Greetings and Salutations!

Hello, my name is Firefairy, and I am your friendly bloggerhood admin. :-) I recently finished the ten-year ordeal that is standard before receiving a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. Unlike the previous decade's diagnoses, the medication prescribed for this one actually improves my condition, and as one of the criteria for a Fibro diagnosis is having ruled out everything else that would make any sense, I think this one will stick.

I have spent most of the last several years incapacitated thanks to medication side effects, and am now adjusting back to my "real" level of function, aided by medication that actually does something for my symptoms. I recently took a job working part-time as a Quality Assurance monitor in a call center that is performing follow-up calls for the Census.

Unlike many of the other Chronic Bitches, I am fairly accustomed to talking about my illness. I don't really have much in the way of social filters, and I feel it is better to get anything that might make someone not want to associate with me out of the way early on in the acquaintance. I probably have fewer friends as a result, but the friends I have do not subject me to a regular litany of incomprehension and insensitivity, so I consider the trade-off a good one. There are significant disadvantages to being open about chronic illness, however, particularly when your diagnosis changes on a regular basis as the doctors work their way around to actually admitting they aren't sure what's going on. That is likely to provide topics for at least a few posts from me.

If you have any technical difficulties with this blog, you can contact me at blogger DOT firefairy AT xoxy DOT net. If you have issues with the content, please use the Comments.