Jana, there's a nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll (it's from the Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland) that has one line that (ironically) sticks in my head: "And his answer trickled through my head, like water through a sieve."

http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/~nicholson/alice.html

A lot of stuff just trickles through my sieve-brain. Sometimes I say to my kids, "I'm sorry, could you tell me again? Your answer trickled through my head like water through a sieve." I don't think this is anything new--I've been like that all my life (and let me tell you, my teenage boys seem to have a terrible case of sieve-brain sometimes!).

I had totally forgotten our conversation, too, so it was nice to not only find it on google, but find it neatly addressed to me!

If I had polymyositis, it may have been hard to diagnose in the beginning. But it wouldn't be so hard to diagnose now, right? After three years, there would probably be, like you say, noticeable changes in my muscles. So that's reassuring, too.

As for the strange Greek-Latin name, I sort of appreciate it, because when you tell people you have "myasthenia gravis," they take in the "gravis" part and figure that whatever it is, it sure sounds serious. I've also heard it called "Goldflam Disease," which is sort of interesting but evidently didn't stick.

Abby