Code red aborted

​You´ve come a long way baby!

Sometimes it turns out just the way you want. The appointment at the rheumatlogist became such a thing. She tells me that the summertime unfortunately is the season of flare-ups, but it doesn´t seem like there´s a big and serious flare-up going on. The blood tests are fine and stable and kidney function is still normal. Had mye chest symptoms stemmed from the heart sac for example, it would have been visible on the tests. She prints out my test results and shows me how they are still stable from last time. The doctor's word is pure medicine and she writes a prescription for a cream and solution for the rash. In order not to ruin the vaccine effect from the 2nd dose of covid vaccine, the prednisolone should not be adjusted any higher than it is now, which makes me happy. This doesn´t sound very serious. With a lighter heart and with the test results in my bag, I leave the rheumatalogist.

The printout also contains the antibody test results from April and March, and it is with great interest that I later compare these with the test results from December, when I first received the diagnosis.
From December to April, S-DNA as and S-SM as decreased from 269 and 254.0 to 23 and 25.0, respectively. And even though these test results appear to be in a completely incomprehensible language, they also tell me that my story is a story about a health care system and a treatment that is working! I can´t help but to be humble about how intricate the body is and all the knowledge doctors must possess to treat it properly. The GP who asked the right questions found all the symptoms and ordered the right blood tests. How quickly and efficiently all the referrals went. The rheumatologist that juggles disease, side effects and the desire for children within the medication regime. All the check-ups I get.

And in the midst of all the seriousness, you are greeted with so much warmth and humanity! The rheumatalogist that offers friendly understanding and paper towels for the tears when the news are bad. The health secretary who offers humor and laughter while she attaches the ECG patches. The GP's sincere "How are you?" Cheerful nurses, bioengineers and hospital doctors who call you by name and makes a joke to light the mood. It´s simply impressive how well you´re taken care of. In the time of the harsh comment sections, it´s so easy to get hung up on and focus on the negatives, the failures. So easy to forget that majority of time, things actually work. In the same way, I´ve probably been to hung up on the negative symptoms that appeared and began to fear flare-ups. Instead of focusing on that most of the time I actually feel healthy.