Wednesday, July 17, 2013

And She Lives to Tell The Tale --

Yes, today I went to visit the little doctor man.  I was anxious, upset, and my hands felt like they had been in cold storage.  He was friendly and personable.  I was comfortable with him and the nurse although I still don't like the Nazi receptionist.  The final result was my heart and lungs sound normal -- how can that be -- I have an irregular heart beat and I have heart palpitations and now I have chest pains.  Ah, yes, anxiety.  The blood sugar was normal but he did the A1C anyway.  The thyroid is in question but we will have the results of that Friday as well.  So, he sent me on my way and pronounced me ok albeit somewhat of a nervous, anxiety ridden walking disaster.  Take Clariten for the allergies, exercise, good about that 31 lb. weight loss, get a new b/p monitor and have a nice day.  Sigh.  I am pleased, don't get me wrong, I am just surprised.  Is the mind all that powerful to make a sick person out of a well person?  I guess it could be.  I think I am a good example of the first year psychology student who analyzes everybody -- maybe I know a just enough medical stuff to be dangerous.  In any event, we will talk more when the test results come back.

Monday, July 15, 2013

If It's Not One Damn Thing, It's Another......

Yep, those are the words of my wise Aunt V.  The last several weeks have been chock full of challenges and the only good one resulted in a new computer for me.  And a new Vera Bradley tote bag.

It all started when school let out and my DD went back to being a full time mommy and I went back to whatever it was I used to do before I became a part time caregiver to the Bean.  It is hard to remember what I used to do so for the better part of June I just sort of roamed around the house.  I did notice, however, that I was getting shortwinded.  Well, I do have allergies so.....that is my catch all excuse for everything.

Anyway, about three weeks ago I noticed that I could only walk about 25 steps before I got this really bad pain in my chest.  I had had this pain before but usually only outside.  Now it was happening inside after 25 steps.  It made me nervous.  I started researching online and I think I have angina.  Or possibly anxiety.  There is no "possibly" for the anxiety -- I have always been the most nervous person I have ever known -- well, not really, I think my mother cornered the market on that.  Anyway,  on the 29th I went to the Bean's birthday party and when I walked in I found that my daughter was in great pain -- she had been since Thursday but didn't say much.  However, this was different.  The party happened, all 30 something people came, ate donuts, opened gifts and left all while my DD was wadded up in a ball on her bathroom floor.  After almost everybody left she did too -- for the hospital.  Long story short -- bad gall bladder, two stones stuck in a duct, surgery not an option.  Done. 

A week later it was off to San Antonio for a little vacation.  My chest was still hurting tafter 25 steps so I didn't do so well.  DD did fine, she went on the trip with the blessing of her surgeon, but came home with a blood clot in her wrist.  After they dropped us off at our house they were back to the hospital -- blood clot is fine -- it will go away in a week or so.

So, back to me.  About six weeks ago I discovered that I was really thirsty -- a lot-- so I asked my hubs to test my blood -- he is diabetic so he has all the equipment.  I have been testing my blood sugar daily since then and it has stayed firmly in the pre-diabetes range except for the couple of times it has gone over into the diabetic range. 

Then, there is the ever present worry about my thyroid.  I had a diagnosis of overactive thyroid years ago - it was never addressed and nothing was ever done.  However, I think I have a thyroid issue since I have almost every symptom of both over and under active thyroid.

So, Wednesday I will be visiting my husbands little doctor.  I was always a doctor goer but, after my parents and aunt passed, I decided to fire the dr. we had been going to.  I never really trusted her, felt she was too handy with a prescription pad, and when I realized that she actually made deadly mistakes, I decided I was better off without her.  However, I don't know what the chest pain is, really, and WebMD isn't too reliable.  I could test my own thyroid but I would feel better with a dr. doing it and I can't do the A1C for the blood sugar so, hi ho, hi ho, off to the dr. I go.

That is why I have been absent here but that is temporary.  I will be back with more boring posts as soon as I have all this sorted out.  Or, maybe later to post some vacation pics.

Update

 Ok, so we visited our cardiologist yesterday to get the lay of the land for the Hubs.  Seems there is an issue with one of the grafts from ...