Been a while

Things have either been going so well I have not wanted to spend time commenting here or I have been feeling so poorly I have not had the desire to post as well.  I do remember when I was first diagnosised that there were several blogs I followed and then they would suddenly stop and I could not help but wonder if the person that writes the blog had passed away.  Well this is just a quick note to let people know I am still alive.

Cushing Syndrome

Was any else disappointed to find out Cushing Syndrome does not make you look like Peter Cushing?

From Newsweek: Why Almost Everything You Hear About Medicine Is Wrong

Interesting read, I see a lot of people in online forums quoting very small studies in reference to making treatment decisions.  Kind of scary.

From Newsweek: Why Almost Everything You Hear About Medicine Is Wrong http://t.co/xXtBAFn

Gravity Probe B Confirms the Existence of Gravitomagnetism

Gravity Probe B Confirms the Existence of Gravitomagnetism: "
Does gravity have a magnetic counterpart?

Sometimes it is nice to think about how small we really are.

Parasitic worms and inflammatory diseases

The following is information about parasites (or lack there of) and there connection to autoimmune diseases.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1618732/

Anyone ever have a parasite?

Prescription in my pocket

I now have a presription for leflunomide, I am currently taking methotrexate, plaquenil, and prednisone. There is a small study that 12 people with chronic sarcoidosis that did not respond to other treatment were given leflunomide in addition to methotrexate and nine out of the twelve went into to remission. Very small study so take it with a grain of salt. There is a large study with people with RA also not responding to other treatments that were given leflunomide in addition methotrexate and 56% had a significant improvement in their condition. Now everything sounds pretty good but there is always a catch. In the large study of RA patients about 1 in 7500 died suddenly of liver failure, would you risk those odds? I am debating currently.

One year ago today

One year ago today I went in for a biopsy to stage and type my lymphoma.  Of course a couple of days later I find out how I am lucky that I have sarcoidosis.  In a lot of ways this has been true, of course not in terms of my health.  I came close to dying last year but in other ways I am lucky.  Getting sick has brought me closer to my wife, my family and my God.  It has taught me to patient and to value the things that are really important.  I am probably closer to the person I strive to be than ever before.  I no longer wonder who would be there for me when the chips are down, because the chips were down and I know who was there for me.  I am trying to find the positive things to learn out of this experience.  Now of course if I had died I would probably be pretty pissed off and not looking for the silver linning but I didn't so there you have it.