Hi All

shadowlady

Hi All
Just a quick intro to lil' old me and old is the operative word but I am not going to say just how old. LOL
I have struggled with RA since I was diagnosed in 2006 but it never became full blown until early 2007 at which time I couldn't cope with my job as a manager with one of the large supermarket chains. :-(
Worked for DWP until things got so bad that my contract was terminated in 2009 and I have been on ESA since although I have had to come off it as my business (done as permitted work) as a guitar teacher has got to the stage that I had to decide keep all 12 students and come of ESA or close down and stay on ESA. Bit of a slam dunk really so here I am in the 3rd week of being off in the big blue yonder sort of supporting myself without benefits. Luckily I have a very understanding partner who pays most of the household bills, he is such a sweetie..
OK one or two maybe saying how can she teach guitar if she has RA? My answer is with difficulty some days especially if it is wet or damp.
At least being my own boss means I can decide when to work and when not to and all my students understand if I have to cancel a lesson because of my RA.

I recently started Enbrel and will be looking to pick some brains about it in another post.

See Ya all soon

Adele

tillytop

Hello Shadowlady and welcome to the forum!

Your work sounds really interesting and, scary as it must be, it's good that you are able to be flexible with your working hours as you say.

Hope you find the forum as helpful as I do - you will be in good company and they are a great bunch on here - and very knowledgeable.

Love Tilly (another RA'er)xxx

shadowlady

tillytop wrote:

Hello Shadowlady and welcome to the forum!

Your work sounds really interesting and, scary as it must be, it's good that you are able to be flexible with your working hours as you say.

Hope you find the forum as helpful as I do - you will be in good company and they are a great bunch on here - and very knowledgeable.

Love Tilly (another RA'er)xxx

Hi Tilly thanks for your welcome.
Yes I guess my work is interesting and it is something I love teaching guitar as I have a passion for playing and teaching the instrument.
so I consider myself lucky to be able to do both.
I am sure I will find the forum helpful and have had a couple of replies to my e-mail about Enbrel already. :-)

Talk soon

tjt6768

Hi Adele, welcome from me too, I'm usually more pro active with my hellos but not 100% at the minute..
Hope that you are ok today..

Be well

constable

Hi Adele,

Just wanted to say welcome, all the people on here are a mine of information, I'm sure you will be in touch with people in the same boat. I can't help I have OA, just wanted to say welcome.

Karen xx

shadowlady

tjt6768 wrote:

Hi Adele, welcome from me too, I'm usually more pro active with my hellos but not 100% at the minute..
Hope that you are ok today..

Be well

Sorry to hear you were not 100% you return to 100% soon.
I get days like that but since starting Enbrel they are getting fewer.

shadowlady

constable wrote:

Hi Adele,

Just wanted to say welcome, all the people on here are a mine of information, I'm sure you will be in touch with people in the same boat. I can't help I have OA, just wanted to say welcome.

Karen xx

Hi Karen
Thanks for the welcome, sorry being slow replying but I was busy teaching yesterday.
Well funny you should mention OA although OA isn't that funny, it was mentioned to me at my last Rheumy appointment that I may also have OA as I have a Bakers Cyst? at the back of my left knee and that's the one that gives me the most pain.

Take care

shadowlady

Ling wrote:

Hi, fellow newbie.

I'd like to learn the guitar but my eyesight isn't great so reading music might be a problem. Do you think it would be okay still? Also, my right wrist is fused, but that would be okay for strumming I suppose.

Do they do a small guitar for people with little hands who can't reach all the strings? I tried to play my friend's guitar and my hand didn't seem to be able to stretch far enough!

Good for you for finding work you can still do.

Best wishes, Charlotte

Hi Charlotte

Thanks for the welcome.
I can understand your concern re your eyesight and I am afraid I don't know of any guitar teaching books that are in large print over here.
However I have asked my very good friend Steve Krenz in Nashville if he can suggest any. The other alternative is to buy this course http://www.learnandmaster.com/guitar/ is 20 DVD's 10 CD's and the lesson book can be downloaded in PDF format which would mean you could sit at the PC and read and follow the lessons. Its on offer at $140 (about £100) at the moment but it is worth it and if you stuck at it would take you about 2 years to finish and would make you a very very good guitarist.
Steve is the author of the course and it is very good. Its actually what I base my teaching on and I have been to Nashville twice to work with Steve.
Of course if you had lived in Aberdeen I would have offered to teach you and would have produced the lessons in large format for you.
As for small hands we hear this all the time on the support forum for the course and small hands shouldn't really be a restriction if you buy the right size guitar maybe a Folk or Parlour size would work for you, but IF you do go to buy one try some in a guitar shop before you decide.
Yes I was lucky that I had played guitar for 40 plus years in bands and as a solo artist so when I lost my last job it was natural to turn to teaching guitar, my only regret is that I didn't do it a lot earlier as I love teaching.
Keep in touch if you do decide to go ahead with learning guitar and need some more help or advice