Now there are some things we do know.

Photo copyright Aji, 2021; all rights reserved.

Very busy little guy yesterday, but he's apparently my buddy now, and he made a few moments for me in the red willows outside the kitchen door.

Very busy for us, too, and it set everything way back yesterday in terms of scheduling. Wings had a dental appointment for an extraction, and they were running about an hour late; the tooth itself had such a long root that she had a hard time getting it out (yeah, that's common with Native people; I have the same issue, and my dad did, too). But he's recovering just fine, healing fast and well, and the anesthetic didn't even jack his BG like it commonly does with diabetics.

And my labs came in late last night.

There's a lot that we don't know yet, and there will be a lot of trial and error going forward, but now there are some things we do know definitively, and mostly it's a huge relief. I'm going to keep it mostly abbreviated here, because there'll be time enough to go into greater detail once we know how we're treating it.

My doc ordered all the usual baseline panels, plus the autoimmune baselines, plus specific tests for RA and Sjogren's, among other things. I have had autoimmune disease, as we have known for a while now, my whole life. Unfortunately, I've always fallen into that 25% of the population with such conditions for whom nothing shows up on bloodwork, and in a "healthcare" system run for profit by politicians and insurance companies? If you fall into that group, you don't get treatment. But the denial of treatment doesn't do a damn thing for the disabling nature of it except making it worsen more than it needs to, of course.

So it's been incredibly frustrating, to say the least. And I had to get my head in a space to cope with more fo the same this time, even though we KNOW there's something terribly wrong. I also had to get my head in a space to cope with the idea that my non-autoimmune baseline tests would come back bad. Folks in my family, both sides, die mostly too young of massive cardiovascular events (often due directly to diabetes) . . . and cancer.

So it was a MASSIVE relief to learn that, other than the autoimmune nonsense that has plagued me my whole life, all my baseline markers for general health are GREAT. Nobody bothered to tell me this was fasting (she forgot to mention that she ordered a metabolic panel, and it's not needed for AI labs), so I had had a VERY large sweet coffee before getting my blood drawn. I was prepared for my BG to be off the charts as a result, but even with that in my system? 84. All my blood counts are smack in the middle of normal; so is my thyroid, despite the presence of that tumor. That alone is kind of miraculous for a woman my age. For practically the first time ever in my life? My sed rate is normal. My CRP is as normal as it's possible to be, and that was the thing that always worried me, because it was always entirely off the charts, and that's the single biggest marker for catastrophic cardiovascular events, outpacing lifestyle and genetics by a good clip. So this was the best possible news for me, because I'm used to dealing with the AI, and I never thought that would be what gets me in the end anyway.

It's odd to say that positive AI labs are good, but in this case, they are, because now we have a way forward. What's not so good is what they are. My rheumatoid factor test was positive (i.e., abnormal), which comes as exactly no surprise given my pain and joint problems. More to the point, my ANA was also abnormal (clearly so, for the first time in nearly a quarter-century of getting that sucker run). The titer pattern indicates a likelihood of two things: idiopathic juvenile [rheumatoid] arthritis, which is also no surprise, because I've had arthritis since a vaccine reaction at the age of 9 . . . and for lupus [SLE], for which I've shown clear signs but no positive ANA for more that same quarter-century now. Lupus would also explain the skin and tissue changes that mimicked inflammatory breast cancer so exactly, and is known for causing it in a very small number of the population. It also explains some other things. But lupus can be a bitch, not just from the generally debilitating aspects like the pain and fatigue and other vulnerabilities, but because it can worsen suddenly, and it can also progress, either rapidly or slowly, to internal-organ damage. Lupus is one of the ones that actually can kill you, and I am very mindful of that now.

But . . . I am not worrying about that now. Right now, the concern is the next biopsy in a couple of weeks, and the treatment plan going forward, which has the potential to be hideously expensive. As far as the various disease possibilities themselves, I've know the risks for almost 25 years now. I've dealt with these diseases, mostly without any real medical or other help, for the whole of that time on my own. That doesn't scare me like heart disease, stroke, or cancer do. And yes, I'm tired all the time, and I'm in pain all the time, but that's been the case forever. As far as this new info goes? I feel good. And I feel strong.

And I have to get to work. I have to come up with $1,500 by the end of the weekend, and so far? I'm only $340 toward it. My Patreon is down by 3 figures these days, and I don't have the health to do it daily anymore; I have got to bring in sales to cover anything, and push has come to shove now. I have to be able to pay this stuff on Monday. There's another ~$2K lurking that has to be paid the following week. I also can't do it alone, so please share our links. There's a lot of work in progress right now, and the new cuff is done, and it's up here. It's . . . there aren't really words for it. Not for the work involved, and not for the power and beauty of the result. It really needs to be snapped up fast:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities are all the mosquito-prevention items, especially the portables and the patio-surface ones, because Wings can take them around the land with his as he works);
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And if you've been contemplating a purchase? This would be a very, very good time to do it; I've got to make up this staggering outlay somehow. There's lots of fabulous new work, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.