OK. Scratch that.

Well, the doctor called and had a whole new story. Upon seeing some final test results, she found something. My ANA levels. That’s something like auto-nuclear-antibodies or something. It means a possible autoimmune problem, which could be either lupus or arthritis. I am not particularly fond of either of these possibilities, as both mean a sort of lifelong pain management sort of thing.

And as I tried not to panic – I have a week until I see the rheumatologist she referred me to – I dug through our boxes of books looking for anything health-like to read. I have no Internet at home, that balm of the undiagnosed. So I found my book about pre-conception health and read that people with lupus need to be in remission 3-6 months, preferably six, to avoid a quite elevated risk of miscarriage or other problems. It’s that sort of disease, the kind with remissions.

Here we go – countdown to rheumatology, that exciting field of medicine I barely knew existed until approximately one hour ago and which is now my most researched topic.