Health Diaries > Rheumatoid Arthritis > Life with RA

My dad jokes that my dog is from the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, the place where Charlie Brown got his infamous beagle, Snoopy. But the truth is Emmie is a rescue that my husband Matt and I got from a beagle rescue in London, Ohio (http://www.beaglesrus.org/).

Emmie was most likely abused. When we got her, she was very shy and took a long time to warm up to people. Most of the time she curled into a little ball and slept. She'd been shuffled around from place to place, stuck in the pound and various foster homes for rescue dogs. Someone had even taken her in for a while but given her back to the rescue.

This once orphaned little girl is now the most popular dog on the block. The neighbor down the street always comes out with a treat for her when she sees Matt or I walking her. My neighbor Jack stops by just to pet her. Joan, my next door neighbor wants to borrow her to chase bunnies from the tomatoes she's growing. Even my parents stop by "just to visit the dog."

All Emmie ever needed was a little love.

And maybe that's all we need to be better. I'm not saying that love alone gets us through a painful day of RA. But having her snuggle up to me when I'm feeling fatigued or my joints are swelling makes it a little bit more bearable. Every ounce of love that I've put into my 16 pound, eleven inch dog, she gives back twice over. It is the thing that helps me get through what I don't think I can get through.

Emmie loves to be around people -- she is patient with kids and affectionate with adults. And except when she sees a rabbit, she hardly ever barks or howls, which is unusual for the breed.

She's the perfect example for the power of a second chance (or third, or fourth...). I've got to believe in second chances. Any of you who regularly read my thoughts here, you already know that I trained as a classical ballet dancer. So, RA really hit me hard. Even just getting diagnosed was an issue -- my condition went undiagnosed for several years because the pain was mistakenly considered, both by me and my doctors, as dance-related injuries. Only when the swelling became apparent in multiple joints did I get the blood test that showed an RA Factor. That period of time, and the time after I was diagnosed was a real transition.

But during that transition I found out something very important about myself. I love to write. And, I might have a bit of talent at it too. I earned an undergraduate degree in creative writing, and even was given a scholarship. Next year I will start the Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at West Virginia University with a graduate teaching assistantship.

I might never have pursued writing if I didn't have RA. Writing is my second chance.

So Emmie and I are alike -- in some ways we're cast offs, rescues -- we need that little extra bit of love. During the day when I write, she sits by the edge of my desk, and when I need a break, she comes over to my chair to be petted.