The Answer Please...

Today was the day for answers!  Mom and I began this journey at 6:30 this morning to meet with Dr. Chou at 8.  After two long months of not knowing what is going on with my body I have learned I do have Lupus.  I have learned more about this five letter word than I ever imagined or wanted to.  Yet the sad truth is we still don't know everything.  It is such a mysterious disease with NO CURE. That's right NO CURE!  Can it be managed? YES  Do we know what causes it?  NO  Does it look the same in anyone's body?  NO  Do I know when I will have another flare?  NO  Will this treatment work?  DON'T KNOW

However, this is what I have learned...

     According to the Lupus Foundation of America,  Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body). Chronic means that the signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years.

In lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria, and germs ("foreign invaders," like the flu). Normally our immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from these invaders. Autoimmune means your immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues ("auto" means "self") and creates autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body.

Lupus is also a disease of flares (the symptoms worsen and you feel ill) and remissions (the symptoms improve and you feel better)."

My treatment as of tomorrow morning for one month I will be on Predisone and Plaquenil twice a day.  Our hope is that the Predisone will take care of the inflammation in my body and in a month I can be off of that.  Plaquenil is something I might always be on, it is a drug for Lupus.  The great news I have began this road to healing.  The bad news both of these medicines can lead to even more.  LOL  But I have told myself one day at a time.  At this point in this journey, I can't worry about the future of this disease.  I have to get healthy!  And I will face the next battle when it shows itself.

Tomorrow I will begin this medicine with the hopes in a few days I will feel no pain, no inflammation, no worries about will I be able to move and not being nauseated.  I will praise good days and survive rough days and continue on the crazy journey we call life.