New Year, New Goals

This last year has been a humdinger. Actually, make that the last two years. I feel like everyone on Earth was playing “Red Light, Green Light” and Nature was “It,” and we were constantly being caught with our feet moving and being sent back to start. Oh, you made some money? Let’s take it all away and send you back to start. Oh, you’re feeling good? Let’s give you a couple of chronic illnesses on top of your chronic illnesses and send you back to start. Oh, you learned a foreign language? Well, you’re definitely not traveling anywhere! Good effort, though! Go back to start.

Now that we sort of have a handle on what to expect in the long term regarding the pandemic, I want to set some goals for the new year. I’m not a New Year’s resolution type of person specifically, because I’m lucky if those last a few weeks, but I can think about what I want and when rather than one lofty resolution that involves something horrible like giving up some form of chocolate.

Getting my laser treatment

The first thing to think about is how I’m going to manage to get on a plane to get another laser treatment from my doctor in another state. I kind of know what a plane ticket and hotel will cost – though inflation will affect the final amount. Occasionally, I still search the local doctors here in my own city – which, by the way, is the fifth-largest city in the U.S., but all the doctors here refuse to do the treatment even though they have the correct equipment – and so far, it seems I’m obligated to fly if I still want the most effective treatment for me that doesn’t involve medication.

I still have active HS lesions around my buttock area and I truly can’t wait to have them zapped. This doctor that I visit also allows me to get Pronox gas for the laser treatments, which is like getting gas at the dentist, and I feel almost nothing, which is great!

Evaluating my current medications

The next thing I have to do is evaluate the two biologic medications I’m taking to make sure they are both beneficial to HS for me. One of them is actually treating three of my conditions, including HS.

The other one was supposed to be treating asthma and atopic dermatitis, but another HS patient claimed it was treating her lesions successfully, and I was completely taken aback. Could it be I am taking two biologics that are treating my HS? I take these because I certainly can't get laser treatments all over my body. I also visited a rheumatologist who indicated there was a new biologic on the market that would treat all of my conditions so I would only have to take one. But I’m nervous about changing now that I’m doing relatively okay. Could I do even better? And if I stop taking the current biologics, take the other one, and find out it isn’t effective, then return to these, will they be less effective? That happens sometimes. Research, here I come.

Finding a new dermatologist

I also need to find a different dermatologist, as much as it pains me. I was enthusiastic about my current dermatologist because she trained with a doctor who was heavily involved in HS research. But she and I have disagreed on a few key points, including the HS lesions that have appeared on my face (she insisted they were impossible, they must have been cystic acne instead, even though I don’t have acne at all).

The thing about HS is that it pretty much does what it wants to. Wherever there is skin, there can be HS. I need to have a doctor who understands this and doesn’t try to create a different problem that doesn’t exist.

Reintroducing dating

Last but not least, I’m considering reintroducing dating. Now, I just want to be clear, there is no way I’m going to dunk my head back into the internet dating waters. I did that for about 22 years, and it’s awful. Every time I would sign-on, it felt like I was looking at a grocery list and it didn’t feel like dating at all.

If I do this, it’s going to be organic, only meeting in person, where I can tell if someone actually likes me or not, and I can tell if I actually like them or not. Then I can gauge if I need to go so far as to tell them about the weirdness that is my body and what surprises are in store, like HS.

Do you have some goals for the upcoming months? I wish everyone the best of luck and a healthy new year!