Laura’s Marvelous Muscle Malady

Two ways to turn your world upside down: July 3, 2020 (UNM Hospital) vs July 3, 2022 (at home, still trying to stick a handstand in the middle of the room) On July 3, 2020,   I was checking into UNM Hospital in Albuquerque for five days of treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin . I had just gotten a diagnosis of  immune mediated necrotizing myopathy  a few days earlier.  My primary symptoms were an increasing weakening of muscles all over.  This had been showing up in new & surprising ways each day across several weeks: I had difficulty walking. I was using ski poles to try to hold myself up. I felt like my head was a bowling ball and that I was going to fall forward from the weight of it.  Reaching out to turn the water on in the kitchen sink would mean falling into the sink if I wasn't careful.  A pitcher of water was too heavy to lift from the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.  Couldn't pull clothes on over my head or fasten a bra at my back. It was hard to swallow;