I find myself unable to sleep in lately. Most of the time it is because I have been able to spend some time with Tim in Albuquerque and sleeping in tooooooooo much is a waist of the morning. Oh my goodness I sound like my wonderful grandma! Other times I think it has to do with the pain that comes with the colder temperatures during the night. I swear, if you have anything affecting your joints you are now your own meteorologist! You can tell within 12 hours if the temperature is going to drop drastically or if rain is moving in. There is absolutely no reason to watch the weather channel when you have us around, hehehehehe!
Now that we have established our joints and different patterns it is time for me to give you the update over the last few months. It has been a trying few months but that's ok, we will all have those in our lives. Since I have last updated you I have seen the pulmologist, gastroenterologist, and nephrologist. Yes, it has been a busy few months!!!!!!! You would think with all of those appointments I would have some answers and I do but I questions just a few of them so here you go!!!!!
It began with the pulmologist. If you are reading and you personally know me you will know about the cough I have had over the last year. It is not very productive but can cause me to breathe really deep to catch a breath and some times that is way to difficult to do. I was diagnosed with adult asthma seven years ago but as soon as the pulmologist saw me he said that it wasn't asthma and I probably have GERD. That is a very fancy acronym for acid reflux disease. I have never had acid reflux so I could not tell him toooooo much. He referred me to the gastroenterologist.
When I saw the gastroenterologist we talked a bit, listened to my lungs and also confirmed that he to also thought it was GERD. I said ok we will see what the tests show and we will go from there. So, they implanted a device in my esophagus for a forty-eight hour reading (thanks Connie for going through that gross procedure with me). Once they had the readings I went back for my consult. She looked at me and told me my readings for the first few hours were off the charts but after that they were perfectly normal. To me that sounds like I don't have issues with acid BUT she accused me of taking acid blocks during the normal readings and so she put me on two very strong medications for GERD because the first few hours were high. Ok, I am not a doctor. I am good with numbers and love to make things from my own home BUT I think anyone could see that maybe the readings were very high the first few hours because you just planted a foreign object in my esophagus........I am not a doctor.....I am just saying.
After all of that hooplah I went in to see the pulmologist again. I was so excited for this visit because I had just finished with two rounds of pneumonia and been in and out of the hospitals in Phoenix and one tiny visit in New Mexico. He walked in and asked how I had been. I went on to explain to him that I had been dealing with pneumonia and he looked at me a said I really doubt that! I was so taken back by this and I just looked at him and said ok, here are my scans. He looked over them along with the scans from his own emergency room and didn't say much about that except he doesn't really read these anymore. I was appalled I made it through the visit and he never even listened to my lungs. He told me to give the strong medicine for GERD a week or two to kick in and I should see some relief. That was over a month ago and I still have my cough, issues with breathing and I don't feel any different with the medicine. Next........................
I have to deal with REALLY high blood pressure and not just some of the time.....most of the time. For example my reading on Saturday night was 159/99. So off to the nephrologist I go!!!!!!! I went through my examination and he didn't have toooooo much to say except to stop one of the blood pressure medications and add a new one to replace it. The funny thing about this medication is it is also a diuretic because some people who have high blood pressure will carry a bit of water and other goopy things and that can put a lot of pressure on your system. There really is no reason for me to even have blood pressure issues. I have had high blood pressure since I was 24 and no one ever questioned it. I asked if we should look at the adrenal glands and make sure they were ok. He said no, not right now. I left and I think that was the final visit before Thanksgiving.
Lions and tigers and bears oh my! The answers I have received have seemed ridiculous and so far fetched. Through this process we were hoping to change a medication or two and hopefully eliminate others but they have just added more and more on top of the ones I have always taken. It has been trying and there were times I look back on and I am so happy no one was in the car after these appointments!
So, for now I have decided to give myself and most importantly my body a break over the next few months through the holidays. It has been so exhausting and painful over the last six months and I want to enjoy the holidays with my family and friends! Please do not take this as me giving up.....think of it more like a recess and yes, I am running out the door screaming with joyous excitement that I don't have to go back for some time!!!!! I picture my hair that was and still is out of control 90% of the time blowing in the Albuquerque wind! I will continue to look for more answers starting in February but until then I am going to let the wind blow through my hair and enjoy my recess!
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