At the Poker Tables
Went to Yahoo! Poker for the first time in a long time, and one of the players announced that she had had lupus for six years, and that it would get progressively worse within three. Not knowing anything about lupus, I went to this site:
DEFINITION:
Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect various parts of the body, especially the skin, joints, blood, and kidneys. The body's immune system normally makes proteins called antibodies to protect the body against viruses, bacteria, and other foreign materials. These foreign materials are called antigens. In an autoimmune disorder such as lupus, the immune system loses its ability to tell the difference between foreign substances (antigens) and its own cells and tissues. The immune system then makes antibodies directed against "self." These antibodies, called "auto-antibodies," react with the "self" antigens to form immune complexes. The immune complexes build up in the tissues and can cause inflammation, injury to tissues, and pain.
For most people, lupus is a mild disease affecting only a few organs. For others, it may cause serious and even life-threatening problems. More than 16,000 Americans develop lupus each year. It is estimated that 500,000 to 1.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with lupus.
The woman is fighting, and the woman is also enjoying herself, which is good.
Poscript unrelated to Yahoo!, poker, or lupus: I finally found an inelegant way to get the results that I want from Blogrolling. Basically, I'm sorting alphabetically, while preceding every blog name with a code (e.g. "US-CA-SB"). Still have a lot of blog links to transfer to Blogrolling, but I'm getting there.
Comments