I was diagnosed with Polymyositis in 2005; it was the year where I would have to learn, how it would feel to walk a lonely path to reach my ultimate goal to put my disease into remission and to recover all of my muscle strength. It was also the year where I would have to learn how it feels to be disabled. However, I wasnt expecting because of my disability, I would lose my friends, my family, and my significant other who was really close to me. I just could not understand why my doctors never taken the time to explain to me, how and why my life will be forever changed. While laying on the hospital bed, I envisioned my entire life and I watched it in slow motion. On that bed, I pretended that I had experienced a nightmare and if I woke up, it will all go away; yet, that was not my case. During my discharge, the discharge nurse provided me with a set of instructions on how to take my medications and when I would need to follow up with my new doctors. I remember how I felt that day. I remember feeling that no one care and how difficult it would be to fight this on my own.

I reminisce the days when I was highly active in basketball, and cross-country running. I was always competitive. I love pushing myself to the extreme, but when you have Polymyositis. It depletes almost all of your energy leaving you extremely fatigue and extremely weak. Before I conducted my research on what is Polymyosists, I just couldnt understand why I always felt tired and lazy! I thought I was losing it. My mind would tell me to get out of bed and do something, yet, my body would oppose that idea and tell me to rest more. With time and research, I discovered that I wasnt losing my mind and that it was one of the symptoms of this disease. It wouldve been nice if one of the doctors would have explained this to me.

In my opinion, because Polymyositis is a rare disease, most neurologists and rheumatologists are not well trained on how to effectively treat myositis patients. Because of this, the majority of these specialists are likely to treat their Polymyositis patients like they treat their rheumatoid arthritis patients. It is sad to say, but this is the one of the main reasons why doctors misdiagnosed people that are suffering from muscle inflammation. In fact, I was one of them. When I went into the emergency room for the first time to complain about my muscle weakness and fatigue. After the doctor ran several tests and did a physical evaluation, he had determined that I had muscular dystrophy! Can you believe that?

May 25, 2015, will make it 10 years since I have been dealing with this debilitating disease, but I have not given up. From 2008 to 2011, I worked for a computer company as their senior technical engineer. Last year (2014), I graduated and received my Business Administration degree. In the end, one of the things I have learned while dealing with Polymyositis is that its very important to remain positive, eat healthy, consume lots of water, and be proactive. It definitely helped me get through the times of adversity.

These last several months, I noticed my overall strength was starting to decline. I had mentioned this to my doctor and he decided to run my CPK test. The result had shown my CPK had increased to 1600 (before it was at 180). At that moment, I knew I had to act fast or I would end up in a wheel chair. However, there is one problem for me, all of the first line and second line treatments that I have been taken are no longer improving my strength (Methotrexate, Imuran, Cellcept, IVIG (Gammagaurd), Prednisone, Humira, and Rituxan).

As my last resort or I should say my last option. I have decided to undergo stem cell therapy. The head doctor whos in charge of immunotherapy have reviewed my medical records and approved me to come in for an evaluation. Currently, I am waiting for the nurse to call me to schedule a date for me to come in.

Pray for me that the head doctor approves me to have the therapy done and that my insurance is willing to pick up the bill.

I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to read my post!