a lupus update

So there has been much happening in the world 'o Lupus lately. Mostly all good too:

1. The New York Times released an interactive segment documenting the many voices of Lupus patients. This was sort of a cool part to their health guide!
2. So we have now had weeks since the passing of MJ, and there are still much speculations out there about his death. People also starting examining his strange behavior more closely. People in the Lupus community have known that there was a good chance that MJ had an autoimmune disease of some kind. The glove he wore, the umbrellas, and the changing of his skin....it's all related. In this report they talk about Lupus and how it was linked with MJ: Understanding M.J.'s Ailment. Friends of mine commented how this might be good for people with the disease, and I had multiple people ask me about it as well, but I don't really think having MJ as a spokesperson adds much crediability to the disease. I mean he didn't even have a nose people!
   
3. As I mentioned in passing previously, this week HGS announced some preliminary success with a clinical trail investigating a new drug to treat Lupus. The evidence still doesn't give me too much hope knowing something about the scientific findings, but if anything it got Lupus into the news. All news outlets were covering the story and the drug company's stock rose significantly. So if anything it is keeping the conversation going and at a minimum it is some hope that there might be success in the 3rd EVER FDA approved drug to treat the damn disease.
4. There were some new people at my support group this week, of interest was a 85 year old guy. Yep I said guy! He was representing the 10% of patients in his gender category, and being a minority because he was white and older. He had an interesting story and is much a newbie that he was just trying to take it all in still. It was good to be up with those folks again, and listening to their stories as a reminder for me and my lifestyle.