Again from the beginning...

Complicated story, simply summarized: I can no longer access the other account.

Good opportunity to describe in more detail why my fingertips are so red up there in the picture.

I've been blogging for so long now to keep those who want it up to date. I have already explained in detail to most of my friends what I have there. I even painted it on some of them.

I have already described in detail how this came about in Blog 1.0. But what exactly do I have? Well, if I knew… the diagnoses are actually clear. However, I am somewhere in between and it is unclear whether everything has already been diagnosed.

Morphea. This is autoimmune disease number one. But it's up to date and doesn't cause me any problems. It is considered rare because it is only 27/1. million people are affected. It is a form of scleroderma, an autoimmune disease in which the connective tissue (dermis) hardens. That's why I have small to large brown spots all over my upper body and a kind of "porcelain spot" on my chest. Fortunately, the illness isn't bothering me at the moment and so far it's staying calm. Nevertheless, I still check regularly to see if new spots appear. That would mean renewed radiation.

Numbers 2 and 3 merge into one another and bring with them some side effects. I'll try to explain this in layman's terms. Of course, it's much more complicated and complex than that:

I have one…

Monoclonal gammopathy of clinical significance type IgM Kappa, or Waldenström's disease, actually affects 4/1,000,000 men over 60

Normally IgM (antibodies, i.e. proteins) are there to regulate the immune system. The body’s little soldiers, so to speak. They are produced by B cells. In my case, these B cells have become malignant (i.e. malignantly pathological) and now produce clones of this IgM. But the clones have no function and are now floating around in my blood like junk. Also in the bone marrow and displace the healthy cells there (in my case the formation of new cells in the bone marrow is already disturbed). However, very low! Furthermore, these IgM proteins ensure that the blood becomes thicker, so that I am at risk of small mini-thromboses at any time. This causes organs to break down. Above all, there is also the risk of a heart attack, stroke, or other organ infarction, etc. Due to this increased blood thickness, I often have visual problems and headaches. It clogs the vessels in my toes and fingers (that's why the tips are so red and painful). The professor says I have Waldenström's disease, which just hasn't been diagnosed yet. However, I am in the preliminary stages of this because the diagnosis has not yet been made. Just a gammopathy. If it is symptomatic, this is already an indolent, i.e. slowly progressing (low malignant) blood cancer from the group of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

I always remembered it like this:

Hodgkin lymphoma curable

Non Hodgkin lymphoma cannot be cured

Well, what do you want to do? Something like that is treated palliatively like mine. So I'm not getting particularly old.

Unfortunately, these IgMs also attach themselves to the nerve endings and cause polyneuropathies, i.e. I constantly tingle in my fingers and toes and sometimes my nipples and cheeks. And that drives you crazy.

Of course, this also causes the muscles to weaken and hurt...

I also have one, because it's not already rare enough

Cryoglobulinemia type I. This means that my IgM clumps into a crystal as soon as I come into contact with cold and all I have to do is wash my hands or reach into the refrigerator. Not only does this clog the vessels, but the small crystals create cracks in my vessels. They settle in my joints and I'm in terrible pain. That's why I'm always tested for cryoglobulins.

In addition, Raynaud's syndrome, vasculitis, acrocyanosis...

The median survival rate is 7.7 years. But I'm not a man and I'm not 65. So I'm out of the loop anyway. Wait.