An introduction

[Guest guest]

Hello,

My name is . I am 40 years old. I have 3 kids, a yours, mine,

and ours. My hubbys son is 23 he has lived with us all his life and

is Mentally retarded. My son is 22 and has Schizoid affective

Disorder. Both are now in Assisted living and doing VERY well. Ours

is 17 (18 in a month) and he has been the hardest...He is extreemly

bright and precocious. We started home schooling him 2 years ago. He

will be starting college in the fall. My family has been a huge

source of strenght. Our son maybe a bit too concerned.

We are also the proud parents of 2 standard poodles and a terrier who

has no teeth, is blind, and cannot hear but has attitude to spare.

My husband, our son, and my son all are member of the SCA (society

for Creative Anachronism). We study the middle ages with a group of

other people with the same interest. This " study " includes making

and dressing up in Middle age costumes, as well as dressing up in

armor and whailing on one another with Rattan swords. We also have

events that include classes, fighting, fellowship, and best of all a

mideval feast. Any time I need help I can call on my SCA friends and

they are there with whatever I may need.

I work full time as a Chemist for our state enviromental agengy. No

as glamorous as one might think. I am a highly....ok well no, not

highly, maybe more like adequately paid technician. I monitor the

air quality in Arkansas. Which means I get to travel all over the

state climbing on rooftop checking equiptment and repairing damaged

equiptment. The folk I work with have been VERY supportive.

I also play a internet game called Everquest, aka Neverquit about 5

nights a week for several hours a night. I know I am bad. But it is

alot of fun and the social aspect is very interesting. Playing with

people you never actually see. Establishing relationships with

people you never see and have no intention of seeing.

I have not yet got an officail diagonosis of Lupus. My ANA was

negative and the other blood work was boarderline. I am curious if

this means that this is going to have to get alot worse before my

body's responce is stong enough to test positive or if it is a

cummulative type of thing. Right now I have several of the

indicators of Lupus, including.....Painful swollen joints, extreem

fatigue, hair loss, rash with exposure to the sun, unexplained

fevers, and several other more minor symptoms.

Wow, I didn't realize I actually had a life but from the sounds of

this I am a lot busier than I thought. hehe