A long, long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, I made the mistake of making my blog title its URL. Consequently, it will always be beatingrheumatoidarthritis.com, or if I don’t pay up: beatingrheumatoidarthritis.wordpress.com.

I liked the idea of beating this thing. Beating it to a pulp. And I did, almost. But, it has a way of rising from the depths, so . . .

One way I describe this dis-ease to family and friends who don’t understand how it works is to compare it to the game Whac-a-Mole. In this game, little moles pop out at random and you have to force them back into their holes by hitting them with a mallet. And you have to be quick about it.

RA works the same way. You can be going along, living your life, and then wham! a mole pops up in the shape of a swollen, reddened, painful joint. And then, you have to stop in your tracks and grab your medical mallet, before it has time to cause permanent damage.

You never know when the mole, I mean RA, will pop up. You just have to always be ready for when the roulette wheel stops on the wrong number. And you have to hope that the little rolling ball of pain doesn’t land on red. For red is the color of RA.

I’ve been wanting to change this blog’s name for a long time, and it seems like today is a good day to try something out. There are many other things I want to get done this year. Many creative things that I have been putting off for want of the perfect title, format, structure, etc. Therefore, it seems fortuitous that the Spanish word for the day today is acabar, which means to end, to finish.

Alas, I cannot finish with RA. And it’s the one relationship I would love to acabar. Perhaps one day there will be a way, if not for me, then for others. But until that day comes, I will  continue playing to win. RA/RD cannot beat me while I persevere to meet my goals in life.

I wish you all the best that this new year has to offer. In all that you do.

*The photo in the header was taken from our hotel balcony in Coconut Grove, Florida.