My name is Amber. I have a passion for animals, family, &my wonderful fiancee who has been there for me for the last 4 1/2 years. I was diagnosed with lupus at age 15, and have had symptoms since the age of 12. I am a loving, caring, sarcastic joker kind of a person who knows when its the right time to joke or not. I love to dance, eat, swim, and alot more things. I am very adventurous and spontaneous. I love doing wild and crazy things that get my adrenaline pumping. I am a very positive person that has faith. I fight for my life which seems to be what im best at. I live life as best as i can

I have systemic lupus erythematosus along with a bone disease called avascular necrosis. I also have rheumatoid arthritis. I call myself "the walking pain," because no matter what I am always in so much pain. I have had both my knees replaced at the age of 17, then recently I have had to have my left knee replaced again in July of 2011 due to a staff infection that spread throughout my whole body leaving me totally sick and weak to the point where I lost 40 lbs and almost didn't make it again. This lupus has definitely been a roller coaster, one day I am doing great and the next I can barely move. My symptoms consist of constant fatigue, aches and pains, the butterfly rash, bad arthritis to the point where I can barely move at times. I was also diagnosed with kidney failure and was on dialysis for a year and a half. I recently got into a car accident in August of 2011, and when I was in the hospital I found out that my kidney function came back; what a miracle! The doctors that I go to have never seen a case like that, but have heard of it. I go in monthly to get a blood test on my kidneys to make sure my function is normal and not back to failure mode again. My everyday life is hard, so hard. I am either really sick or in pain or exhausted, which most of the time I go through all of these at the same time. I have been in and out of the hospital so many times since Ive been diagnosed with lupus that I have lost count. I keep a positive attitude and I do not let my illness take over, but sometimes its so bad that I cant control it like I would like to. Lupus is an evil disease because of how many times it almost killed me, but with my positive attitude and will to live, anything is possible for me.

Also, at this moment, I am under going lots of tests for my lungs. I keep getting really bad lung attacks where it feels like I can barely breathe and when I walk or lay or move a certain way it totally hurts so bad to the point where I can barely function. The doctors keep sending me home with antibiotics, which by the way doesn't work at all anymore. Its definitely something more than that.

Then one day, I go in for a chest x-ray and a ct scan on my chest and lungs. The results of that were large amounts of lymphoids spread throughout my chest which caused me so much pain due to the fact that those lympnoids were so big that they were suppressing against my chest, so I went to a specialist and I had to have two biopsies of my chest. They first went into my neck thinking they would find something, then they said o well we should of went into your neck too, and I was pretty upset about it,  but I went through anyways and I am still awaiting the results of why they are so big when they are originally small to the point where you can't see them in a microscope, so I am awaiting back from Stanford where my doctor sent my tissue to Stanford for a second opinion.