Crazy Days

Well, since it has been a while since I have checked in, I will fill you in. Since June, I have been extremely sick. Throwing up and a lot of nausea, almost daily. Well, after going to the ER on Sept. 4, and being given both phenergren and zofram (both anti-nausea meds) and neither working, the ER doctor tried a medicine called Reglan. This is for a condition called gastroparesis. Guess what...the medicine worked! So, I have been seeing a gastroenterologist for almost 2 weeks now and he has done an outpatient procedure on me, EGD. This is where they send a camera down my throat to check out my upper GI. They found nothing. Then the doctor sent me to do a nuclear medicine study called a gastric study. This is where I had to eat eggs that had radio-active material on it so they could watch the food travel thru-out my digestive system. I have not found out the results yet, since my appt was this week and my son got sick and had to be checked out of school on Monday of this week.

My son had to be checked out of school on Monday due to a fever. Got diagnosed with the flu, then on today developed a blister type rash all over his body. I immediately thought it was chicken pox. One of the students in my son's class was sent home on Monday early because he had full blown chicken pox. So the doctor's office told me to come to the door, but not come in until he was checked out. No chicken pox. Something else. He was tested on Tuesday for both the flu and strep throat. Both came back negative, but the dr treated him for the flu anyway because he had all the symptoms of it. But both tests are only about 80% accurate. So the dr thougth this was a false negative result. Well, then today, we go in and the dr thinks that it is the rash associated with strep throat. Did the strep test and came back positive. So from Tuesday to Friday the results changed. So the doctor said that he had a scarletina rash along with strep throat. Poor baby looks pitiful. The places start out looking like a mosquito bite, then grows like 5 mosquitos bit him. And they itch. He is on benadryl and an antibiotic also. I hate that this has hit him right after another. But atleast it is not chicken pox. He did have the vaccinations for chicken pox, but still, I worry.

That is about it for right now. I am going to bed.

My Latest Layout For James' Scrapbook

Here is a layout that I was able to finish yesterday. This is of James on 10-30-05 right after he turned 2 years old. This picture was taken of him at naptime.

Well, It Has Been A While....

since I have posted, but there is a good reason....I have been focusing on getting better. It has been a very difficult time for me the last few months because I have been so sick. I am so not used to this. I am used to being in some pain everyday, but not this. Not being able to breathe without hurting or not being able to take a decent breath. I am having to use an inhaler just about everyday to help me to breathe. I go to the lung specialist on August 18 to get a lung function test done. That is a test that tells me how far my asthma as progressed since the last time that I had the test done, back in 2007, and will also confirm or dismiss the diagnosis of COPD-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, this includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Now, back in 2007 when I was having some problems breathing, the doctors told me about the asthma, but I was unaware of the possible COPD diagnosis, reason: nobody told me. So, I have been going about my day unaware that I may have something really serious wrong with me.

I have also been having problems with some terrible headaches. The pain would start in my neck on the right side right at the base of my skull and make its way all around the right part of my head and it would pound hard. I know from documenting that I had a headache daily from July 1-July 20. On July 1, I went to the neurologist to get checked out and had a pounding headache then. She wanted to do a MRI of my neck to see what may or may not be going on. So I had the MRI done on about the 18th of the month and went back to the doctor on the 20th and still had a pounding headache. So the doctor told me that the results of the MRI show that I have some bulging disks from C3-C7 in my neck on the left and that I have pinched nerve on the right side of my neck and that my neck also curves forward some. Ok, now what....off to see a spine surgeon to see if I need surgery. But not before she gives me a shot of steriods to see if that would get rid of my pounding headache. And it did. About 1 hour later my head is not pounding as bad.

Well, my hubby calls the surgeon in town where we live to see if we could come in, they said they have an appt today. Great, so we eat lunch real fast and head over to the orthopedic surgeon and see the nurse practitioner who looks over my MRI and checks me out and says that there is still spinal fluid around the bulging disks, so we are not going to do surgery "yet." Great, so now what do I do about the headaches....she suggests epidural shots. Ok, I can get those at my pain doctor. She calls my pain doctor for me and explains that I need to get something done ASAP, and they get me set up for the next day to get epidural shots in my neck.

So off I go to the town that is about 30 min from me to get my epidural shots. Now, I have gotten them before and they make me sick. So I have to have phenergren also so that I do not get sick right after the epidural. Well, they do the epidural and they also have an IV in me for sedation-or the calming meds. So she also puts the phenergren in the IV spot on my right hand. Oops....she did not dilute the phenergren and it made a nasty vein burn on the vein that it went in, a few veins around the site and up my arm about half-way to my elbow. Talk about hurting....this did. And that epidural shot was done on July 22 and to today it is still bruised and hurts. So needless to say I am not getting a phenergren shot again at the doctors office to be on the safe side. I will just take a tablet of phenergren right before I get to the office just to be on the safe side.

Well fast forward to this past Friday. It was about 6 pm and my head starting hurting around my neck. Great it is starting again. And it did. My head was pounding about 1 hour later. So I go to bed and wake up a little early so that I can see my primary doctor so that he can give me a steriod shot so that I can get rid of this headache. Well, he does not want to give me the steriod shot...he says I am drug seeking....yeah right. I have a pounding headache and I have asked for just a steriod shot and no pain meds and you say that I am drug seeking....ok. Well he finally gives me the shot and I leave and I am mad. I have never been accused of being drug seeking. I take my meds as prescribed and sometimes less since I cannot afford to take them sometimes. I know that is not the best thing to do, but in times like this, you do what you got to do.

Well, this past Monday I made an appt with another doctor that I will see if I can start using. I go to see him on Aug 25. We will see how that goes.

I also have to get another round of epidural shots done, later today at lunch. I am hoping that this round of shots will work and stop my headaches from happening. How I need a break from the headaches.

Until next time...

James Build and Grow Project

This is a project that my son did at the Lowe's home improvement store for their build and grow clinic. It is a pirate ship and on the front is the badge that he earns by completing each project. I will be sewing it on his work apron as soon as I can.

In The Hospital

Well, it finally happened. I got so sick that I had to go to the hospital. Here is how it went. I went to the ER on Tuesday evening and they did nothing. Called my doctor first thing on Wednesday and he said for me to go back to the ER and stay and let them figure out what is wrong with me. So I went, they did a chest xray on Tues night, then on Wednesday they did an EKG and an ultrasound of my abdomen which included my stomach, gall bladder, right kidney, liver, and pancreas. They really did not find much but I was having a hard time breathing. So they sent me home.

Well then comes Thursday, I had an appt with my doctor to follow up from the ER. He did not like what he was hearing from me. He was worried that my trouble breathing and my chest hurting was a sign of a blood clot. So off to the hospital to get checked in for observation. I was not there 10 min and they were doing all sorts of stuff...blood work, telemetry (where they have you hooked to a machine to monitor your heart), another chest xray. Then they wanted to do an ultrasound of both my legs. That hurt. They press down in different areas so they could get a good picture of what was going on. Then I had an MRI of my abdomen. Not fun. I can not do closed spaces since I have been sick with my bipolar condition. So I am trying to make it thru the test and not have to quit so they do not have to start over again....and I had a medicine to relax me and that did not work either.

Then back to my room to do more stuff. They wanted me on breathing treatments every 4 hours and check my blood sugar every 4 hours also since it can go low. They also did an ABG, that stand for arterial blood gas...NOT FUN!! That stinkin' hurt. They go into an artery, not a vein and get blood from there so they can test different things for that. OUCH!! And it still hurts right now. They hooked me up to an IV and that was about it for the day.

Then today...did not do much except tell me that I have a bad case of bronchitis. That does not explain all my symptoms, but it may account for my breathing and chest hurting.

I am home right now. I have been for the past about 5 hours. I am not feeling better right now. Actually I felt worse when I got home but I am feeling not as bad as I did earlier. I can sit up straight now rather than earlier when I could not.

That is about it for me right now...going to bed....til next time.

Lunch

After spending about 2 weeks in the house sick and not being able to really go anywhere, today seemed like a good day to see if I could make it going to lunch with friends. And I made it!! We ate lunch at my favorite place-the Japanese restaurant. This is a restaurant that I have been to several times and has quickly become my favorite place to eat. I went with several friends from church and we had a great time. The food was wonderful and so was the company. It was about half and half with who had been to a Japanese restaurant before and who had not. So, the lady that I sat beside had not been to one before and she really enjoyed it. She was very impressed with the taste of the food and the show that the chef put on while preparing the food. Everybody left with their belly full and a smile on their face from the enjoyment of friends who love the Lord.

We try to eat out at least once a month at different places in town. Next month we may do something a little different. One of the ladies runs a spa business out of her home and also does mobile spa treatments at your home. So it was suggested that we may bring our own salads and do a spa treatment that day. That idea went over well with the group of ladies that were there. So, depending on what happens over the next few weeks, we may do that as long as it is possible.

That is about all for now, 'til next time...

Not Having Fun

At all. Nope, nada. It is after 1 am and I am up trying my best not to be sick. I have already taken phenergren (meds for nausea) and I also tried eating an ice pop. Just feeling plain sick to my stomach. Gosh, this is how it just about started when I got sick about a week ago. I hope I am not getting sick again with my sugar going low and the vitamin B12 deficiency.

Oh well, I am going to try to focus on something else...crafty maybe or I just might organize something to get my mind off this.