The last time I wrote an entry on here was in October, and sadly, not much has changed since that time, especially the weather. It's snowing as we speak. It's April 22 and we are under a Winter Storm Advisory. At what point in the year do we stop calling it a winter storm? This is the third time in three weeks that we've been under an advisory. Fortunately, the first two didn't deliver as much as expected, but still enough to wreak havoc on commuters. This storm, though...Winter Storm Zeus... sounds like he means business.
Health-wise, I'd love to say that things have improved immensely and that I am once again gainfully employed, but no such luck. At the end of October I got a flu shot, which is one mistake I will never make again, and that seemed to be the beginning of a whole new set of problems. Within hours of getting the shot, I felt pains I had never felt before in my life, and with insane intensity. I was vomiting, had a terrible sore throat, horrendous back pain, had a headache that, if I didn't know better, could have sworn was a tumor the size of a bowling ball. A few days later it was all gone, so I thought I just had a reaction to the flu shot. Just in time for my birthday, it all resurfaced again.
At my physical (when I got the flu shot), I asked the doctor about the pesky low-grade fever I have had since July and she did some tests. All the tests came back normal, so her reasoning for the fever, the last week of October, was that it was probably due to the hot weather and that I will begin feeling better soon. I live in Minnesota, not Mexico. People still talk about the blizzard of '91 that happened on Halloween. Minnesota is not hot at the end of October. Ugh.
When the flu symptoms all came back, back to the doctor I went. This time, I saw a different doctor, who upon entering the exam room was crying. She apologized for her appearance and went on about how she wished that she was one of those people who could cry without anybody else being able to notice. At this point, I'm not real confident about how much she is actually listening to me, and she sent me on my way diagnosing me with the flu.
A week and a half later, I was still sick. I saw my primary provider and she ran some labs and did a urinalysis. All tests, except the urinalysis came back normal. I drink at least a gallon of water a day, so it didn't seem normal to me that I should be dehydrated (or have a constant low-grade fever). My doctor said that I very well could have kidney stones. A couple weeks later, the pain being no better, I contacted her and asked if an ultrasound could be scheduled to see if I actually had kidney stones. The same woman who told me I likely had stones, then told me that my symptoms weren't specific enough to be kidney stones. Nothing changed from one week to the next, so that was confusing.
By the end of November I had made four visits to my clinic and still had no answers. I made an appointment with a Mayo Clinic (not the Mayo Clinic, but a clinic system affiliated with the Mayo) and saw one of their physicians. He was so surprised that my primary clinic had not done any scans or x-rays, yet did none himself. He tested me for Lyme Disease, Celiac's, and did a sedimentation rate test to see if there was inflammation anywhere in my body. Nothing. Everything was normal. At this point I decided I was not going to waste any more time, money, or sanity going to the doctor, even though I have had so much pain that I have barely been out of bed all year.
In mid-March, the pain I had been experiencing on the left side of my body finally migrated to the right and I had an attack one night. I contacted my doctor by e-mail and she said that I should have my gallbladder checked. Last year I had stomach trouble, but the ultrasound showed no stones and since medication made me feel better, I didn't have the gallbladder functioning test (HIDA scan) done. Apparently that was a mistake because this time around it was obvious that my gallbladder has not been healthy for quite some time. I was elated to find out that finally I found the culprit of all of my problems. My anxiety by the end of October was still existent, but far better than it had been all year. I thought I'd have the surgery and it would be a simple fix. Wrong.
I had surgery a month ago and by the second week of recovery I was feeling pretty well. Certain foods made me feel very unpleasant at times, but that generally lasted an hour or two and the feeling passed. Plus, I knew it was the food causing the problem so I didn't worry about it. The next 10 days, though, I felt so nauseous that I didn't get out of bed unless I absolutely had to. My primary provider said that this is due to the surgery and could go on for a year. I understand having a stomachache and not feeling the greatest, but this had me down for the count. In my opinion, not normal. I then asked to speak to the surgeon, who agreed that it was not the surgery causing me to feel the way I was. I saw him last week and he did some blood tests, including a liver function test, which consists of four separate tests. All of those were normal, except for the alkaline phosphatase test, which was slightly elevated. This is the test that helps determine if there is a stone (or stones) stuck in any of the ducts. At the time, even though he said I had lots of small stones in my gallbladder, the surgeon didn't believe I had anything stuck in my duct, as I wasn't experiencing pain. Literally, the next afternoon, all the pain came back. Needless to say, I'm not pleased. I am so frustrated, and worried, as I absolutely have to go back to work in the next few months, yet my bed and I still seem to be inseparable.
The surgeon is having me take Prilosec, but said that if I still have stomach issues, I will need to have an endoscopy done. I figure I will see how I feel the rest of the week and if I'm still not feeling well by Friday, I will call him back to see if I can have that done. I'm hoping that one of these days I will feel better. I'm still running the low-grade fever, and even though the doctors don't think it's abnormal, for my body it is, and it makes me feel like I'm on fire and completely non-energetic when it gets close to 100-degrees. If praying's your thing, please throw one up to the Big Man for me!
I had surgery a month ago and by the second week of recovery I was feeling pretty well. Certain foods made me feel very unpleasant at times, but that generally lasted an hour or two and the feeling passed. Plus, I knew it was the food causing the problem so I didn't worry about it. The next 10 days, though, I felt so nauseous that I didn't get out of bed unless I absolutely had to. My primary provider said that this is due to the surgery and could go on for a year. I understand having a stomachache and not feeling the greatest, but this had me down for the count. In my opinion, not normal. I then asked to speak to the surgeon, who agreed that it was not the surgery causing me to feel the way I was. I saw him last week and he did some blood tests, including a liver function test, which consists of four separate tests. All of those were normal, except for the alkaline phosphatase test, which was slightly elevated. This is the test that helps determine if there is a stone (or stones) stuck in any of the ducts. At the time, even though he said I had lots of small stones in my gallbladder, the surgeon didn't believe I had anything stuck in my duct, as I wasn't experiencing pain. Literally, the next afternoon, all the pain came back. Needless to say, I'm not pleased. I am so frustrated, and worried, as I absolutely have to go back to work in the next few months, yet my bed and I still seem to be inseparable.
The surgeon is having me take Prilosec, but said that if I still have stomach issues, I will need to have an endoscopy done. I figure I will see how I feel the rest of the week and if I'm still not feeling well by Friday, I will call him back to see if I can have that done. I'm hoping that one of these days I will feel better. I'm still running the low-grade fever, and even though the doctors don't think it's abnormal, for my body it is, and it makes me feel like I'm on fire and completely non-energetic when it gets close to 100-degrees. If praying's your thing, please throw one up to the Big Man for me!
Really, absolutely nothing else has happened in the past six months. I've felt too awful to do anything, but now more than ever, I want a little adventure in my life. A month or so prior to finding out about the gallstones, my anxiety was getting worse and worse. I decided that enough was enough and I went to the library and began searching for inspirational books. I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for, but basically any books that could help fill my life with positivity. I then stumbled upon Cami Walker's "29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life". I have to say that in just over 24 hours, this book changed mine.
As I read the prologue of the book, I found myself relating to the author on so many levels. Cami was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis shortly after she was married, and the illness became fairly debilitating very quickly. She found herself basically feeling like her life was over, a feeling I have been all too familiar with in the past year and a half. A friend of hers recommended that the best prescription for her was to give 29 gifts in 29 days. Cami's thoughts were the same thoughts I have had, 'How am I supposed to help other people when I feel miserable all the time?' I read the prologue and her journal entry about her first day's gift and I was immediately hooked. I have been wanting something to take my mind off of the way that I feel, while also forcing myself to get out of the house. This project did just that for the first week, and I'm certain if I wasn't feeling so poorly physically, it would still be helping my anxiety. The idea behind the project is to get people in the mindset of doing good things for other people and in turn, the universe gives back. Each day you are supposed to journal about your gift and reflect upon it.
I happened to look the book up online and found that there is a website devoted to gift giving. I was immediately hooked! The website allows you to do your journaling through a blog, which you can set to private or share with other members. There are numerous ideas posted as to what you can do to give, as well as inspiring stories and posts from other members. Everyone is given a profile page, similar to that of a social media site, where they can leave other members comments, send e-mail, and instant message. On the first day, so many people had already reached out and welcomed me and shared many kind words with me. It's a nice distraction from all of the bad things in the world and it's for a good cause. I highly recommend checking out both the book and the website!
That's all for now...boring post, I know!
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