I can't overstate how glad I was that day to discover that my wrists were swollen after a couple of weeks trying to convince my doctor that I was exhausted and in pain.

Ten years before this episode, I had developed the facial welt typical of lupus. Although that is a story in itself, I got along OK with the aid of pills and creams and staying out of the sun. I had no systemic symptoms, although every time I went to a doctor from whatever cause they asked me if I had any joint pain. The answer was always No.

Then one day I woke up with the "flu". I was so exhausted I couldn't walk farther than 15 feet without resting - and this was in the house! My knees, my ankles, my wrists throbbed and ached. Three days later I finally went to my local doctor and they did blood tests. The tests showed nothing wrong, other than that my blood sedimentation rate was abnormally high.

They almost convinced me that it waw all in my head, that I was reacting to stress. What stress? Other than what my symptoms were causing?

Then one day I was in a dress shop and was going through some clothes, pushing them around on their hangers. Suddenly I realized that both wrists were swollen and hot to the touch.

I marched back to my doctor's office and thrust out my arms. This, I said dramatically, this is what I'm talking about.