloarthropathy and this was in 1989.

To be precise, what he wrote in that letter was that my aches and pains were
consistent with osteoarthritis (I was not 40 at that stage) possibly brought
on by multiple trauma, whilst a suspicion of a mild underlying arthritis,
perhaps seronegative spondyloarthropathy, could not be excluded, there was
no positive evidence for this.

Today, I am positive for the RA factor but am not diagnosed with RA. My bone
scan shows that I have a generalized arthritis, and my other blood tests
show that I have some kind of inflammatory condition.

This letter is evidence that I was in the early stages of AS back in the
1980s but there was nothing on the x-rays that pointed to AS. This is
despite the note on one of the x-rays that stated that there was signs of
sclerosis in the SI joint. The next most interesting x-ray (the one I cannot
find) stated that I had sacroiliitis but this is not showing up on later
x-rays. On the other hand, Dr. Schrieber also said that I had a mild
inflammatory arthritis but without naming it as AS. Once again, the new bone
scan points to the same thing and with activity in my little finger as well
as the ankle enthesopathy, I am going to say that the AS diagnosis is now
more or less confirmed and that what I am experiencing in my shoulders and
head is AS.

It is also surprising that Dr. Keary stated that I should not be doing any
heavy work but was fine for light duties. When I was reading the letter I
must admit that I was very surprised by the conclusion because he was spot
on with regard to heavy lifting causing problems. I cannot put the plastic
containers of milk in a plastic shopping bag because the bag then makes it
heavy on my arms.

Maggie

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