Annie, I love what you say about letting the harmful things roll off your back like rain. I was just telling my husband that I strictly ration my emotional energy. If you're on a boat with limited fresh water, you're not going to use it for, say, a water fight. You'll save it for washing and drinking. If you're really short, you'll skip the washing. If you're really, really short, you'll drink less than you need to.

I have seven kids. They need my emotional energy. That means I don't squander any of it on stuff that makes me use up all my gas revving my wheels while I'm stuck in the mud and not going anywhere (wow, this must be Mixed Metaphor Day!). For me, that means politics. Sorry, folks, I'm excused! I have an illness that means I can't participate in politics. For other people, politics might be an energizer, but not me.

Now, as for "reasonable expectations": here's the thing. There are a lot of long-term treatments for MG that have bad side-effects. I'm taking Imuran. If I didn't believe there was a somewhat substantial chance that it will eventually help me, it would be foolish to take it. I need some information in order to balance the risks against the possible outcome. Right now, my judgment--to the best of my knowledge--is that the risk is worth taking. For me. In my particular situation.

So there are practical reasons like that for trying to figure out what sort of success rates such treatments have. But there are emotional reasons, too. Like we've been talking about, we have to avoid both false optimism and false despair. Hope is healthy, but not false hope. I understand that MG is not a predictable disease. But there is still a difference between cultivating a healthy hope that is based on knowledge, and sticking a smiley face sticker over my face and pretending that everything's fine, and that anyone who's suffering just needs to cheer up. Like Jana said, it's a tight-rope we're walking.

Abby