10 Practical Tips to Tackle Rheumatoid Arthritis Joint Pain

In this article I share 10 helpful and practical strategies to try when you need to get your RA joint pain under control as quickly as possible!

Read more at New Life Outlook RA!

Beyond Pain Scales: 6 Ways to Communicate Pain

In my latest guest post for Mango Health, I consider some ideas to productively make use of the dreaded 1-10 pain scale!

Check it out here!

The RA Pregnancy Chronicles: Sometimes Being Pregnant With Arthritis Is Hard

The RA Pregnancy Chronicles is a series of posts that share my experiences being pregnant while living with RA. This post was written during Week 23 of my second pregnancy. 

Unfortunately I don’t think it can be denied any longer: my RA is officially flaring. I'm also waking up with the most extreme morning stiffness I have ever experienced – it feels like I have been run over with a steamroller. And the fatigue (combined from the RA flare, difficult pregnancy, and chasing a toddler) is beyond soul crushing.

Read more at RheumatoidArthritis.net.

Downright Hard

Because I am pregnant right now, my RA is currently completely untreated. And while I was lucky enough to experience at least some remission during my first pregnancy, I just haven't been that lucky this time around. 

My RA has definately been flaring. And while my usual flares are more of an overall body ache or sometimes a relatively dull, persistent pain in a particular joint, my pregnancy flares have turned out to be different. I have been experiencing excruciating joint pain that comes on without any warning and with barely any reason. This pain will last for a day or two and then disappear almost as quickly as it arrived. So far it has been my right hip, my right knee, my left toes, my left hip, my left shoulder, and then my right knee again. The problem is that the joint hurts so much for a couple of days that it almost incapacitates me, especially since there is basically nothing I can take or do to help with the pain that is safe for the baby.

For example, last night I read a book for about ten minutes before going to bed. Half an hour later, my right wrist was in in such severe pain that I could barely sleep. From what? From holding a book open for ten minutes? Apparently. I put a wrist brace on and tried to go to sleep. I ended up taking some Tylenol in the middle of the night. But I just couldn't get comfortable and my wrist hurt so much I barely slept at all.

This morning it felt like my wrist was in even more pain. So when OZL decided he didn't want to get dressed, I knew I was in trouble. I pointed to my wrist and tried to explain to him that mama had an owie. He listened very intently and said "mama has owie." But he is not even two yet, so he forgot all about mama's owie as soon as I tried to dress him. He ended up flailing around and screaming, and I had no choice but to physically fight him into his clothes. But the end of the ordeal we were both sobbing.

Luckily it is a school day for OZL, so all I really had to do was get him dressed and get him to school. But, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what I am going to do with the rest of my day at this point. I'm supposed to be writing today, but even typing this short post is pretty slow and painful because of my wrist. 

I guess the moral of the story is this: while my kids are completely worth it and I love having them more than anything, sometimes being a mama with RA is just downright hard.

(P.S. The book I was reading for 10 minutes last night was a baby name book - which only leads me to wonder how I will ever survive on days like this when I am outnumbered!!)

A Random Act of Kindness

I have been having a rough time lately. I’ve been trying to ignore it and deny it for weeks, but unfortunately I don’t think it can be denied any longer: my RA is officially flaring. During pregnancy.

Fingers. Wrists. Elbows. Shoulders. Neck. Hips. Knees. Ankles. Toes. All are swollen and stiff and painful to move or touch or use. I have also been waking up with the most intense morning stiffness I have ever experienced - it feels like I have been run over with a steamroller in the night. And the fatigue is beyond soul crushing.

I have to admit that I am scared. I’m scared because there aren't very many pregnancy-safe options to help me deal with all this pain. I’m scared because I am barely halfway through this pregnancy and I’m honestly not sure how I will survive the second half. But I am also terrified that once I do manage to make it to the end of this pregnancy I am going to be in no fit shape to take care of two little boys.

This morning was particularly rough. It took a massive amount of resolve to haul my steamroller-crushed body out of bed, and then OZL woke up and screamed for more than 30 minutes straight and there was nothing I could do to console him. (I think he might be working on his two-year molars...gah the timing!). And, despite being well into my second trimester, I am still dealing with intense morning sickness and soon found myself gagging over the kitchen sink yet again (after which OZL announced "bless you, mommy!" so at least he is a polite little grump!). After surviving all this I looked at the clock. It was not even 8:30 a.m.

Unsure how we were going to survive through the day, I loaded OZL into the car. I figured I would drive through Starbucks and get myself a latte to help me feel more human - and then I would see about finding some trucks or construction to distract my grumpy toddler. So I ordered my latte, but when I pulled up to the window to pay the barista informed me that the person in the car in front of me had already payed for my order.

I honestly do not know how to thank that person enough. Living through this difficult pregnancy and dealing with this arthritis flare at the same time has left me feeling so very, very alone. Although this person was a stranger who knew nothing about me, somehow this random act of kindness made me feel a little less isolated. I drove to the closest construction site and enjoyed my treat while OZL and I watched the heavy equipment roll by. And it was absolutely the best both of us have felt in a while - which gave me hope for getting through the day.

That person will never know just how much they did for me today, but hopefully someday I will be able to pay it forward to someone else.

Bed Rest

If you're having a busy day at work or a rough day at school, I'm sure bed rest must sound pretty awesome. You probably imagine luxuriating in bed all day, eating bon-bons, watching movies, having people bring you food or give you a foot massage. But let me assure you of this: bed rest is really not very much fun. Especially with arthritis.

I have been laying in bed, getting up only to use the bathroom, since I got checked into the hospital on Friday afternoon. So it has only been a few days but all the immobility has already been totally killer on my joints. They pretty much all hurt - which obviously doesn't make laying around all the time very easy or very fun. And, since my OBs want me to primarily lay on my side to increase bloodflow and reduce my blood pressure, my hips are objecting loudly and constantly. Yesterday afternoon I had to resort to some vicodin just to keep laying in the bed. 

Luckily, APL is taking extremely good care of me. He set up my computer next to the guest bed with a trillion movies and TV shows. He also got permission to work half days from home, so he brings me lunch and makes me dinner every day, and having him home limits my need to go up and down the stairs. River is also being extremely good company. She seems to know something is wrong and spends a lot of time laying on the bed with me. She cheers me up immensely. Our friends are also helping out - one brought us a pot roast for dinner on Monday, another took River on a hike yesterday, a third is texting me daily from California to make sure I'm hanging in there. We're very lucky to have such a good support system. 

It still isn't easy. My body hurts a great deal and today I feel like I'm having trouble being entertained by anything, even though I have a million options. I'm really hoping to make it another week on bed rest to give our little guy a bit more time to cook. While of course I want what is best for my baby that is also an overwhelming thought because the joint pain and stiffness seems to increase daily. It's hard to lay around and rest when it hurts to lay there.

But I'm trying to take it a day at a time - an hour at a time if necessary. And, luckily for me, APL will be home soon. And that always makes me feel better.

Adventures in Utah

After a very fun month in California (except for the snake, but luckily Sita is doing much better now!) I am finally back in Colorado. I am also (boo!!) back in law school. However (yay!!!) this summer class is my last law class EVER!!!

I had quite an adventure on my way back to Colorado. It took River and me almost two days to drive from Groveland to Salt Lake City, Utah. This was partly because Tioga Pass, the most direct route east from Groveland, was still closed due to snow. So I had to drive quite a ways north to Donner Pass (yes, the one where the pioneers ate each other). 

I was born a California girl, but here's how I know that I have a little Colorado in my blood after four years: It was snowing a little over Donner Pass, but there wasn't even any snow on the road and it wasn't cold enough to freeze. I put my windshield wipers and defroster on but I didn't even consider putting chains on. There's more snow than that in my driveway on a regular basis! But the Californian drivers were freaking out about the snow. They were backed up going 3mph for probably 2 hours as everyone got in each others' way trying to put chains on. And, after the traffic broke up, I was flying by people at a totally safe speed of 40mph. Everyone else must have been going about 12mph. In any event, I guess I've done enough driving in the snow by now to make it not a big deal to me. But River and I ended up staying the night in Reno because it took so long just to get over the pass.

The next day we finished the drive to Salt Lake City. Then, since APL had Memorial Day off, he flew to SLC and met us there, which turned out to be a really good thing because my knees (particularly my driving knee) have been giving me a lot of trouble. (The stop and go driving over Donner Pass was killer on my bad knee. I probably would have had a hard time making it all the way back to Boulder on my own.) Then, since we had three whole days to get back home, we decided to do some exploring in Utah. We didn't have a plan - just like our spontaneous car trip last year.

So we headed to Capitol Reef National Park, which was extremely beautiful. The weather that day was perfect too. There's a historic Mormon homestead that still makes fresh pie, so we enjoyed  peach pie and vanilla soda and beautiful scenery. Then we kept driving towards Natural Bridges National Monument, which is at least 50 miles from anywhere. It's so remote we figured we'd never just be "in the area" again. But, as the afternoon faded, we discovered that spontaneous car trips with no plan whatsoever are perhaps not the best idea on a holiday weekend. We passed a bunch of motels but they were all full. We arrived at Natural Bridges, which is 50 miles from any civilization, just after dark.

I was afraid that if we drove another 50 miles to the next town there would still be no motel and then we would have driven too far to come back to Natural Bridges in the morning. It was then that I had the brilliant idea of sleeping in the back of our Subaru. Mind you, we had no camping supplies whatsoever. We pulled into overflow camping at the monument (because the campground was also full on the holiday weekend) put the seats down in the back and slept in our clothes under a dog blanket using dirty laundry for pillows and River laying on our legs. There wasn't a lot of room, but the real problem was how hard the back of the seats were. I woke in the middle of the night with so much pain in my hips and shoulders that I thought I was going to vomit. I thought I'd never be able to move again. Perhaps not my best plan ever.

But, when River woke us up at 5:15am as soon as it got light, we both felt surprisingly ok. We were tired and sore, but not as bad as we thought it would be. And we were super happy to get to see Natural Bridges in the light. I guess a good mood can help more than you'd imagine. By 8:15am we had seen all three natural bridges, taken a small hike to see some ruins, seen the first solar panel installation in the country, and stopped by the visitor center to stamp our National Parks Passport. 

Then we drove to Canyonlands National Park. We went to The Needles District this time, which was also really pretty with some crazy rock formations. Utah is a beautiful state. We explored Canyonlands and had some lunch. Next time we want to go back to the Island in the Sky District.

On our way back to the interstate we also drove through Arches National Park. I was fairly exhausted at this point, so I have to admit that we didn't stay very long and we only saw the arches that were visible from the car or a really short walk to a viewpoint. But someday we'd like to go back there and hike up to Delicate Arch, which is the iconic arch that you've probably seen on Utah license plates.

We spent Sunday night in Grand Junction and drove back to Boulder on Monday morning, early enough to beat the evil holiday traffic on I-70. I know I was supposedly resting for a month in California, but now I'm totally exhausted again!! I still haven't quite figured out how to tone down my "adventure instinct" to deal with the amount of energy I actually have. Also, I'm not sure my "roughing it" habits are exactly good for my body these days. But, in any event, we had a really fun impromptu adventure in Utah - even if we did have to sleep one night in the back of our car!

Productively Unproductive

I am writing this post under the shade of an enormous oak tree on the back patio in Groveland. I don’t have any internet here (which honestly is probably a good thing in terms of relaxing, to be disconnected) so I will post this next time I have internet. The sun is shining, a soft breeze is blowing, and I’ve been walking through the tall grass and thinking (or at least trying to think and, rather unfortunately, trying to walk). I decided I wanted to write this post now. This blog has become an outlet for me, and sometimes I just get in the mood to write!

This time the desire to write probably has something to do with me feeling a bit useless right now. Everyone else is working on projects. APL’s mom is mowing the tall grass that has grown in the orchards so that she can access all her baby fruit trees to take care of them. APL’s father and APL’s brother and his brother’s girlfriend are literally starting to build the barn – the final part of the foundation was just poured yesterday and they are starting to build the frame as I type this.

Even APL, though he is not here right now, is being productive. He flew back to Boulder yesterday to do a contract job today and start his brand new job on Monday. He is being so responsible and paying all the bills and taking care of me even when we’re apart. And everyone here is taking care of me too, because at least some of the motivation behind the work they are doing now is to get the Groveland property ready for our wedding next May. Which is probably part of the reason I feel so frustrated that I am sitting on the back porch, drinking a soda in the shade, and not helping at all.

But, in a way, I guess I’m working on my own project: resting. I know it sounds silly, but resting is actually a challenge for me. Especially when I want to help. It always seems like there should be something I could do to help. However, the other problem is that I’m not very good at limiting myself. Ok, ok. I’m really bad at limiting myself. In fact, last time I was here in Groveland I worked myself way too hard and my body really paid for it afterwards. I even knew at the time that I was working too hard and I still couldn’t stop myself. So this time I’m simply not working at all. I’ve helped clear the table and washed the dishes a few times, but other than that my project is resting. Sitting still. Giving my poor body a break.

Unfortunately, it isn’t yet having the desired result. To be perfectly honest, I’m actually feeling worse right now physically than I was during finals or during the semester. I think it’s probably because I had adrenaline and anxiety to keep me going during finals and, for that matter, over the course of the semester. But now I’ve completely crashed. Literally every joint in my body aches. My toes. Ankles. Hips. Shoulders. Wrists. Fingers. Elbows. Knees especially. And every muscle connected to those joints is sore, which is pretty much every muscle. And I’ve got a headache and no energy whatsoever. 

But I’m trying to be patient with my body. I know I did a lot of damage to it over the semester. And over the last two years for that matter. I haven’t exactly been taking it easy since I got diagnosed with RA, seeing as I’ve also been in law school and law school takes a toll on healthy people!! I know it will take me some time to recover to “feeling good” and I’ve got to try to be patient. But it really isn’t easy.

For now I’m just trying to enjoy relaxing, in this moment, regardless of how my body feels. I’m sitting under a beautiful tree, with a beautiful blue sky, in this beautiful place. I’ve got a view of the barn site (so I can see all the action!) and River is sleeping in the shade behind my chair. And I am surrounded by my soon-to-be family members who all love me and are all helping take care of me. Really they are already my family.

My body may have some issues, but I am actually very lucky.

Dead Wood

During the week of spring break, APL and I had a few days of downtime on "the farm," where we helped APL's mom with the farm-work. APL shoveled turkey poo manure into the back of the gator (the utility vehicle, like an off-road golf cart) and then distributed it to each of the trees in the orchard. I spent literally two days clearing dead wood from the oak grove where we hope to have our wedding ceremony, dragging big pieces into a pile to be saved for winter firewood and using the gator the haul smaller or rotten pieces close enough to chuck on to the burn pile. Clearing the dead wood will not only help us create a gorgeous ceremony location but also protects the grove from the significant fire risk in the area every summer. 

I have to admit that it was a pretty physically difficult job - bending down to gather dead sticks, carrying them over uneven ground to the gator, chucking wood on the burn pile, lugging half-rotten logs out of the weeds that had grown around them. But it was so satisfying to be doing something physically active and outside in the sunshine. It also gave my mind a two day break from the hundred million worries I've been worrying about. And, if I loved that oak grove before, I love it even more after toiling under those trees for two days straight.

However, that being said, I totally crossed the threshold that leads to RA crashing. This is something I still majorly struggle with. Not only do I have a hard time identifying the threshold, but even if I am able to identify it I have an even harder time making myself listen to it if I'd rather not.

I worked under the oak trees, hauling dead wood, all afternoon on Tuesday. By the time we stopped for dinner it was all I could do to eat something before falling into bed. I was exhausted and sore too. But the problem didn't really start until I woke up the next morning actually feeling good. I was still tired, yes, and a little bit sore, but what else is new? I figured if I could work a whole afternoon and feel like that the next morning, I could certainly work a bit more.

But I didn't work a "bit" more. I worked a lot more. I worked pretty much all day. About halfway through the day, I already knew I had done too much, but I didn't stop. Part of it was that APL and his mom were still working, and I really wanted to contribute. But most of it was that I liked the work I was doing. I liked contributing to the place where our wedding will be and I liked the way it freed my mind to just be outside in the sunshine, rather than worrying about assignments and doctor's appointments. I should have stopped, but I didn't. I kept working late into the afternoon. It was like I knew the crash was coming, but it hadn't come yet so I might as well enjoy what good feeling I had left.

But I paid for it. Really paid for it. The next day, I felt like I was going to die. Every joint and every muscle in my body was on fire. My head throbbed and I felt nauseous and dizzy all day. My body was heavier and felt more rotten than any of the wood I had hauled to the burn pile. It took a tremendous amount of effort just to stay upright and behave like a normal human being. I don't think I've ever crashed that hard before. It took several days to come out of that nosedive.

The problem is, though the crash was horrendous and probably pretty unhealthy for me, I'm not sure I regret the two days I spent working in the oak grove. I want to be able to do physical work sometimes. But I do recognize that I should figure out how to limit myself a bit more in the future - to do some work, enough to be satisfying, but not enough to knock me down so hard. However, I think this is easier said than done. And I guess it will be a process of trial and error.

This Little Piggy Cried All The Way Home

We just returned to Colorado from a wonderful Thanksgiving week in Los Angeles. Both APL and I grew up there, so there were lots and lots of people to see. I left my casebooks in my backpack and just enjoyed myself for pretty much the whole week. (Which may or may not have been a mistake considering my upcoming exams, but too late now!)

We stayed in my mom's beautiful Spanish-style house, played with her sweet dog Harley, and watched ancient home videos. (I was a damn cute baby!) We had brunch with my Great Uncle (also my godfather) who just celebrated his 81st birthday. APL, my good friend CC, and I had mommy & me day with all of our mamas at The Getty Villa, a beautiful museum in Malibu, where we walked the grounds, played in the kids discovery room, and had a lovely lunch. APL and I had dinner at the local Polish Restaurant with my dad and my uncle. We had drinks and caught up with a friend from high school.

For thanksgiving, my mom joined us at APL's parents house with his aunt and several of his cousins, where we watched football and played with his parent's beautiful Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Dinner was absolutely delicious and I ate way too much.

We had breakfast with my friend LK's mom. LK was not in town, but we have been friends since we were 5, so her mom is sort of my second mom. Then CC, her boyfriend, and I went to see another friend from high school who I hadn't seen in forever and meet her her adorable six month old baby boy. I have to admit that this part was a little bit tough for me because I got tired after only about five minutes of holding the baby. My arms and hands hurt from supporting him. It freaked me out a little bit about how I will ever manage to take care of my own kids. But then APL and I decided that we would develop some sort of quick release baby sling, to save my arms from having to hold the baby all the time. I know we can make it work, but it is still sort of overwhelming to think about how different caring for my kids will be with RA than it would have been without RA.

On Saturday, we went to APL's 10 year high school reunion! Man was that ever a blast from the past! Since APL and I went to the same high school, I knew some of the people there and it was fun to see them after so long. (DISCLAIMER: APL and I were not dating in high school. Though we had mutual friends and went to prom in the same group, we didn't really get to know each other until we "re-met" my sophomore year of college. So the high school connection is like a weird coincidence). On Sunday we had breakfast with my dad and my uncle and then some of the people from the reunion had a picnic at the local park. I got to hold one of APL's classmate's six month old little boy and was happy that it didn't tire me out so quickly that day. That made me feel a little bit better.

Unfortunately, since then I've been feeling quite a bit worse. Though I really, really enjoyed getting to see and visit with so many people, and despite our best efforts to take it easy last week, I think we still went past my limits, leaving me extremely fatigued from it all. It didn't help that we had to get up at 3:45am on Monday to make our 7:00 flight at LAX to get on an 11:15am bus from DIA to get back to Boulder in time for me to go to my 2:30pm class. Perhaps not the best planning on our part. Perhaps these days it's worth spending an extra $200 on plane tickets if the alternative is going to wipe me out.

Not to mention that traveling with RA can be tricky. On top of the fatigue from such a busy week, since I am so tall sitting crammed into an airplane or bus seat has never been comfortable. Having my joints motionless for long periods of time leads to even more soreness than I had to begin with.

Today my EVERYTHING hurts. Toes, ankles, hips (damn do my hips ever hurt!!), shoulders, elbows, wrists (that stupid right wrist is still hurting despite wearing a brace all week), fingers, even my jaw. APL literally had to lift me out of bed and help me get dressed so that I could get to class this morning.

Needless to say this pain is not conducive to the hours I need to spend in front of the computer over the next week to prepare for my law school exams next Thursday and Friday. My hips are uncomfortable no matter what kind of sitting position I am in, typing hurts my fingers, and mousing hurts my wrist. And, since it's never fun to go to the doctors, it doesn't help that I also have a billionty doctor's appointments to attend to (ok, ok, three this week two next week). But, at least the doctor at my appointment this morning finally gave me the swine flu vaccine since I have a compromised immune system. So at least I won't get the swine flu on top of everything else. Hooray?

You might wonder why, if it hurts to sit at a computer, I bothered to waste 20 minutes typing this blog post. Honestly? I don't really know. It doesn't make sense. It probably would have been better to spend the past 20 minutes on my administrative law outline. But, somehow blogging here always seems to make me feel better. Somehow it allows me to vent my frustrations, which keeps them from distracting me when I finally do actually get to work. Hopefully it will help me be more productive. Which would be good because I have A TON of work to do in the next week.

And the little piggy cried Wee!! Wee!! Wee!! all the way home where she wished she could crawl into bed to rest her aching joints and never go to law school again. But at least she won't get the swine flu.

Pain in the Shoulder

The day before yesterday I woke up with an all-too-familiar pain in my right shoulder and right side of my neck, which made my usual morning RA soreness quite a bit worse. I had a lot of trouble getting out of bed that day.

I’ve actually been having pain in my right shoulder, under the shoulder blade, since college. The way I have to sleep to alleviate the shoulder pain usually leads to soreness in my neck too. The shoulder pain generally sticks around for a couple of days, or sometimes even weeks, and then goes away for a while.

The pain started in college, a month or two after I took a particularly bad fall while snowboarding in Mammoth. It was the end of a long day of snowboarding and we were coming down a relatively steep, shady, icy slope. I started to make a turn and then second-guessed myself and tried to take it back. Instead I ended up with my feet flying out from under me. I hit my right shoulder, then my head, and slid the rest of the way down the slope. The hit to my head was hard enough to crack my helmet (thankfully I was wearing one) so the original impact to my shoulder must have been even harder.

I was sore from the fall for a couple of days, but then I didn’t have much trouble with my shoulder until around finals, when I woke up one morning with a ghastly pain in my right shoulder and up through my neck. I saw the doctor at school and she sent me to a physical therapist. But I only saw the therapist once because he yelled at me (and made me cry.) I remember him yelling: “ARE YOU SURE THE PAIN IS FROM YOUR FALL? DID IT START RIGHT AFTER THE FALL OR IS IT UNRELATED? IF YOU DON’T KNOW, I CAN’T HELP YOU!”

Now, this type of behavior is probably not the best attitude for a physical trainer to have, especially towards someone who is hurting. It certainly scared me away. But just yesterday it occurred to me that maybe that rude guy was actually right. Maybe the reoccurring pain in my right shoulder is not from that snowboarding fall, the way I always assumed it was. I mean, it’s been about five years since I took that fall. What on earth kind of injury could still be causing me pain today? Maybe the pain in my shoulder was really the onset of my RA. After all, the RA picture I used in my very last post circles shoulders as one of the main problem areas.

I never told my rheumatologist about the shoulder pain because it didn’t occur to me that it was related. So I guess I’ll have to ask him about it next time I see him. ::Sigh:: Some days, my immune system gets an “F.” Lately, it's been most days.

In other news, because of the shoulder pain and the gray rainy day, I was unable to convince myself to go for a swim today. I thought I just didn’t have the energy. But I did manage to guilt myself onto the stationary bike for about 15 minutes (while watching The Biggest Loser, obviously). I rode for 15 minutes and then I took a break. Then I rode for 15 more. Then 15 more, for a total of 45 minutes and 10 miles. So that felt pretty good.

Then, those of you who know me will never believe this: I decided to go for a jog. In the freezing rain, no less. Let’s get something straight: I don’t run. I hate running. I never run. In fact, that’s originally why I started swimming and playing water polo – just so I wouldn’t have to run. I’ve always felt like running was too tough on my knees and ankles (early RA warning, perhaps?) I also didn’t like the jarring, the banging of my feet on the pavement, as it always seemed to make my ever-present headaches worse.

But today I think I must be totally losing my mind because I decided it was a good idea to go for a jog. I wanted to, for some reason. It wasn’t a long jog – just around my town home complex until River and I were both soaked and freezing- but I actually did it. And you know what? I felt pretty good afterwards. Especially when I shed my wet sweats and sat in the hot tub in the rain.

I think I’m going nuts.

P.S. Even though I dried her when we got home, I just walked into the bedroom to discover that River had jumped up on the bed and had actually snuggled herself down under the blankets. I guess she really was freezing from that run!