ankylosing what? (part 1)

ankylosing spondylitis is a long-term disease that involves inflammation of the joints between the spinal bones, and the joints between the spine and pelvis.

these joints become swollen and inflamed. Over time, the affected spinal bones join together.

the cause of ankylosing spondylitis is unknown, but genes seem to play a role.

the disease most often begins between ages 20 and 40, but it may begin before age 10. it affects more males than females.


you may lose motion or movement in the lower spine. you may not be able to fully expand your chest because the joints between the ribs are involved.

Fatigue is also a common symptom.

Other, less common symptoms include:

Eye swelling or uveitis

Heel pain

Hip pain and stiffness

Joint pain and joint swelling in the shoulders, knees, and ankles

Loss of appetite

Slight fever

Weight loss

(all of the above courtesy of pubmed health)

sounds like an awful disease, doesn't it? our son, john, was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) this last june at the age of 16.

it all started on february 21st (my birthday!) when john called from their fishing trip saying his eye was all red and hurt. thinking he had an infection, we visited our eye doctor the next day and received the diagnosis of iritis/uveitis. drops were dispensed with the precaution that if he didn't improve to come back. and also a word of caution that iritis/uveitis is extremely uncommon in teens and it is very rare to also have both eyes affected.

iritis is nothing new to the reisner household. my husband, tom, was diagnosed with AS in 1991 while we were (thankfully) living in rochester, mn. having the mayo clinic in our town was the biggest blessing we could have asked for during those first few pain filled weeks and months. tom would get the iritis right before he would have a flare up of the arthritis-about 1-2 times a year. he would start the eye drop therapy and it would settle down fairly quickly.

I wish we could say the same for john. between february 22nd and june 11th, he endured COUNTLESS eye doctor and ophthalmologist appointments, 4 varieties of steroid eye drops, a steroid eye ointment, a dilating eye drop and oral prednisone. finally the decision was made to head to the mayo clinic.

bloodwork confirmed that john was a positive carrier of the HLA-B27 gene. a physical examination confirmed that indeed john had AS and already had limited mobility in the spinal area.

and the winner of the copper soldered heart square necklace is.....

tina skrepak!! congrats to tina and thanks to all of you for entering! the next giveaway will be posted in the next day or two, so be watching!

copper heart soldered square giveaway!

these great pieces just arrived from my supplier and I can't wait to try them out!

this is a 7/8 inch sterling silver square with a tiny copper heart soldered on the top. the patina on these are just really cool and make them look worn, not all bright and shiny. these can be stamped with just one word or on three sides (as shown in the pic), the winner's choice!!

who wants one?!

rules-
-leave your comment with what you would stamp on this if you're the winner
-one entry only!
-comment must be left on this post to be eligible to win
-winner selected....friday evening (the 31st)
-good luck!

let's load up the comments with entries! this is just as easy as facebook, so no excuses! we want to keep these giveaways coming, right?! :)

landscaping loves....

I thought it would be fun to share some of our landscaping with you today!

check out this massive hydrangea tree! obviously I snapped this pic just a week or so after its prime, but the blooms are still gorgeous! love the mix of pink and creme.

and they look equally as beautiful when they are dried.

hello grape hyacinths again! these fun beauties already bloomed once this spring (just in time for graduation, thank-you-very-much!) but are getting ready for a repeat performance! these are actually a mixture of deep purple, a medium purple and a light purple-all on one plant. I will attempt to snap the pic when they are bloomed.

thistles! ugh!!! I will pull weeds, but not these prickly little guys!

love my pink sedums!

spider worts are the strangest plant-blooms during the day, turns all green/yellow at night!

such a gorgeous purple flower!

what is your favorite flower/plant? please share!

and the winner is......

#7 stephanie wittrock! you are the lucky winner of the gold heart washer! please email me at dukefans@mchsi.com with washer winner in the subject line.


thank you to all that entered! did you check out the newest pics that I just posted to Facebook? love that copper cup-so dainty and cute!

and I just have to say....everytime I pull up the blog and see the 'she's a hawkeye now' title, I think of that pull-ups commercial-I'm a big kid now. does anyone else? nope? that's what I thought...I'm just weird like that!

she's a hawkeye now!

it's true-ashton is now an iowa hawkeye! but can someone please tell me how that happened??? it seems like just a couple of years ago that she was starting kindergarten with the backpack that was WAY bigger than she was! we look forward to watching ashton continue to excel at the university of iowa, but we just wish it wasn't so FAR away!! 4 1/2 hours is a bit long for a one day trip, so we have lots of weekends already penciled in on the calendar. and yes, two of those include home football weekends-go hawks! if you want to follow ashton on her college journey-check out her life as a hawkeye blog that i have bookmarked on my sidebar. thanks to her roommate megan for this first day of school pic! :)

first day of school!

can it really be that time of the year already-the first day of school? yikes, where did the summer go? this year we have a high school junior and a college freshman-go hawkeyes! I was pleasantly surprised this morning that I had full cooperation with the first day of school pics, even though it seemed not right that ashton wasn't there as well. (hopefully her roommate takes her pic today, too!)

and now for the giveaway part of this post! thanks to facebook's ever-changing rules, I am forced to move my giveaways to this blog instead of continuing with them on the ohd page or risk having the facebook page shut down. this giveaway includes the ever popular heart washer, but in GOLD! the silver washer has been one of my best sellers over the last couple of years and I'm sure this gold one will be as well! rules- -leave your comment under this post ONLY to be eligible to win! include the names or phrase that you would choose if you are the lucky winner! -contest will end thursday morning, august 23rd -good luck!

christmas wrap up!

happy new year! it is finally time to wrap up the reisner christmas 2011. :) here are just a few of my favorite pics from the day....

(not a favorite pic of me, but shows one of my great gifts...a kindle!




seriously spoiled dog, tate and ashton



tom got new hunting pants! :)



my adorable niece and nephew! they make christmas so fun!



one of john's five new hunting hats he received. he loves it, we think it is so dorky!



and we finished the day with some just dance 3...



wishing you a healthy, happy, safe 2012!