@becsbuddy My mom had thyroid cancer and then died from a rare form of adrenal cancer (pheochromocytoma). My sister had bladder cancer in her twenties and then colon cancer in her fifties. My grandmother died from lung cancer, never having smoked. I underwent genetic testing a few years ago to see if there were any genetic abnormalities that might make me susceptible to cancer, given this cluster in the women in my family and everything came back normal, so I exhaled and said to myself - "There's no genetic abnormality. They all got cancer, and I got autoimmune disease, so it took a different turn with me." But this Anti-Tif-1 antibody is a red flag. It's associated with malignancy and with my family background, my anxiety is on high alert until all the testing is finished and the results come back. I'm not one for massages or ice cream - but wine might help, lol.

I'm not actually so afraid of the DM itself. Until now we've been trying one drug after another and it's been a fail every time we've weaned the steroid - which makes sense as the DM was in the background and we didn't know it. At least there's a target now, we can shoot at it, and hopefully instead of miss after miss, I'm hoping we'll finally start hitting bullseyes. At least that's my hope! Just need to get these tests behind me so I can get on with the muscle biopsy, and I am hoping my doctor will say yes to IVIG. But there is a question mark as I've had 2 DVTs and IVIG can make your blood more viscous so there's going to have to be a discussion between my rheumatologist and hematologist. Upwards and onwards!