12.23.08

to put things into perspective...

so last night we are on the couch and we're watching "medical mysteries" on tv. a 25 year old male presents at the doctor with a terrible rash, severe joint pain, intense swelling, ... sound familiar?

fast forward to the end of the segment, ... the male is finally diagnosed with vasculitis. but not just any vasculitis, oh no, hypersensitivity henoch-schleoin purpura vasculitis.

the doctors interviewed go on to say statements such as:
"since this is normally found in children it was very hard to diagnose someone at the age of 25. somenoe that old acquiring the disease is very rare."
(john was 11 days shy of 37).
"this condition is so rare and hard to diagnose, I've only seen it in textbooks while in medical school."
"this disease is so rare, I've only seen about 5 cases of it in adulthood in all my 25 years of practicing medicine."
"this disease is so serious that many patients succomb to the condition via organ failure."
"this disease systematically shuts down the body's organs."

then they flashed to the patient in present day. he is TWO years into his outbreak and has not seen remission yet. He is still covered in tiny broken blood vessels. he is stil relatively debilitated. wow.

we are blessed.
k