Sara's fight against CNS Lupus

Sara was recently diagnosed with CNS Lupus. She has been fighting a long and hard battle to figure what it was that was causing her all these troubles. She deals with hair loss, memory loss, extreme fatigue, extremity swelling with numbness and tingling, debilitating halo headaches, severe rashes. When in a bad Lupus flare she can experience anything from several seizures to extreme weakness and fatique. On good days, which lately have been few and far between, she doesn't have the energy to function normally. After being diagnosed she learned that she has to have a very intensive blood and enzyme panel performed on her kidneys every three months. Her insurance will only cover 1 a year with the rest coming out of pocket. Other than her Arthritic Rheumatologist in Las Cruces she also has bi-annual visits with Rheumatologists and Neurologists in Albq, NM a 500 mile round trip every time. The travel expenses are not covered and a lot of the time means time off of work for her husband who is a Las Cruces Firefighter.
UPDATE: Sara has a new Rheumatologist who is working with a CNS Lupus specialist to help get her flares under control. He said she is a very advanced case and now she needs to start Chemo. They are performig one last blood panel to decide if it will be oral chemo or IV chemo. That decides if she gets to stay home or go to ABQ once a week for 3-6 weeks. She has also been seen by a Urologist for retention problems. She has lost complete control of her bladder. She had to have a neuromodulator stimulator implanted in her back. Urologist says this is the only way for her to ever void again without having to self cath. She has also added a Nephorologist to her list of doctors. Her right kidney is enlarged and has major calcifications in it but her blood results show her within the normal range on all markers. The doctor said its the very bottom end but as of now still within normal range. He also said that in his 35 years he has never seen a patient with normal functioning kidneys but complete lose of bladder in connection with Lupus. He has ordered a biopsy of her kidney which insurance has denied because of her numbers being normal. They said that they will fix it when it breaks not authorize preventative tests. 
Through all of this she is still kicking ass is school, on her way to graduating with a BA in Medical Anthropology all while mothering 3 growing children and keeping her house. She is the most incredibly strong woman I know and says she will not let this beat her.