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I had a lumbar puncture done yesterday. They wanted to look at the protein level in my spinal fluid. I felt fine all day until about 10:00 at night when the anaesthetic finally wore off. Then the pain came. The doctor said this morning that the pain was from the anaesthetic wearing off and my skin or muscles returning back from a really contracted state to normal really fast. He came by early this morning and explained it to me, but I fell back asleep and can't really remember everything he said. A pair of T3s helped to kill the pain last night and I felt really relaxed all night. The other side effect is that the ache in my lower legs went away for the night too, so I wasn't tossing around as much.

My parents ended up staying until midnight. I would have preferred if they didn't see me in pain. They worry enough.

I'm getting tapered off the steroids. I'm down to 20mg x 2 per day from 30mg x 2. The doctors aren't seeing the results they're looking for. They are suggesting something called IVIG. I don't remember everything he said this morning, but it is supposed to be some immunosuppressant made from about 40 human donors. The idea is that at least one of them can contribute something that will help me. I'll have to do more research to learn more about the treatment, but it is a much lower risk than steroids as long as I don't have an allergic reaction to it. The problem with this treatment is that if it works, the doctors won't know the cause. They don't like that, but I really don't care. I'm sure they will write a research paper on me when all is done.

Thanks to everyone who is visiting. Friends are doing little things like grabbing the phone when I can't reach it or getting hot water. It doesn't seem like much but it really helps me a lot. It's the visitors who are showing up who are helping me stay positive and get through this. Keep visiting. And thanks for the miso soup mix Henry, that really helped last night.