At some point I think I'll need to have another blog (one for school, one for everything else) but it's enough to *try* to keep up with one. I will try, though, to keep school stuff seperate from everything else.

So I've been diagnosed with Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID). (this link is to a first person account of her life with CVID as I felt if you were led to read it, it would be easier to understand than an excerpt from a medical dictionary.) It's a disorder in which my body doesn't produce an adequate amount of antibodies, leaving me highly susceptible to infections. For me in particular, my infections come in the form of sinus and upper respiratory issues. And I've had this for as long as I can remember...but just learned learned it had a name. I've always been sick. Literally....always. Imagine my surprise, my relief, almost my joy when I realized that my being ill is not because I "never take care of myself" as people have told me, but because I have a chronic disorder that I'll never be rid of. It's not my fault that I'm sick with infections 4, 5, 6 times a year. It's not my fault that despite taking meds. the illness never seems to go away. It's not my fault that I spend more days than not (by far) feeling sick. It's not my fault that I can wake up one day feeling ok and the next day so exhausted I feel like I've run a marathon. It's not my fault. It's a blessing to know that.

What do I deal with having CVID? Prior to treatment, every little thing could make me sick. Someone could cough four houses down and I've got bronchitis. Someone could sneeze on the other side of post and I have a sinus infection. Ok, so I'm exaggerating...a little. But it's real. I can't fight infections on my own.

What now having been diagnosed? I will start receiving IVIG, which is intravenous immunoglubulin. Each month, I'll go to my hematologist's office where I'll receive immunoglobulin in an IV in my arm. It's blood that has been pooled from many donors to ensure I get the antibodies I need.

My hematologist said that it's a good chance that after starting this IVIG treatment, I could get my infection rate down to maybe once a year. One time. ONE INFECTION a year. What an amazing number. Not sick all the time, maybe just being sick one time.

How do I feel? I feel fine. I feel like I always have. I always feel at least a little tired (some days just a little drowsy, some days overwhelmingly exhausted). I never feel really really great. I think that so many past infections have taken a toll on my body. I feel like I can't wait to wake up feeling great.

That's a lot of info. So I'll stop now. It's not a bad diagnosis. It's a relief. I'm sick because of this, I'm not sick because of me. The treatment seems simple enough and I'll let you know tomorrow how my first one goes. I'll share more information in the future. In the mean time, my name is Nicole and I've been diagnosed with an incurable chronic disorder. :)