Month: February 2018

Defenses against despair

There are only two defenses against despair: working and fighting; but they’re not always enough. There’s also a third, which is telling one another lies: we all fall into that.

– Dov, If not now, when?

We don’t have to tell each other lies though. Working and fighting is great for keeping out of despair. 😊

Josie’s parenting journey of a 6-year-old kid with a critical illness

(Note: The picture above is not Josie’s kid)

When I first met Josie (not her real name), it was during a lupus support group forum. The topic for the forum was about Lupus Nephritis medications. A young lady raised her hand, and spoke of her 6-year-old daughter’s conditions. The girl has been diagnosed with lupus nephritis class IV, and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. The doctor mentioned that in the past it is a fatal disease. But now generally people could live with it up to 20 – 30 years.

“Do you mean she can only live up to 30s as she’s 6 now?” She sobbed.

That was almost eight months ago. That was the first time I met Josie.

Continue reading “Josie’s parenting journey of a 6-year-old kid with a critical illness”

My lupus results have improved!

Ever since my last update, I am happy to share that my lupus readings have improved. 🙂 My Protein Creatinine Ratio has reduced from 191 to 95 now. It is an indication that there is less protein leakage in my urine, indirectly means that the lupus activity has reduced, and therefore my kidney managed to catch some breath and repair the attacks it encountered previously.

It is still not within the normal range of below 50, but it was a good improvement, at least it was not in the rise. Fingers crossed the next time I see the doctor in two months’ time it would improve further and go back to the normal range. 🙂

Have not been writing much lately because I was gobbling up books from my backlog list since many years ago. So far I have read more than 10 books this year, finishing the 12th one soon. That would be another post though, on what I have read so far. But it was nothing new because those books were either classics or books that I borrowed from friends more than a decade ago. (For eg Angels and Demons by Dan Brown) 😀