By Ronale Tucker Rhodes
Since you’re reading this blog, you know the frustrations of living with an immune disease. It can be like waking up in the Land of Oz, wandering down a Yellow Brick Road in search of ways to understand what caused your illness and how to feel better, to explain to others how it feels to be constantly ill, and to find and bond with others who are experiencing the same physical and emotional pain. Wouldn’t it be nice to be in Dorothy’s shoes, and be able to click your heels three times and go back to - no, not Kansas - but to a less-frustrating existence?
As the editor of IG Living magazine, I’m keenly reminded every day about this journey down the Yellow Brick Road for those in the immune-compromised community. And, while we have been planning the launch of this blog for many months, I’m now more excited than ever about what this blog will mean to you after having attended the Clinical Immunology Society’s First Primary Immune Deficiency Conference in Philadelphia. For three days, seasoned and newly trained immunologists discussed and debated emerging research, diagnoses and treatment options - motivated by how what they do affects patients and their families. How wonderful it was to have a forum where physicians could come together to discuss their theories and share their case studies! But, what this conference really got me excited about is that it showed me that, now, you also can have the same type of forum through this blog.
Don’t worry. We don’t expect you to come up with the topics to discuss each week. Like the conference, we’ll do it for you. Each week, we’ll post serious and humorous insights and anecdotal stories about living with an immune disease, spotlights on people who deserve to be admired, strategies for getting the information you need, accounts of current events and breaking news and what they mean to you, and more. Everything posted on this blog site will be about finding solutions, sharing stories and just getting a good laugh.
But, it’s important for you to understand that while this blog is an extension of the content we provide in IG Living magazine, it is very different content. We like to think of it as content with a “point of view” - ours and yours. Meaning, we don’t want to be the lone content contributors. We - and others in the IG Living community - want to hear your thoughts and opinions about what we post weekly.
As Glinda the Good Witch of the North said to Dorothy, “You always have had the power to return home.” We, on the other hand, have the power through this blog to control the direction we stroll on our journey down the Yellow Brick Road. Are you ready to take the first step?
