A New Era . . .

We are entering a new era.  My wife, Judie, has had all the recent medical issues and now has another one, Sjogren's Syndrome.  It is a disease that causes dryness, in her case it is dealing with the eyes.  Her eyes are not producing the necessary oils to prevent dryness.  This disease is always diagnosed by Ophthalmologist or Optometrist but the treating physician is a Rheumatoid Arthritis doctor that deals with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  It attacks the glands that secret fluids in the body.

In Judie's case it is dry eyes.  So dry she has lost some of her vision because of it.  Recent treatment by a Sjogren's Optometrist have helped.  More treatment to come.

She will also have to see the Rheumatoid Arthritis physician for further examination.  One ominous fact is that this disease can lead to Lupus. 

Could some  of heart previous heart issues be related, yes.  Could her Thyroid Gland problems be related, yes.  So it seems it has been around in her system for sometime raising havoc.  Maybe we can get this under control.  It is a very subtle disease and gets worse with time.  And like almost all similar ills it is an Auto-immune disease, meaning it probably is not curable, only controllable like Diabetes Type II.  Once you got it, you got it for the rest of your life.

Diagnosis was by blood test, the only way to really confirm the disease.  A simple test but someone has got to recognize it and do something about it.  Our eye specialists have done that for us.  Other doctors have asked if she has Sjogren's but that is about as far as they went.

It is hell getting old, ain't it!