I'm 51 yrs young , have three children  Two girls and one son.. My oldest daughter Karrie is also my best friend , she has two children , one son  and one daughter. My son Scott is in the middle, he lost his wife and  child in a car accident a few yrs ago. Alicia is my teenager, turned 16 in August. Both daughters are very close to me, I dont know how I would make it without them.

  I  have had problems being in the sun for the past 20 yrs. but didnt find out it was Lupus until about 4 yrs. ago. My rheumatoligist seen some sores I had and sent me to a dermatologist, a biopsy was done and came back positive so I had the rest of the tests done and found I have systemic too.

  I feel that I am one of the lucky ones tho, so far only have minor internal and Arthritis . Mostly in my knees and shoulders, ofcourse it hits other joints too but not bad so far. may have some neurological involvement , havent had the tests done yet.

  I am a firm believer that attitude has a lot to do with illness, we must keep our thoughts positive and try to live as near a happy lifestyle as we can. Laughter truley is a great medicine for us. My daughters and sisters keep me laughing a lot. And if you will notice when you have had a good laugh you usually feel better in at least some ways.

  I have noticed over the years how depression has had an effect on my life, but hadnt been so bad til I lost one of my sisters last May. I went into a deep depression and finally realized I had to get help when my whole life seemed to be falling apart. After taking antidepressants for a week everything started changing for the better. So please if you have any problems along this line go for help. Dont let it get out of hand, it will only make your desease and your life worse. Believe me I have lived thru this and never want to again.

  May God Bless and Keep You All.................................    Love and (((((HUGS))))))  Karen

Attitude

  The longer I live the more I realize what an impact Attitude has on our lives. It is very important to our everyday lives. It is more important than what other people say or do.

Its more important than apperance , giftedness or skills. It will make or break a company, church a home or our way of life.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day We cannot change our past or the fact that we have Lupus but we can help ourselves in so many ways, by changing our attitudes .We cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way.

We cannot change the inevitable...The only thing that we can do is play on the few strings we do have and Attitude is one of them. I'm not saying this is a miracle cure or anything.But I do believe Attitude will help us in so many ways..............

Love and ((((((HUGS))))))) ...Karen