One answer, many questions

Another quick update: I’ve been diagnosed definitively with lupus. I’d been toeing that line for a long time, have had symptoms related to it for at least 15 years, but things properly went wrong starting around the middle of last year and a recent biopsy made it definitive.

Anyways, send me all of your hot-weather recommendations for long sleeves and pants that don’t make me feel like a boil-in-a-bag meal. And hats, all the hats. Did Carmen Sandiego have lupus?

(Genuinely, related to the clothing recommendation solicitation: I really appreciate the emails I get about this blog, truly, and I’m sincere when I say “send me x”. But I should say now, I’m not great on quick replies at the moment, haven’t been for some time. It’s hard to find the words. But thank you.)

The first week after diagnosis was the honeymoon phase, relief at knowing. Now I’m in the much lower “what now, what next” phase. The diagnosis road has been very long, and honestly there’s still a long way to go in terms of finding the right cocktail of drugs to keep flare ups and progression at bay. Reading other folks’ stories has been really helpful though, so I’ll try to share it at some point.

If you’ve wondered why the long time between posts, here’s the answer.