People I’ve met at infusion treatments, in workshops and at biennial conferences of the IDF (Immune Deficiency Foundation) offered information, support and hope. These serve as reminders that I am not alone in living with this illness. IDF, honoring doctors’ challenges in diagnosing and treating primary immunodeficiency diseases, label us as “zebras” in the midst of horses. This distinguishes our care needs and invites us to relate with others who are like us. There is even an IDF mascot, TZ that can be followed on Instagram or twitter. Whether horses or zebras we’ve got stuff to contend with…our deep heart concerns are more alike than different.

At the conceptual level, CVID created order in my life. It emerged as the underlying foundation for many of the conditions I’d dealt with in the past. It also presented a new entity to be treated in its own right and became my central concern (image 8). Companionship, knowledge, compassion lightened my burden living with CVID (image 9).