Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Doctors Apt Today

I know Kathi two posts in one day what in the heck. :-)

I had a doctors apt today with my PCP who changed my my meds quite a lot. He took my off the vicodin and put me on percocet, hoping that the change in the narcotic part of the med would help control my pain a little better. And told me that if that didn't work that we would go to Methadone which scares me a bit.

Funny side note here, I had my script of Vicodin with me because I'd been out most of the morning and needed to take it during that time. Anyway when we were talking about changing over I told him I had it with me and so he took it guess so I wouldn't OD. But then looked lost, he then proceeded to look at me and say "Now that I have them what do I do with them, should I just flush them down the toilet?" Think of all the happy Rats he would have created.. LOL. So I very nicely suggested that he put them in the sharps box that was hanging on the wall in front of him. Oh doctors they have all the book smarts but not a lot of common sense... Thank god for nurses.

He also ordered an MRI of my Brain and C-Spine for the Neurology apt that I have Friday.

As far as today goes though pain is really bad, I've had a rough few days. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I can only really go one day at a time now. Which as a 23 year old is really kinda sad.

From the Start

Hello and thank you for stopping by to read what I hope to be the first of many posts. I started this blog first and foremost to keep the people in my life informed about what is happening as I search for answers. I shall try to update twice a week so check back with me.

Okay from the start... one Sunday night on the middle of June, yea I know it sounds like either a horror film or a romantic one just wait it only gets better, I was laying in bed watching Ben play Call of Duty when all of a sudden a sharp pain hit me on the right side of my upper abdomen. I didn't really pay attention to it at first, but as time went on the pain only got worse. So after a few hours of feeling like I had a HUGE charlie horse in my stomach I started out to Martha Jefferson Hospital which is a local ER, much smaller than UVA and you normally are seen quicker. Once I got there it just as I thought didn't take them long to take me and my father back, Ben was at home with Aiden.

When I finally saw the doctor he ordered an IV be placed followed very closely with a nexum drip, pain meds, and an anti-nausea med. That night was the first night of a long road. They did a CT of my abdomen and pelvis looking for a gallbladder infection or something that would be causing as much pain as I was having. The CT was normal and I was so doped up by that point that I don't think it mattered much to me how much pain I was in. He sent me home with pain meds and some nausea meds, and told me to call my PCP to schedule an out patient ultra sound.

I slept most of the next day only waking up to take more pain medicine. However that night I around 3:00am I woke up in more pain that I'd ever felt in my life. The pain wasn't only in my stomach but now down the backs of my legs and into my back. I thought that if I got up and walked that maybe the pains in my legs would subside and I would be able to go back to bed. However to my horror it only got worse. That next morning when Ben woke up I was on the side of the bed in tears. He took me back to MHJ where a good friend of mine Rachel met me because Ben had to go to work and Dad was still sleeping. They again hooked me up to an IV and gave me enough pain medication to put down a horse but nothing would touch me. When my father showed up a few hours later the ER doc had already done the ultrasound that I never made the apt for and decided that he couldn't let me go home. So I was admitted to the pediatric wing because they were taking gen. med. overflow. That night is one that I will never forget. My attending doctor must have been anti pain control because I went from having an IV pain medicine every hour to practically have to beg for it. Only to have the doctor show up at 3pm the next day and tell me that there isn't anything else they can do for me and they sent me home. Talk about pissed, I almost went through the roof of that hospital.

So that day on the way home I made an apt with my PCP the next day. During that apt I cried the entire time, due only to pain. I couldn't move without pain. My wonderful PCP then decided that I need to stay a night in the hospital, again having to beg doctors for medication and staying up all night despite being given an ambien. The next morning my attending came in and told me that I had a condition that was related to ovulation and that it should be gone with in the next few days, then proceeded to send me home without any medication. Again a follow-up with my PCP was made. When I went to see him a week later still in pain have you, I told him that I had been living off Advil and I thought he was going to blow, he then gave me vicodine and nueronton for pain and told me to come back and see him the following week.

So that's where it started. Now almost 5 months later I still have no idea what's wrong with my however I have had multiple other tests done... more blood work than I thought was possible, two MRIs of my lumbar and thoracic spine along with an EMG (not something that I would wish on my worst enemy) along with other small things. I've been to an neurologist and am being followed by pain management.

So now let me tell you what that charlie horse evolved into. I have no feeling in the first three toes on my right foot along with decreasing sensation up the inside of my calf, and now decreased strength in my right hand. I have back pain that cripples me along with spasms in my back and legs that keep me up a night and even have a handicap parking decal. And yet I still have no diagnoses, there is speculation but I don't want to post those quite yet.

So that catches you up on most of the details stay tuned for more to come... and if you'd like say a little prayer for me.