My name is Mary. And I live on the coast of Virginia. I moved here in '85, met and then married my hubby, Don in '87. We have three children: two girls 10 and 8 and a son 4. I am a stay at home mom, altho I do alot of volunteer work for the kids school so I don't feel like I stay at home much!! I love to do crafts, read, gardening, family activities, and vacations....I have always loved to travel! Now where does Lupus fit into my life? Well, my mother had Lupus when I was a child. Altho at the time I had no idea what was wrong; only that mom was always sick and spent alot of time in the hospital---we used to have to communicate with her via a reel-to-reel tape recorder. ( do any of you remember them?? *LOL) In '67 she passed on at the tender age of 26 yrs old. I found out last fall that her oldest sister,my God-Mother, also had the desease. She passed away in '92. At the same time I found out that her daughter (my cousin) was dx'd with Lupus a couple of yrs ago. After spending some 2hrs on the phone talking to her about her syptoms and how they were paralleling with what I was going thru I decided to go see my family doctor and try to get some answers myself. Needless to say I am still going thru countless testing. And I don't have a dx as of yet. My doc doesn't want to give a dx without a possitive ANA, which of course I don't have!! So far the only possitive test that showed any problems is related to my kidneys and I am to be getting that checked out in the middle of Aug. In the meantime I have been taken off the NSAIDS I was prescribed for my pain in my joints and am back to Tylenol again! Which is truely a bumper because I have to take too many to even find some relief. I also suffer from fatigue, sun-sensitivity, major brain-fog, skin spots of some sort (they still haven't tested them!). I also have icy cold hand and feet almost all the time. I also experience hot/cold flashes regularly. For a while before I talked to my cousin I thought that maybe I was going thru some type of hormonal aging thing and this was my bodies way of letting me know I was getting old!!*LOL* Anyway, I think besides having a very tramatic childhood (alot that I will get into later) that my initial symptoms started after I had a miscarriage in '90 and had no one whom I could share my loss with. (I really needed to vent) Then in '92 when our son was born there were alot of tramatic things that happened to me the biggest being that he was delivered by c-section with a doctor that I truely disliked. (both of my girls were delivered normally). And again I wasn't allowed to vent my feelings. Hense the depression set in and I felt myself slipping away from caring about ANYTHING including myself. (except of course the caring for my children, they will always be top priority for me) When I first started going to the doctor to seek answers for my pains and such it was also the same time I got on line with my puter. What a wonderful vessel this has been for me!!! I origionally research Lupus and found the Hamline University site and learned alot from them. They in turn introduced me to the WBS chat room where I have found a wonderful family of friends that I can go and chat with and learn from them....which I have learned sooooo much. From that site I learned about the National Lupus site and about MCLFA!!!!( The Missouri Chapter Lupus Foundation of America) By far my most FAVORITE site of all is right there. The people at this site are absolutly the BEST!!! I think I would have gone completely bonkers by now if I didn't have the support of so many friends there. I really feel like this is my "other" family! I love each and everyone of the people I have met so far and cherish all the wonderful friendships I have made. I can't wait to meet more new wonderful people there too. My favorite quote is " Smile God Loves You" :O)

***************************************************** HELLO, I'M TERI! :)

Hello Everyone, my name is Teri,My birthday is next week and I will be 39,ouch! I live in Washington State with my Husband, Les and my 10 year old daughter,Kim. I have been diagnosed with Lupus for almost 3 years; probably have had it for many years(20). I also have Epilepsy,so I have lived with illness my entire life. As Everyone knows, I love life and all it has to offer. In my life,health comes first followed closely behind is my family. Right now I work at home. I also do a lot of volunteer work. My hobbies are Reading, plants, needlepoint and talking. I love my time spent with my family. I've tried many medications to try to treat my illnesses, Imuran, Plaquenil; now I'm taking Mexthotrexate, Prednisone, Dilantin, Comadin ,Elivail, and Prozac for Depression... Denial hit me hard,I ended up very Depressed.( Some time I may share the Apple story)... I'm a big believer in Counseling and Support Groups, they have helped my family as well. Keeping those Communcation lines open are important. Lupus effects our loved ones in many different ways. I will not give up on my dreams, some day I will be able to return to Medical school. I want to go into Research. Right now I have to remember to pace myself during the day and get the rest I need..... The computer has been a blessing, I've learned alot from the Lupus Forums, & chat rooms. I have so many new friends,and of course my Sister, Susan. Most of all I've learned that's there life after Lupus. I try to look forward to the Tomorrows instead of looking at the yesterdays. Well that's the Captain's story, I got that nickname because I like to be in charge of my own life... *S* 10/10/97

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HELLO, I'm Paula Hi, my name is Paula. I'm the mother of three beautiful boys, 12, 7 & 4. My husband Mike and I do not have "the normal life" which all aspire for. When Mike and I met, I had Addison's disease, an auto-immune disease caused be the failure of the adrenal gland's function. It's a rather simple disease.......as long as I take my medications and take care of myself, I'm not in any danger. Our problems began when our youngest son was born almost five years ago.. Mikey was born with tumors filled with lumphatic fluid in his abdomen. Well....in that "normal life", one surgery would have taken care of everything. But this is our life we're talking about, so it took three surgeries. About six months later, our pediatrician decided that Kyle, our middle son, needed his adnoids removed because he was having difficulty breathing and had a speech impediment. One surgery took care of that......amazing!!!! Then, about five months after that, Kyle needed surgery on his eyes because they crossed. The doctor still can't explain it, they just crossed one evening after dinner. Well, things were fairly "abnormal" up until the following January. After several visits to several doctors, our youngest son was diagnosed with a mild case of cerebral palsy. For many months, Mikey went through phsysical therapy and he still wears braces on his feet. The doctor will decide in January whether to operate on his feet. But Lady Luck is not on our side. Anyway, that brings us to 1997. In May, Kyle became ill and was hospitalized for 6 days. With everything that we've gone through, I've never been this frightened. After tests, the doctors diagnosed Kyle with Lupus Nephritis which effects his kidneys. He went through so many changes, daily medications (steroids and diuretics) and monthly chemotherapy sessions. But God intervened. No really, he did.......after five chemo treatments (with five more planned) the doctor suspended all further treatments because Kyle was recovering much faster than the doctor had expected. In November, Kyle will have more testing done and if all looks good, he will be in remission and off all drugs. A true miracle, especially considering our luck!!! We have been fortunate for finding wonderful friends through the Missouri Chapter Lupus Foundation's website and I'm now trying to help other parents through the same horror we went through just seven months ago. If you know anyone afflicted with lupus or has children afflicted with lupus, please send them our way so that we can help. Sorry for going on and on but it really helps to know the whole story of our almost, but not quite "normal life". May God bless you with miracles like ours. A special ((((thank you))))) to Susan for creating this site and to all my friends at the MCLFA for seeing me through!!!

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