Talking To Strangers Is Just Talking To Friends Waiting To Be Met...

     Dear Reader (from another fist bowl)-

                Whilst eating a mango black bean salad with steak at Kitchen88 in American Fork, UT tonight with my fiancé, I couldn't help but notice these two ladies to my right, at another close table. I engaged in pleasantries with them and then it came out that they were there for a business meeting. One was from Denver and the other was from Washington state. We continued to talk and I find out that one is the boss of the other lady, but they seem to chat like close friends. 

                We continue to talk and I find out that they work for a plasma company. I have M.S. along with Common Variable Immunodeficiency and am on a plasma product that is also called IVIG therapy for six hours through IV, once a month, from the company named "Gammaguard." I tell them that the medicine that I get is from Gammaguard and then they both said, "That's who we work for!" "We've never met anyone that has gotten the medication!" Then they both exclaimed, "I've got goosebumps going down my arms." I then explain to them that the gammaguard has 30,000 donors of plasma and that it's been helping the M.S. as well as the Common Variable Immunodeficiency, according to my neurologist. Another caveat to that is that doctors won't put M.S. patients straight on IVIG because it's so expensive, which makes me mad because more people should have access to it. I have been on countless expensive medications for M.S. that the most expensive one I was on was a chemotherapy for 13 years called Rituximab--it was $31,000 each time I had the 6-7 hr infusion.  I got off of Rituximab because it was found out that while I was on it, I kept getting weird illnesses that were wiping my energy out and almost killing me because I have Common Variable Immunodeficiency. It wasn't until my second Immunologist was actually aggressively seeking to find out why I kept almost dying from illnesses that most people are fine with. (The first immunologist did nothing really spectacular for me and is dead to me, lol He was funny though) The second Immunologist doctor took 16 vials of blood and checked for random things and then found the Common Variable Immunodeficiency. Sometimes it hits me that I have 30,000 donors of a blood product coursing through my veins and that makes me a little squeamish, cautious, grateful, concerned about what ramifications that that might have--it's a good thing I wasn't born a Jehovah's Witness because I would have been S.o.l. (and probably dead) since they don't do blood product infusions. Sometimes I wonder do I take on any traits of the people that I've gotten plasma from. So far I haven't wanted to do anything too crazy...well nothing crazier than the usual... In the end, I'm grateful that so many people donate plasma to help my life continue--(as well as many others), even in its lesser state. I would also donate blood if I were able to, but I am not because my family lived in Germany during the Mad Cow disease along with all of the health issues that I have. But I commend other that donate blood and plasma--you are the unsung heroes that save numerous peoples' lives, such as mine. 

                Going back to the two bleach blonde ladies who are perfectly coiffed, we couldn't believe the connection, it was really kind of a surreal moment for all parties involved. I thanked them for helping to be a part of making a medication that has benefited my life drastically--according to my neurologist, I didn't have new lesions in the brain--but, I still have all of the old lesions, though--it doesn't repair that. We eventually said our good byes and then it reminded me that we're all connected and this was an instance where possibly they needed to know what they're doing matters. When you get to talk to people, you find commonalities between each other more often than not. It's why I love talking to strangers; they're usually just friends waiting to be met. It also was a boon from heaven because it makes me know that we're all connected and need each other to live. 


Much Loves, 


B.

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