Tuesday, August 6, 2013

PPMS; T'Pau

Oh my, after days (weeks) of nothing to contribute, here I am, twice on the same day. Well, if Seth Godin can get away with it, so can I.

So, because it seems I've that I've got "primary progressive MS," or PPMS as I'm learning is "the" abbreviation for such things, and because I've been getting pressured to do the mega-steroid treatment (1,000 mg per day via IV, for several days, followed by "taper off"), I went to the web for how PPMS in general is treated, and specifically how the mega-steroid treatment helps. Why it took me so long, who knows? But I did, and there we go. So, what does mega-steroid therapy do for PPMS?

Well, apparently, it does nothing. Speaking very roughly here... PPMS is, apparently, characterized by damage, not inflammation, so things that reduce inflammation won't "reset" neurological damage.

What are the PPMS treatments, you can imagine me asking.

Well, to quote Jon Stewart, it seems the answer is...
I got nothing.
Well then.

And here's the funny thing... My reaction is nothing more complicated than...
Indeed.
No resentment. No sorrow. Nothing "pushing back" at me, or from me. After all, what "treatment" is there for "being human," for living in these very ephemeral bodies? Well, nothing.

So, what am I gonna do about it?

Nothing. As T'Pau said on Amok Time: The air is the air; "What can be done."

Or as the Japanese say, shigata ga nai. Nothing to be done.

So, as of this moment, I'm gonna go have some tummy herbs, then oh, I dunno, maybe write some music? Or lie down, so that "resting a bit" gets me ready to write music.

That's definitely "what can be done."


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