About the Phoenix

The Phoenix is a mythological bird. Hans Christian Anderson described it best for me in an 1850 writing.

IN the Garden of Paradise, beneath the Tree of Knowledge, bloomed a rose bush. Here, in the first rose, a bird was born. His flight was like the flashing of light, his plumage was beauteous, and his song ravishing. But when Eve plucked the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, when she and Adam were driven from Paradise, there fell from the flaming sword of the cherub a spark into the nest of the bird, which blazed up forthwith. The bird perished in the flames; but from the red egg in the nest there fluttered aloft a new one—the one solitary Phoenix bird. The fable tells that he dwells in Arabia, and that every hundred years, he burns himself to death in his nest; but each time a new Phoenix, the only one in the world, rises up from the red egg.

Each time there is adversity in my own life, I stay mindful of this story. Have a great day!

What's Up with This?

I'll spare you the details. Enbrel is a great drug. It controlled my RA for 7 years. In the last year, however, my immune system's been saying "no". Three times, dammit! When that happens, I can't use my hands. No typing, no driving, no bike, no holding a pen, no steel pan music, no nothing if it is hand involved. It sucks. Prednisone: A miracle and a curse. It takes on the inflammation calms it down, but the side effects can be brutal, so it's not something to use for long periods. You other autoimmune disease warriors know all about Prednisone, right?

So now we're trying Humira, a drug similar to Enbrel, but maybe different enough to fool the wayward immune system. Watch out world, the Phoenix is flying back in...