Jan 11/05 – They sure didn’t waste any time getting me into a specialist. I saw Dr. H today and he sent me right over to the hospital for some blood work. I have to have more blood test and also a 24hr urine test done next week. He asked a lot of questions, the funny thing is, is that I have gone to my family Dr. for the past 2yrs with these weird symptoms. The problem is though, that the way the medicare system works here is that the Dr. bills for each office visit. So guess what, you can only go in with one symptom at a time. So unless you see all the symptoms at one time, like Dr. H is doing right now, then they don't make sense... they seem to make sense to him. Here are some of my symptoms over the years, maybe you have had them too.
*Painful joints in the knees, hands or feet-( mine started as a pain in my big toe).
*Fevers and bouts of sweating for no reason.
*Skin eruptions, as well as a butterfly rash presenting on the cheeks below the eyes and bridging the nose.- (I thought it was an alergy to something and had tests done)
*High blood pressure, - mine usually runs on the low side
*Chest pains, dry cough, shortness of breath, and rapid, violent, throbbing or fluttering pulse- (I thought I was having a heart attack and went to the ER twice in two yrs for this).
*Swollen lymph nodes and saliva glands.(had biopsy done)
*Visual problems- bright flashing zig zaging lights that obscure vission
*Cold fingers that turn white and then blueish
*Blood clot in my leg
*Bronchial pneumonia
*Rash on skin from sun exposure or florescent lights
The Dr. is nodding everytime I mention what I have been sick with or some strange symptom I have had the past two years.
What ever this is it is progressing quick quickly. I can no longer dress myself. N has been my right hand man for sure, making sure I am dressed before he leaves for work, and helping around the house when he gets home. He has really been wonderful to me and hasn’t complained about the amount of times he has to run up and down stairs for me. The fact remains that I can no longer get up and down the stairs on a regular basis.
Our house is a bit different than most. Its a two story, hip roof log house sitting along the river bank. Our main floor is the kitchen, bathroom, laundryroom, and master bedroom. Up stairs is the livingroom and JJ's (my 4yr old grandson) bedroom. Since I have been home sick, I have been spending most of my time watching TV upstairs, the problem is, that I am now stuck up here. I sleep on the sofa, in a semi-upright position since my ribs hurt to badly along with the rest of my body to lie down flat.
Since we only have one bathroom, I have resorted to peeing in a 2 liter ice cream container. I force myself to make it down stairs once a day to have a bowl movement, empty my pee bucket and make something for lunch. The round trip takes me over an hour.
The pain is something I haven’t experienced before. Ibuprofen isn’t helping and I’m pumping it into myself every 4hrs/24hrs a day. I can’t sleep and at most find my body will just pass out from the fatigue and I will wake up after dozing an hour or two at most. Dr H is putting me on Prednisone hoping to get the swelling down. He will have a diagnosis hopefully,,, when the tests come back.
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