Haven't been around much lately, nothing too nefarious, just busy and pretty tired. Hoping to take a week or two of vacation one of these days. (Hoping?)
As a followup to my last post about the rash on my arms -- my rheumatologist said that it appears to be vasculitis, and that my dermatologist needs to get a biopsy the next time it flares up. Vasculitis is not a bolt out of the blue -- my mother has had it for nearly 20 years, and so I'm aware of what it does. The odd part is that my mom's syndrome has been limited to the lower legs and feet all this time, but this year she has begun having red, whelp-y looking patches on her arms as well, and that...looks precisely the same as what I'm seeing in myself. So. Hereditary? Genetic pre-disposition? Who knows?
In addition I sort of stumbled across a possible explanation for my here-and-gone-again rib/sternum pain. I figured costochondritis, but there is another possibility out there that I will discuss with the rheumy, called Tietze syndrome. It's very much like costochondritis, but with accompanying inflammation. (This is the upper left chest pain that was part of the testing I went through last holiday season for multiple myeloma.)
It's pretty benign, just painful, like costochondritis. I have a suspicion that it is not at all unrelated to some rib fractures I had about seven or eight years ago. But it's quite linked with PSA, so that's interesting. In a tired sort of way.
So basically things are status quo around here. I was very unhappy to consider that vasculitis might be the reason for my occasional arm lesions, since I've seen my mom struggle with it for so long. Hers had a distinctive precipitating event -- she was bitten in two places by a brown recluse spider, which...you do not want to have bite you. But it has become completely life-altering, as she deals with constant lesions and ulcerations on her feet and lower legs. It was particularly horrifying to think that this might now be spreading to her arms. I don't know if it is -- but the photos I took of her arms this week show a worrying similarity. No ulcers yet however. Hopefully never.
So that's me. I hope you guys are doing well, and that spring is warming things up. It will be decidedly warm around here today -- high is supposed to be around 96. ::cringe:: IMO too much of a good thing this early!