[Magdalen] Medical update.

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

Do not think of those unsightly marks as merely scars.  They are battle
decorations, earned well in the combat of life.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 9:30 AM, M J _Mike_ Logsdon <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:

> Yesterday was my regular checkup with my Stanford Derms, and the exact
> last day of my 8 (make that 9) week course of prednisone while dapsone
> (what I like to call my "leprosy drug", because that's what it is) was
> building up and taking effect.  They acknowledged much progress, with much
> more still to tackle.  And with prednisone (thankfully! WEIGHT GAIN!) now
> out of the picture, rather than just roll the dice that dapsone has
> completely stepped up to the plate, they're upping (pending good blood
> results today) the dosage by half from 100 mg to 150 mg.  Apparently, it's
> perfectly okay to go even way higher, but they're doing their Specialist
> Thing and taking it in steps, which is good, since the step to actually
> kick this crap's ass with medication finally kicked in two months ago.  I'm
> also still taking the lowest dose possible of colchicine
> (anti-inflammatory) -- lowest, because even one notch up keeps me in the
> bathroom all day -- , and there's even talk of a third med.  FINE BY ME.
> Says I.
>
> Since vasculitis is a no-known-cause-no-known-cure sort of affair, I asked
> if this is simply my life from here on out.  My current Doogie Howser just
> smiled and said, "I'm pretty sure it'll go away eventually."  "How do you
> know, young man?"  "Call it a hunch."  I'll let him hunch all he wants.
>
> I'm definitely not a "show my legs" guy anymore, I'll clue ya.  The
> scarring left behind by those early, deep wounds?  Sheesh!  Fine by me, as
> I say.  I do think, though, once all's sealed over finally, that I'll buy
> me some vit E capsules and do some gentle massaging in of the oil.
> Couldn't hurt.  (Though I'll of course run it by Doogie first.)
>
> As for the trip, which was my first to Stanford solo, getting there took
> two hours (should only take 1.25) due to two accidents, and for the return
> trip, also do to ONE accident alone?  It took me 1.75 hours to travel what
> should take only 25 minutes, and THAT was only to the south end of San
> Jose, after which there was still more stalled traffic.  My right shin
> really loved the whole experience.  Took me three hours to get home.  Wild.
>