Annus Medicus Horribilis: Hurry up and wait

Hurry up and wait. That's pretty much what this week is. See my chiro and perhaps my gastroenterologist on Saturday. And an appointment with the cardiologist and follow up w/the nephrologist on Election Day.  Wondering what THAT will involve. Perhaps if I wore a harness monitor for 24 hours, we'd be able to pinpoint precisely the times of day my pressure spikes (I suspect it spikes or there's an event while I sleep, which is what's causing me to wake up in the middle of the night).

Headaches persist. If it's not a menses related migraine, or related to the herniation at the base of my skull, then there's this wild card type debilitating headache. Tired of losing precious days of my life to pain. 

Hurry up and wait.

Annus Medicus Horribilis: No New Dramas

Yesterday I hit the trifecta. Well, two doctor appointments + one telephone call. All reasonable outcome.

Renal guy was first up in the a.m. His office was hopping and though my appt was at 10, I didn't get in to see him until roughly 11:30. No problem. I provided a sample, pressure was taken (in several different positions. Sitting up and then at a recline). Weight seems stable. Taking me off the CCB and just doubling the ACE inhibitor. Follow up at the next state/federal holiday coming up, which is the same day I go see a HTN specialist. I'm really hoping between these two guys, they'll get my BP in line, and end these horrible headaches.

Endo was next. Given the wait time at the renal guy, I didn't have time for a lunch beforehand (just as well, as endo likes to weigh me, and despite my weight loss, I still get anxious about hopping on the scale--especially since I've been on the CCB, as it's making me retain fluid). Despite feeling bloaty, I'm maintaining. Really wish I could dump off another 15-20 lbs, but it's going to take a bit of sweat for that to happen, I believe.

No new dramas. Mercifully. But I did mention to the endo how I've had so many things get scoped and scanned recently, that I"m really hoping to hold off on a colonoscopy/sigmoidoscopy for as long as possible, calling it my FINAL FRONTIER to be conquered.

And wouldn'tchaknow it... my gastroenterologist calls last night with the sonogram results, which for most intents are inconclusive. Appendix fine, which we suspected. No tears or anything obvious intestinal. Even the ovarian cyst rupture we hypothesized turned up zilch. The only thing that he did remark upon was the adenomyosis, which he doubts is the cause of the ACUTE pain. And yep. you guessed it, he casually suggested I have a colonoscopy just to rule everything out. So my heart sank a bit. But it's not urgent,  and as he called it a rainy day project, but one that he wants done before year end. 

So I find it super fitting to end my shitty "annus medicus horibilis" with a colonoscopy. We're shooting for *ahem* the tail end of December for this.

So, thanks to the thyroid goose chase...and the granuloma goose chase... and the RLQ goose chase... all the rainy day projects I had lined up to tackle this year have not been done:

*Follow up sleep study to get my settings on CPAP adjusted;
*See a hematologist regarding the FVLM & find out how my prothrombin may/may not be skewing my labwork;
*See a neuro who specializes in pain, to better manage things and help me keep moving, and moving forward.

Ever mindful that suffering is a part of life, and glad that all of these things, as tedious as it's been to follow up and stay on top of have all ended up being nothing life threatening issues. But more importantly, glad that my burdens are mine, as I wouldn't want anyone else's. We've all got our own shit with which to deal.

Annus Medicus Horribilis: Best Laid Plans... Blah Blah Blah

I *was* hoping that once summer was over, so too, would be the never ending supply of doctor's appointments and medical wild goose chases. I guess at this point, I'm striving for the end of 2013 being the end of my Annus Medicus Horribilis.

Over a month ago, my internist put me on a calcium channel blocker as an adjunct to my ace inhibitor to hopefully help my unresolved BP issues, to no real avail. The pressure is elevated, but I've been reassured it's not ZOMG STROKE LEVEL!, but still, given the fact I"m already at risk for clots, embolism, stroke etc due to the blood clotting disorder, I really don't want to tempt fate. Also? The horrible headaches which come out of no where, not to be confused with my menses related migraines. I'm losing days of my life to this nonsense.

And as I'll be at my renal guy at "The Mount" next week (and my endocrinologist who is a few blocks away), I was hoping to squeeze in an appt w/a HTN specialist (also at The Mount) on the same day, but the Universe's Power conspired against me and my best intentions to jam as much as I could in that trip into NYC. But perhaps, this is for the best, because after the summer I had, the result of which I never was able to find enough time to do what I wanted to do and go for a class on a particular crochet technique I want to learn. So perhaps if the instructor is available on Columbus Day, and Election Day... perhaps that will take care of two of the three classes (it's a class of three sessions). Perhaps THIS is how it's supposed to be.

So hurry up and wait until Election Day for me to get any real idea of what's cooking with my ticker. No doubt I'll be there having an EKG, ECG and a stress test. No doubt. Fun times await!

As if that weren't enough, last night I started having acute pain in my RLQ (lower right quadrant of my abdomen). I've had this on and off for the last two years. To date, I'm nearing my three year anniversary--well January makes it officially three years, since my WLS, so that's always a worry for me, that somehow I've injured myself.

Last night I ate (over the course of a half hour) a pint of Arctic Zero, a 150 calorie frozen treat, which I view as a frozen protein shake. It's got about 20 gm of FIBER in it, in the form of chicory etc, and perhaps this might TRIGGER the pain, but there's no flatulence, etc. So I don't really know what's going on. And given that I am about 24-36 hours out from the BLOODY DELUGE which is my menses onset, I also think it COULD be an ovarian cyst. Or it could be a kidney stone. Or something with the cecum. 

I emailed my bariatric surgeon's NP regarding this, and I also called and left a message for my internist to call me back with the thinly veiled "RLQ pain." Internist is a GI too, so that helps me. His first impulse was to say I should have my gyno do a sonogram, and well, my gyno is also at The Mount, and that's logistically a nightmare for me to coordinate everything, and I"d rather do as much diagnostic stuff close to home and save my sick days for WHEN I AM SICK BECAUSE I KNOW I WILL BE SICK. I get depressed at this certainty.

Long story short: As I don't have a fever, diarrhea, impactions or any other thing to indicate an emergency, I've scheduled my sonogram for Thursday a.m. before I head into work. 

I hate being this person, and I am wondering when my depression, bitterness and pain just engulfs me entirely.