Friday, December 10, 1999

Early arthritis can't keep couple down

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BY :BY JOHN JOHNSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        As people scurry about during the hustle and bustle of a holiday season, Bev Kirk moves slower than most.

Everyone has a story worth telling. At least, that's the theory. To test it, Tempo is throwing darts at the phone book. When a dart hits a name, a reporter dials the phone number and asks if someone in the home will be interviewed. Stories appear on Fridays.

        A couple of weeks ago, she could barely move at all. She had suffered a setback in an ongoing struggle with psoriatic arthritis. At just 51 years old, she found herself using a walker to get around.

        By last week, she was using a cane. She sets it beside a chair in her Cherry Grove home as Don, her 47-year-old husband of 19 years, takes a spot on the couch.

        “Every day's different,” Bev says. “I usually know as soon as I get up in the morning what kind of day I'll have. I can go for weeks feeling just fine. If I walk too much, I really feel it.”

        The physical pain only worsens what has already been an emotionally trying year. Bev's father died in July. An aunt she was close to died in January. As a result, Bev, who says she's “always been the biggest Christmas person on the block,” does not plan to put up a tree or decorate this year. It just doesn't feel right.

        Her father and aunt were strong people, Bev says. She says her father, who died at age 84, kept plugging “till he couldn't go anymore.”

        That's the same attitude Bev takes toward her situation.

        “I always try to say, "This is a good day.' In my head I'm saying, "I'm doing what I can.' ”

        Her problem surfaced suddenly in the summer of 1996 when Bev and Don were vacationing in Maine and Massachusetts. They'd been driving, and when Bev went to step out of the car, her legs didn't work.

        “It scared me to death,” she says.

        She couldn't walk for more than two weeks. Doctors prescribed steroids and cortisone shots, and slowly she began making progress using a walker, then a cane. The arthritis also affected her hands and wrists, and she wore splints for a while.

        She'd had a mild case of psoriasis, a skin disease. Doctors told her that in a small percentage of people, psoriasis leads to psoriatic arthritis, which usually affects the joints of the fingers and toes, and sometimes more.

        Life changed almost immediately for the Kirks.

        Because Bev could no longer climb steps, she and Don sold their bi-level in Mount Washington; they built a ranch-style home in Cherry Grove.

        Bev laughs that Don, “the man who never ran a sweeper,” found himself doing that and other chores, such as laundry, grocery shopping and caring for their four cats. He's a letter sorter for the Postal Service.

        Bev, a program analyst for the Internal Revenue Service, says she's grateful for the help and support of her co-workers.

        “If I'm having a bad day, and there's a meeting in the far corner of the building, one of them will say, "I'll do that meeting for you.'”

        Her friends take her to restaurants without steps. They know her hands can't open those little cracker wrappers, so they do it for her.

        But don't get the idea she can't fend for herself. She enjoys her work and drives herself there each day.

        One aspect of her job she likes is the occasional travel. She recently flew into Boston, rented a car, and drove to Andover, Mass., north of the city.

        Alone.

        Not a big deal for most business travelers. But a very big deal for someone facing new challenges.

        “I considered that a victory,” Bev says, “just making it by myself.”

       

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