June 2005 - We finally returned to our house in Fort Collins. I soon saw a general practitioner, a first year intern to give him some practice, for a physical and referral to a neurologist in Denver. I found two names on an internet search for neurologists specializing in neuropathy. I selected Dr. Dianne Quan at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She was an assistant professor and director of the Electromyography Laboratory. I felt doctors at an University would be more at the cutting edge of medicine.

August 2005 - Her examination was very thorough. It took about an hour. The following week she performed an EMG in the Electromyography Lab. Getting electrical shocks wasn’t exactly fun. Her diagnosis was CIDP, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy. She said she was surprised about the results. I forgot to ask her why she was surprised. Because of my diabetes she told me she did not want to use steroids. She scheduled IVIG, Intravenous Immunoglobulin, for five days.

September 2005 - As I found out later, I actually had a CIDP variant called antiMAG IgM neuropathy, sometimes also called PDN, Paraproteinemic Demyelinating Nuropathy. In my case I have an excessive amount (titre = 140,000) of M-antibodies attacking MAG or myelin-associated glycoprotein. This variant tends to be progressing very slowly, is usually sensory and to a lesser extent motor, and - most critical of all - responds poorly to IVIG, Plasma Pheresis (plasma exchange of antibodies with healthy ones, or steroids.