Weary Week of Testing
Monday 22nd I had my weekly blood test and to my surprise my platelets are in the normal range again at 254 x10^3/uL. 
My prednisone is decreased to 15mg a day. As they decrease the prednisone some of the side effects go away or lessen but all the “immune” sysmptoms are coming back with a feirce force. 
Tuesday I met my new Primary care physicain Dr. Edith Nemeth, she seems to be lot more intelligent that my former doctor thought she um has a bit of an abrasive personality. She kept asking a question that got me thinking too. What is the cause of these symptoms, that are not related to Hashimotos or the ITP? The increasing muscle/joint pain and stiffness, weakens, anxiety, depression, Irritable bowel syndrome, irritable bladder syndrome, migraines, dry painful eyes, muscle twitching, sleep problems, memory/concentration problems, difficulty seeing at night, shortness of breath, occasional ear ringing& dizzy spells. Doctors have kept telling me it’s a “rheumatic”auto immune problem, but its not Lupus, its not Rheumatoid Arthritis, etc. Ok they keep ruling out all these different ones, why don’t they tell me WHAT IT IS, instead of what it‘s not? 
Both Dr. Nemeth and Dr.Winegarden have told me I need to see a Rheumatologist. Dr. Nemeth also told me to find an endocrinologist because of the PCOS. The Problem I have run into is my medical coverage; Livingston Health Plan will only allow me to be referred to and see doctors in Livingston County. There is only one Rheumatologist in Livingston. I do not know if he will accept my insurance. What I do know is he is the same doctor I saw in 2001 that implied I was a hypochondriac and didn’t give me follow up care. Yeh, I’m so crazy I gave myself an uncurable blood disease. 
Ignorant morons. Also there is NOT ONE single endocrinologist in Livingston. I’m getting too weak and tired to keep jumping through hoops.
Wednesday I went to see Dr.Winegarden the hematologist again. I ended up only seeing him for like 5 minutes it seemed but being at the woodland clinic for over 3 hours. 1st waiting around for my appointment with Dr.Winegarden, then because of my shortness of breath and increasing muscle weakness he was concerned about clots caused by the APS. I was pretty sure it wasn’t clots because it’s all over muscle weakness not localized to one area, but he wanted to be sure so he had his receptionist schedule me for a Doppler Ultrasound of my legs and chest x-ray and CT scan of my chest. So I sat an hour chatting with the receptionist while she tired to get different labs or hospital to fit me in ASAP. The ultrasound I got that day at the clinic, but still had to wait quite at while because they squeezed me in to the end of the technicians shift. But my legs were all clear of clots. 
Thursday we had some mighty thunderstorms out here, and we lost power around 7pm until morning. This happens quite often, especially since they built the subdivision of 30 or so houses were the woods use to be and didn’t install stronger transformers or whatever on the power lines. So as soon as the storm rolled in we got candles ready and set out buckets to collect rain water. Our toilets can’t refill with water & thus be flushed when the electricity is off, so we use buckets of rain water to “flush”. We may live in the”county” but we ain’t uncivilized. LOL. 
It was amusing to watch all the people panic and zoom off in there vehicles to restaurants, stores, hotels. Was actually nice we all sat around by candle lights and actually socialized, no TV, no computer gaming.
Friday morning I went to McPherson Hospital for the Chest X-Ray and CT scan of my chest. The X-ray was quick and simple. The CT scan was not so painless. They have to put an IV in to inject the contrast dye so they can see your circulatory system better. I warned the CT tech my veins were hard to get. She poked me and didn’t get a vein then proceed to try and root around to get the vein only succeeding in causing me pain. So she went and got someone else. This tech also missed the vein on 1st try but after extremely painful digging around in my arm she finally got the IV in the vein. I now have a 2 inch deep purple, tender bruise on my arm. Also during the process of holding my arm down to get the IV in and/or pinning it behind my head on the CT table my upper arm muscle and shoulder joint was injured. It was so painful that all day I couldn’t lift my arm. 
Ahh, the gentle touch of caring technicians. It’s still sore now, but I can use it little bit I just can’t pick up heavy objects.
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