Nuclear Writing Room

And so, it comes to this. That sounds cryptic, or maybe a bit leading. Either way, I am searching for the words to go into it today. I guess the better start would be to call it all an update.

If you have been around for the past six months (was it that long ago that I brought it up?) It might not be quite that long ago that I started the conversation. It has been longer than that for me as I am still sorting through everything… Anyway, I mentioned something about my health issues, but I haven’t really gone into incredible detail about any of it. Mind you, there have been cryptic mentions of surgeries and stuff like that but nothing too concrete.

And this is where we are now. A bit more information, I have an auto-immune skin disease. It is incurable but can be managed with surgeries. There are a few other things that can be done but for the most part, my issues are incredibly uncommon. There are still studies being done to find the ways to alleviate the symptoms. In the past it was a simple matter to jump into the radical surgery with only an 80% chance of success.

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The 80% sounds somewhat hopeful when you think about it. I mean that is a high chance good things will happen, but it all goes back into the disease having no cure (the curse of auto-immune diseases). In my case it is the chance that the symptoms won’t be a factor in my life again. But the disease will remain.

So around three months ago, I had my first surgery. We had opted for a new treatment on the chance that it would remove the need for the nuclear reaction. The nuclear reaction being reconstructive surgery (the primary way this has happened in the past and with only an 80% chance of it fixing anything). For the most part, my initial surgery worked wonders.

Yeah, we have to remember that this was experimental. They are still gathering data to help more people like me. It cleared up quite a bit, but not quite enough. I still need the nuclear option. It’s frustrating and disheartening to put it mildly.

Some good did come from the initial surgery though. The damage isn’t as extensive as it was before this surgery. I will be going in for some x-rays soon, prior to the next surgery. This will give us a better look at the situation and might mean that the nuclear surgery won’t be as extensive as it would have been three months ago.

My recovery time isn’t going to change. They are going to essentially be rebuilding a portion of my body. Sadly, this won’t be a cybernetic reconstruction. I escape the childhood dream of cybernetic implants for a while longer. The possibility of relief from symptoms is there though. There is a good chance that this can keep me on the positive side of things for 10 years or maybe the rest of my life. As I said, this is all experimental and no one knows what might come to fix things.

So in a nutshell, auto-immune diseases suck monkey butt. You spend your life in a dark place hoping that the next outbreak isn’t the one that wrecks you. If you are the sort, pray for good things, because you know I am.

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