Other details

Some other things that I thought of while I was reading over the previous posts.

Michelle will be having a CT scan, mammogram, and chest x-ray sometime soon. In some cases dermatomyositis is triggered by cancer. The doctors do not think that Michelle has it, but they will do the tests just to make sure.

She has had some muscle loss already due to the Dermatomyositis. She is currently under total arm muscle rest and was/is supposed to walk and keep her legs moving unless it hurt. So, now that she has some pain in her legs she is supposed to stay seated/laying down as much as possible. Michelle will have physical therapy when her immune system stops attacking her muscles in order to regain muscle tone.

Michelle's body keeps producing the muscle enzyme creatine kinase (CK). Muscles produce this during extreme exercise, but usually turns off. Michelle's muscles keep creating the CK and that is what needs to be stopped.

We are hoping to download some books onto an MP3 player for Michelle. Did you know you can do that for free through the public library? Pretty cool!

The Cleveland Clinic is well known for their treatment of immune diseases. Here
is a link to their description of dermatomyositis.