This photo of me was taken at the Mayo Clinic, on November 6, 2018. It was at the height of the dark days of my recovery from autoimmune encephalitis. I was back at Mayo to rule out having breast cancer, to deal with a few new diagnoses, and to see my brilliant autoimmune neurologist, Dr. Andrew McKeon. I was on heavy doses of daily steroids, and had been for months. I had many months to go. The steroids were doing what they were supposed to; they were suppressing my immune s