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Rafvis: Systemic Scleroderma

Italy

Peach Blossoms by Sherrill Knaggs, ISN Artist Hello, I am a twenty-six-year-old girl and about six years ago my legs and hands began to swell up. I also remember that I always felt cold. Then, while I was working one day I realized that some of my fingers had no sensation anymore. There were practically times when I had no sense of touch. Afterwards I learned to understand when this would happen: when I got excited, with temperature changes, but mostly when it turned cold.

I went to so many hospitals. They tried cortisone and antihistamines, but nothing worked. After some research, they diagnosed me with lupus. I took medicine, but nothing helped and the pain was getting worse.

This did not end until I met a girl from Rome who has the same illness, and she took me to her rheumatologist. I started to recover very fast, and now I go there every fifty days.

I can go forward thanks to treatment. Thanks to this center my illness, not lupus, has receded, although it is not gone completely, but at least now I can write and do things that I didn't think I would do anymore.

I read all the stories on sclero, and I thank God my organs haven't been touched. If I can say my own, I feel bad knowing that I also have it. But I keep on fighting because I have a will to live, so I say to everyone: don't give up, keep going.

To Contact the Author

Rafvis
New email address needed 12-20-06 SLE
Old Email Prefix: [email protected]
Story edited 11-20-06 JTD
Story posted 11-28-06 SLE

ISN Senior Artist: Sherrill Knaggs
Story Translator: Alba León
Story Editor: Judith Thompson Devlin

LINKS
(Italiano) Rafvis: Sclerodermia Sistemica

Lupus Stories
Raynaud's
Raynaud's Stories
Types of Scleroderma
What is Scleroderma?

ISN Artist: Sherrill Knaggs (In Loving Memory)

Sherrill KnaggsSherrill Knaggs, ISN Artist, created the digital photo to illustrate the story on this page. Sherrill lived in New Zealand. Her story was featured in ISN's book, Voices of Scleroderma Volume 2.

ISN Translator and Editor: Alba León

Alba LeonAlba León is the ISN Translator for this page. She is studying international relations in Mexico City.

ISN Story Editor: Judith Thompson Devlin

Photo of JudithJudith Thompson Devlin is the ISN Story Editor for this story. She is also lead editor of the ISN's wonderful Voices of Scleroderma book series!

Go to Rao: Caregiver of Morphea Patient
 
 

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