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It was July 12, 1999. My youngest sons 2nd birthday and my first visit to the new Rheumy. My mother had gone with me. It was my turn to see the doctor. She was a very nice young black woman. I had given her the results from my last blood tests. She reviewed them while I started to tell her about my symptoms. I began to tell her about the 2 mini-strokes, a viral infection scare and the headache that "went bad." How I was constantly sick as a child and teenager growing up with chest pains and knee pains that I always dismissed because I just thought they were growing pains. She continued writing while I spoke. She was actually listening to me. No one else would when I would talk about how I was feeling. She was interested in what I had to say. She seemed liked she was going to help me. Was this my redemption? Is she my savior? Would I finally get the help I've been looking for? I proceeded on with the knees, hands and wrists and how I just wanted to chop them off and how I would make my children stand on my wrists because it made them feel better. She smiled. The sun was killing my eyes and it burned my skin. My eyes and lips felt like sandpaper. My lips had begun to turn purple. My hair was thinning and falling out in clumps. I had sores on my scalp. I had no energy, no appetite and I was losing weight.

She began to tell me as she chuckled, how there is no such thing as having borderline LUPUS and that I have more than enough of the symptoms of someone who has LUPUS. My heart dropped. But there are other tests she wanted me to have done because she reminded me that there is not one single test to say someone has LUPUS. And since it mimics many other diseases she wants to rule them out as well. She ordered x-rays, blood tests and another MRI of the brain. She also told me about some medications that she wants me to start taking right away until the next time I visit her. She was very thorough in explaining what they did and how I would be affected by the side effects. She told me to stop taking the Naproxen and the Tylenol and begin her regimen. She asked if I was ready for all that we would be going through for the next couple of months. She was very warm, encouraging and supportive, I liked that. She made me feel good, great actually. And it had been a long time since I smiled and really meant it. I wanted to hug her. I told her yes but at the time I had no idea what I was in for. I just wanted to know what was wrong with me and if she can make it go away so I can lead a normal life.

She prescribed 3 medications plus an aspirin a day to thin my blood. Because I have a high clotting factor and the aspirin would help to thin my blood instead of the much stronger medications patients use (2 mini-strokes remember) she told me that it would take about 6 weeks before I really start to notice a difference in the way I'm feeling and that I should start with them until my next visit. An anti-malarial drug called Plaquenil (plak-KWUH-nil) at 400 mg taken twice daily. A corticosteroid called Prednisone at 80 mg once a day and Vioxx at 50 mg a day for pain. She told me that the Prednisone is an anti-inflammatory drug and the dosage she is starting me on is considered a high dose (anything over 40 mg is high) but that it will help tremendously with the inflammation and swelling in my knees, hands and wrists.