I found Dr. House, in the form of a soft spoken blonde man in Commack, NY. He chose to be a general practitioner because he loved all of medicine, and could not limit himself to just a single field. My psychologist recommended him to me, as they were residents together. The guy was known as the 20 something genius during his residency, diagnosing patients with the most random, yet accurate things that the chief physicians couldn't diagnose. I had to give him a chance to figure this out. If anyone could solve my mystery diagnosis, it was him.
I provided him with the 4" stack of papers that is my "life" for the past year and let him attempt to figure out the issue. This was three weeks before we met.
"Well Miranda, you have me kind of stumped. I think I know what it is, but you aren't going to like it. I agree it's probably Stills Disease. For the first time in my entire medical career I actually used google to figure out a diagnosis. All signs point to AOSD."
Wow. I stumped Dr. House. He gave into the "it must be Stills" path that all of my doctors seem to be on. But it didn't come without question. He didn't like that my ferratin level was normal, and my fevers did not take on a circadian pattern, and that they never exceeded 101.5. yes, I had the rash, yes I had joint swelling, but it just didn't all fit.
He handed me a 30 page document on Stills Disease, written by a doctor John Cush of Texas, a Rheumatologist who specializes in AOSD.
I think I may know where to go next...
- Still Miranda
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