Excitement is building!

In about 10 days, I'll be traveling to Washington, D.C. and immersed in the ACR annual scientific meeting – shuttling from the press room to the presentations in the Washington Convention Center's ballrooms to the humongous exhibit hall filled with displays of medicines, equipment, devices and research posters. I've been scanning the program and planning what I'd like to attend, but I've got a dilemma! As usual, there are so many good topics – new medications being developed; the latest information on causes of specific types of arthritis; current ways to diagnose; what lab test results mean; updates on conditions like Sjogren's syndrome, polymyalgia rheumatica, fibromyalgia, gout, osteoporosis, ankylosing spondylitis, Raynaud's syndrome, vasculitis, psoriatic arthritis and reactive arthritis; pain and overuse syndromes; knee braces and other devices for joint problems; lupus and pregnancy; pediatric rheumatology; alternative therapies; the importance of exercise; allergies and an update on the Arthritis Prevention Control and Cure Act (APCC; visit the Arthritis Foundation's Web site and click on the "Advocacy" tab to learn more about it). And more!

Getting to all of those sessions is certainly a challenge, because they often coincide or overlap. I'll continue creating my itinerary and waxing the soles of my shoes to help me speed around that convention center. But maybe you can help me weed through all the good sessions by telling me what topics most interest you. The conference program can be found online at www.rheumatology.org. Under "2006 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts Released," click on the underlined word "online" to get to the planner. Click on "browse" to see the lists of sessions and presentations. Then, shoot me an e-mail or add a comment to this post, and I'll prioritize the sessions I need to hit.

Welcome!

The Arthritis Today Hot News Blog is underway! Stay tuned for late-breaking news from this year's American College of Rheumatology annual scientific meeting in Washington, D.C. The meeting starts November 11 and runs through November 15. I'll be attending lectures, press conferences, poster presentations and roaming the exhibit halls looking for news on research, treatments and products to make life with arthritis easier. This year, I'll be there not only as Arthritis Today's medical editor, but also as a patient. My recent diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis gives me a whole new perspective this time. Looking forward to sharing what I find!