Muddling Through This Thing We Call Life

There's been a lot going on this last week, and I figured it was about time I updated everyone! It's been awhile since I've updated on my medical stuff anyway I think...

This week all my appointments seemed to pile up on top of each other. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did! The first was my bi-weekly xolair shot that took up all of my Tuesday morning. Now that Jack is no where near as portable I just took my slightly defunct mp3 player and my knitting. Um, yah, apparently I was tired. I fell asleep. That was at the START of my week.

Wednesday I saw my regular physician to talk to him about my blood sugar levels and my hair. We're going to try and see if we can get the insurance to pay for me to go talk with a dietitian because things are just getting way to complicated and its hard to balance my blood sugar, keep on a low sodium diet, and everything else I have to keep track of.... I also asked for another fasting blood test to make sure I'm not getting any closer to actual diabetes instead of just pre-diabetes like I've been at.

Hair. Ok, this is a tough one. I knew I'd lost some hair volume over the last year or so but I hadn't really thought much of it because I had a LOT of hair and I know people do that sometimes right? Well the other day Mom mentioned it, and then I realized just how much I'd lost. Um, I've lost over half the volume of my hair. I talked to my doctor about it and it's probably from the steroids I'm on for my asthma that are keeping out of the hospital. I'm going to go see a dermatologist, but it sounds like there's not much we can do about it. Joy 'eh?

Wednesday I also did an ultrasound. No, I'm not pregnant, it was to check up on my kidneys and bladder. Follow up on the kidney stones I had in Sept. I won't go into details so I don't gross you out, but I've now seen the majority of the organs in my body on one type of scan or another!

Thursday morning I saw my urologist to find out what they found on the ultrasound and what they learned from some other tests they had previously done on me. Good news is my kidneys and bladder are fine. Bad news is that, from my tests, he would normally tell me to take less calcium and eat less protein to avoid kidney stones in the future. The problem with that is that I have osteopenia (the stage before osteoperosis) so I have to be on a high level of calcium to prevent that from progressing. As for the less protein? Well, when my regular doc and I were talking about my blood sugar one of the things he told me was less carbs and more protein! So we decided there wasn't much we could do there. Pretty much the only things we could come up with that were constructive were continue to work on watching my sodium intake and drink LOTS of water. Oh, and pray that I don't get too many more kidney stones :P

Immediately following that appointment I saw my neurologist (I TOLD you these were all stacked up didn't I?). We're taking me off the medication that I was on because it wasn't working, and we're going to put me on a new one as soon as I've worked off of this one. It's a seizure medication and a little scary because it's got a lot of potential side-effects and I've already got enough to deal with! On the other hand - I also need to function and daily migraines do not lend them selves to that.

In the mean time, I've gotten to the point where I'm having so many migraines and I've had to treat them so frequently that I'm now probably having medication overdose migraines in addition to my normal migraines. Loverly eh? Well, to get rid of those he gave me a 7 day course of treatment that's supposed to get rid of the overdose headaches - but in the mean time I can't take ANYTHING for my migraines. That was like an invitation for the migraine monster to come in and play. The last three days have been miserable. I'm really hoping he's right and it'll be worth it when this week is over with...

Day by Day

First, just wanted to let you know that Aria's Quest will not be published this week. At least, I don't think it will. I'm too exhausted and drugged up from the kidney stone to write properly!

The update on the kidney stone is that it's still very much a pain in the back! I did go to the doctor today to do a follow up and see if there was anything else that could be done. He pretty much said that I need to keep doing what I'm doing. Drinking lots of both water and cranberry juice, and being as active as I'm able. The only new thing he told me was that I should be using a heating pad a couple of times a day. So I'll start doing that! Except it's really hot right now so I'm going to wait until later tonight.

The alternatives to waiting are typically that they do some short of ultrasound therapy to break up the stone. Apparently the stone I have is too small though, and it would just damage the side of the uretha more. So it's not really an option for me.

I am trying to do things, but when the pain gets too intense I'm stuck in front of the computer or tv, or reading. Sometimes it's hard to do any of those! The irony is I'm supposed to move around, but that tends to trigger the pain. Oh well. I'll get through this just like have everything else! Thanks for your patience with me :)

On the amusing side...

Two things amusing from all of this. One, Moses was rubbing my belly a couple nights ago and giving my bladder a pep talk about passing the stone :P I thought it was pretty adorable! And he's being really sweet and doing everything he can to support me through this.

The other amusing thing is I'm having to pee into this plastic collector (looks kind like an inverted hat, so we call it the pee hat) because we are supposed to try and catch the stone. Well the pee hat has oz marks on it. I'm peeing soooooo much! I actually peed 32 ounces when I woke up this morning!

Ok, I know, to much information, but I have to take my amusement where I can get it!

Update: 15 minutes after typing this I peed out a stone. Well, I must have more than one that the doctor didn't see, because I still have a large amount of pain where the stone was! Grrr...

Owie!

Well, I've dealt with a bunch of health problems in my short life, and now I've got another one to add to the list! I have a kidney stone. Oh my goodness, I don't think I've ever been in that much pain in my entire life! And I've hurt myself pretty bad before.

It started yesterday in the early afternoon. At first I assumed that I bladder infection and it was affecting my kidneys. I was pretty positive that it wasn't simply back pain because it didn't really feel "right" for a pulled muscle, and I hadn't done anything to pull a muscle, and it went away after awhile. Then, last night, it came back with a vengence!

I won't give you too many gory details, but when I started throwing up from the pain, and could barely stop crying, we decided it was time for me to go to the hospital. It took about an hour and a half before the doctor was able to see me and proscribe pain meds. Oh my goodness! It felt MUCH longer than that. Especially since the first dose of anti-nausea medicine didn't exactly work...

After some tests it turns out I do have a bladder infection (I had just been assuming before), and a kidney stone. It's about 3mm. Which apparently isn't that big, but believe me, it's enough to cause a TON of pain!

Today hasn't been too bad. I can feel the effects of the infection in that I'm extra tired and achy, but I was still able to go for a walk this morning. Mo started back at school this morning so Mom took the day off work so there would be someone here if things get worse. I was glad she was here too! When the pain did start this morning it was nice to have someone else get me a glass of water and the pain meds. Which worked their magic! Left me feeling a bit loopy, but I'm not in agony, so I don't mind!

Now I'm just hoping and praying that the stone passes quickly. Not much else I can do. They've got me pumped full of meds and I'm drinking lots of water and cranberry juice!