The Diagnosis

The diagnosis was...... that I needed to go in and see the rheumatologist, the next day. I wasn't really given an option. It really was more of a demand. What else are you supposed to do when you have a specialist tell you, demand of you, to come in? You go in.

Lucky me, I couldn't even get my shoes on the next morning, I had to borrow a pair that were two sizes too big all so I could go see a doctor and get the face. You know the one. The one with one eyebrow raised. You probably got it from your mom on one or two (or many) occasions. That one that tells you, wow, I'm actually surprised you're here right now, that's how low of an opinion I have of your intelligence in this matter.

All my little denials were shot down. No I wasn't experiencing several months where I just kept running into different illnesses. Where was my explanation for the sores on my legs? If my pain and stiffness were just from work, why did I think I was worse in the mornings? Did I really think my feet should be that swollen, and numb? No, you have Wegner's Granulomatosis.

Alright, I was a little slow. But who really wants to have some disease that hardly anyone, anywhere has heard of? 

So, where do I go from here? I get to take prednisone daily and methotrexate weekly. Now, these are two nifty little drugs with a series of side effects that can be pretty extreme, we'll talk about them later though because the ones from the prednisone alone can take up a whole post to themselves, but they have saved my life.

I'd be lying if I didn't say here that I was pretty freaked out wondering what would happen next, but I had a lot of support from my family that helped me get through. I wondered about what I was supposed to do now. Finally, I decided that I couldn't let my diagnosis run my life, it gave me a pause, but I wasn't going to let it stop me (Ha, such a blatant tie in to my blog name!) Joining forums for others with this disease and other types of vasculitis helped me, so maybe my blog could help someone else?