Thanks for your kind words, Mark. And everybody else, too. Here's the semi final verdict from a rare disease specialist: Gougerot Syndrome.

Like everybody else I know, I never heard of it until a few days ago. It's on the Internet; I couldn't make such a thing up even if I tried. At bottom, too many antibodies which, for some unknown reason, turn around and attack healthy tissue. Were they formed to fight a disease? Are they hereditary? Nobody knows.

I say semi final verdict because the doctor wants me to be hospitalized for a few days and undergo more tests, among them a spinal tap. Sorry, I've had enough. Especially since there is apparently no cure for Gougerot Syndrome. I'm still on Lyrica, 100 mg per day, which is killing the pain; what else it is killing will show up later. The pain is by far not 100% gone; I am weak and tight; I can barely tie my shoes.

That's it for the moment. Hope my words will help someone out there. My horizon has been greatly broadened by all this, for whatever that's worth.

Tom