writefiction | Entries tagged with health

So I had a call in check-up with the kidney doctor today. I called at about 9 but he was in with a patient so I had to wait for him to call me back.

Fast forward to about 10 minutes ago. He called back and asked how I was doing with my potassium-citrate pills and I told him not so good. I told him how I was able to swallow them a few times but Sunday of last week I just could not. I even had a really hard time getting it up or down after it got stuck. Also told him that we called the next day to let them know and we still hadn't received a prescription. He looked at my chart and told me someone had dropped the ball because there wasn't even a note in my chart stating I had even called! He might have been angry but you can never tell with him because he's so even keeled. But this mishap resulted in me not having meds for a week and a half, which obviously isn't good.

So he's calling me in a new prescription right now. Potassium-citrate comes in three forms. The huge-ass pills, liquid and crystal packs. He's giving me the crystal packs. They sound neat. They're like Crystal Light. You mix the packet in to a drink twice a day and drink. Easy peasy. Hopefully. lol.

So that's cool. But my mom was looking at the side affects of Yaz to see if it could cause depression because of the sudden change in my mood. Well, it doesn't but my mom found something interesting in the info she was reading. You aren't supposed to mix Yaz with the specific blood pressure pills I'm on. Ain't that just great? So I'm all wtf? Also Yaz can make your potassium go up and now I'm taking potassium so we've got to tqlk to my doctors about that. Too much potassium can cause heart attacks so... Yeah.

Anyway, that's my update. Now I must shower as Lene is coming today because she can't come Friday for whatever reason.

Hope your days are going well♥

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Current Mood: okay
Current Location: the couch
Current Music: Animal Cops: Pheonix on My TV

So this post is looooong overdue. But it took me till today to be able to see my urologist. My kidney stones are basically a mixture of the two types of kidney stones people get. There are two types of calcium that make up the two different stones, you usually have one or the other. Well, my stone was a mixture of both kinds of calcium. My 24 hour urine analysis showed that I have very low citrate acid in my urine and my blood tests show the same the same thing, that I have low acid in my system. Doctor told me that I was born this way. Basically, I've had a birth defect for 25 years that no one caught.

Wondering how I treat it? Well, first of all, LOTS of fluid, which I've been doing ever since May. But I also have to get my acid levels up. If I wanted to do that organically, as in using food sources, I'd have to drink a GALLON of orange juice a day. I could probably do it, except for the fact that that would put a humongous amount of calories in my diet and also a ton of sugar. Like, to the point of making me diabetic probably, since I already have blood sugar issues that I've been able to control with just cutting down on sugary drinks. So instead of a gallon of OJ a day, I get to take pills. I have to take potassium-citrate twice a day. I'll start on one pill twice a day and then if it doesn't cause tummy issues, I'll move up to two pills twice a day. And also because it's potassium-citrate (you need the potassium to absorb the citrate correctly, like with calcium you need the vitamin D) I have to have blood work every so many months to make sure my potassium levels aren't too high. Yay, more needles! /sarcasm

But at least now I know why I get these stupid things and I can try to prevent them. As the doctor said, the treatment isn't 100%. There's no guarantee that I'll never have another kidney stone, but this makes it less likely that I'll have them. But the good thing is, I have a very mild case --aka my kidneys are mildly screwed up-- so I'm less likely to have more stones with the treatment than someone who has a severe case. The doc was like, I know it didn't seem mild to you, but it's definitely a mild case. It's like my Crohn's Disease. When I was diagnosed I basically thought I was dying my symptoms were so severe. Turns out I only have a moderate case of it. When I found that out, I had said to my mom, If my case is moderate, I can't imagine what people with a severe case go through.

So all in all, even though I have to take MORE meds (because we all know I don't take enough already) I'm pretty lucky. As far as what I eat, it doesn't matter because the stones aren't caused by anything I eat. They're caused by having screwed up kidneys. So that is definitely a good thing especially since I have so many restrictions from the Crohn's.

Next up for me today, Physical Therapy. The first one of my last four.... at least I'm hoping.

Hope everyone is having a good day today! =)

Love,
amanda: jaclyn's twin sister

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: My Couch
Current Music: Supernatural on My TV

Sooooooo! The doctor called just a few minutes ago! So glad I didn't have to wait until Thursday!

Anyway. The doctor said that it is indeed a kidney stone. It has traveled two thirds of the way to my bladder. He wants me to try the medication for a couple of weeks. He hopes that since it's so close to the end, that the medication will open the tube up enough to pass the stone.But if it doesn't, he's booking me for surgery so they can go on up and take it out themselves. So now we have a definite plan of action and I'm happy..... finally. Now I'll be counting down the days until I see a kidney stone in that pee strainer. And if I don't, I'll be counting down the days until surgery. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited. Finally this will all be over. It may take a few weeks, but now I've gotta better pain control on my side so I don't mind waiting the next two - three weeks. I probably won't be suffering like I have been so it's all good.

Now you can all do your happy dances for me. I know I am! =D

Love,
amanda: jaclyn's twin sister
and her kidney stone (&) <---that's what it looks like. lol

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: my couch
Current Music: Law&Order on My TV

So I had my appointment with the urologist this morning. I had an x-ray and a pee test. Both were inconclusive. If the stone's too small they can't see it on the x-ray. So the next step is a cat scan. I also have to take Flomax which is usually used for men with enlarged prostates, so my insurance probably won't cover it. But the reason I'm taking it is because it also opens up the tube from your kidney to your bladder so it may open up enough to let the stone pass through. And apparently the pain I have is because the stone is blocking my urine from passing to the bladder from my kidney, which can cause damage to the kidney if it doesn't drain properly. So that's a little scary.

My scan is today at 1:00 pm. The doctor will call me by Thursday to discuss what the findings are. Afterwards, I have to make a decision on whether I want to wait it out or if I want surgery. Yup, you heard me. Surgery. At this point, I'm all for the surgery, but if the cat scan shows that the stone is down near my bladder, I'll take the pills and wait it out for a little bit. He'll also gave me a prescription for pain killers THANK GOD! I'm so happy because the Extra Strength Tylenol doesn't always cut it, even when I take two. But if the scan shows that the stone is half way down the tube or even closer to my kidney, I'm opting for the surgery. I've had enough with this pain already. I mean it started, like, the last day of February. It's been a long-ass time. I know I've gone a few weeks now without pain, but now it's been a week with pain anywhere from sore to excruciating. So basically on a scale from 1 - 10, anywhere from 1 - 15. lol. Yeah, it can be that bad.

It's a good thing my mom took the whole day off, because first we had the urologist, then she had to go see the condo association lady, then I have my scan at one, then at four I have my regularly scheduled therapy appointment. So basically we're flat out today. I'm exhausted just thinking about everything we have to do! Although, I may be able to catch a nap between the scan and Sheila's appointment. It's also a good thing that Mom made my appointment to have my broken tooth fixed for tomorrow or I wouldn't have been able to get my scan done. Which would have been bad since my doctor is going on vacation next week because it's April vacation for his kids. Mass and Maine get it this week, but of course, New Hampshire has it next week. I'm pretty sure when I went to school in Newport NH I had April vacation different than my friends here. It's like Merrimack County is different than the rest of New Hampshire. I don't know why, but whatever.

& & & & &

So listen to this. Yesterday my long-time friend said something kinda mean about Dog The Bounty Hunter. She called him a psycho with a mullet. So I replied to her comment on Facebook saying that Dog isn't psycho, he's a sweetheart. That his whole family is kind and caring. That their motto is Find 'em and Fix 'em. Today I got a txt message. She said, Hey mandy! My internet is down and wanted to apologize for my comment about Dog. It was insensitive and I will take it down ASAP. Love you! I txt'd her back to say thanks for understanding and that Dog's life is very inspirational. I told her she should check out his first book. It's his autobiography and a good read. I can't wait to get his second book which is a continuation of the first. But I really just wanted to put this in a post because, srsly, how come she can be more mature and say sorry for hurting my feelings, yet someone else can't? I mean, if Jenn doesn't like watching Dog's show or even if she just doesn't care for him as a person, she should at least know who she's talking about. At least she can apologize for saying something about someone I look up to. And also, my best friend in the world hates Adam Lambert, she's a Gokey fan, but you know what? I don't really care. She thinks he's a jerk, but that's cool with me. And if he comes around here on his tour this summer, she'll probably end up going with me because he's touring with Allison Iraheta and we both love her. So you know what, I know how to have friends that don't like everything I like. I don't understand why some people freak out and can't. My real friends understand when I freak out and write a rant about them on my livejournal. Because it's a RANT and they understand I'm just getting my feelings off my chest instead of letting it bottle up until the point where I cut or do something worse. I haven't cut in, like, 4 or 5 years. I'd like to keep it that way.

So that's all I've got to say at the moment. Health-wise I'm doing okay, things are getting figured out. Although, every room I went in to at that place had a tube of lube in it and that was kind of weird. I kept thinking, what exactly do they do here? lol All my slash friends probably know where my mind was going with that. lol.

Keep your fingers crossed for my scan today, and for my tooth tomorrow. Talk to you later.

Love,
amanda: jaclyn's twin sister

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: my couch
Current Music: Supernatural on My TV

So apparently the nurse that called me on Friday was an utter moron. I don't have a kidney infection. Nowhere on my chart does it talk of infection. The nurse my mom talked to today said that I have something that's like kidney stones, but it's not stones it's more like sand. She also said that the ultrasound showed the tube from my kidney to my bladder is all swollen from the irritation. She said to drink plenty of water and take Tylenol for the pain. Also putting heat on it helps. The specialist called today to say they have all my info but they don't have time to see me yet and they'll call me back when they've got a spot open. *eyeroll*

Also I think I'm drowning in depression. It sucks.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Current Mood: Annoyed
Current Location: Living Room
Current Music: Law&Order: SVU on My TV

So Friday I finally got my test results back from the ultra sound. Apparently I have a kidney infection with a possible stone. I have to see a kidney specialist. The doctor I was seeing for this problem won't even start me on antibiotics or anything. I have to wait to get in to see the specialist before I can get treated. So ya know, I'll be in some serious pain until then. Great. Whatever. People suck.

That's really it. I don't know anything more than that. Srsly.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: my couch

So I said I'd update you when I knew more about my kidney stone problem. Well.... It may not be kidney stones. There are four possible things my pain could be, kidney stones being one. It could also be an ovarian cist, a pinched nerve in my back where the pain goes all the way to the front or my Crohn's Disease. Which he thinks is probably less likely since I haven't had symptoms in a year.

So the doctor wanted to do an x-ray because you can see kidney stones on a plain x-ray because they have calcium in it. I was like, okay cool. So he had to ask me if I was pregnant. I wanted to roll my eyes, but I said no. He asked if there was any chance and I said no. He wanted to know how I knew and I told him because I hadn't had sex in a very long time. He was like, but your mom's in the room and I'm kind of like, your point? I didn't say it, but I was thinking it. But he would not do the x-ray unless I took a pregnancy test. Of course it came back negative. I wanted to be like, No duh! On the way home I told my mom that I should have made him felt bad by saying, I haven't had sex since I was raped when I was 15, that's how I know I'm not pregnant. I have to admit he's a good doctor, very thorough, but kind of condescending *eyeroll*

Anyway, I haven't gotten a call back on the x-ray. But today I have to have an ultrasound. And from what he said, it sounds like I have to have an external one AND an internal one. Ick. I don't like the internal ones. Those are uncomfortable. But I'm hoping that this will finally tell me what's wrong. If it doesn't I think I may have to hurt someone.

I'm actually kind of hoping that whatever it is, it's something that can be fixed by having a procedure done, whether it's a surgery or whatever. Just because I know that once I have the surgery and get over the recovery, I won't be in pain anymore. I'm just kind of scared that if it's a mass on my ovary that it won't be a cist, it'll be cancer.

So I just got a call from the clinic. They have the results of my x-ray. There are NO KIDNEY STONES!!!! Like WTF! Anyway, it showed that there is some calcification in my pelvic area but has nothing to do with my urinary tract. The x-ray also showed I'm slightly constipated. WTF? I told the nurse that that is weird because I've been having regular bowel movements and I've been drinking a lot, because that's what you do when you think you have kidney stones. You drink like a fish. So apparently the dr wants me to watch my painkiller intake b/c narcotics can make you constipated. He also wants to me keep drinking a lot AND eat a lot of fiber. Which is stupid because too much fiber actually MAKES me constipated. So eff that idea.

So I called my mom and told her about the x-ray findings. Then I told her about my fear of cancer. She said you're too young. Then I told her there have been girls in their early 20's who die of breast cancer because they don't recommend mamograms until you're 40. Mom asked me if I'd ever had one and I said no. I also told her I was scared because my grandma died of spinal cancer and her symptoms started as back pain. And also when my mom said that I was too young, I pointed out that a two year old died the other day from cancer so there's no such thing as "too young."

I'm freaked. Pray for me.

P.S. it's now 10:42 and I can no longer eat or drink. Boo.

Current Mood: scared
Current Location: couch
Current Music: The Bonnie Hunt Show on My TV

So I've been having kidney stone pain for two weeks as of last Saturday. I called the dr on Wednesday and she said if I wasn't feeling better by Friday that I needed to come see her. Well, Thursday, Friday & Saturday I felt fine so I didn't call her back. Then yesterday I woke up with pain. At first I thought it was a gas pain bc I was really gassy. But then the pain moved in to my back and I knew it was the kidney stones.

The first time I took a percocet it worked quickly. But then bc I felt better I started moving around and doing stuff. That made the pain come back and it came back worse! When I could finally take another one, it didn't even touch the pain. When I went to bed I fell asleep pretty quickly but only slept an hour and woke up in excruciating pain. So this time I took two pills and I slept for two hours.

I wrote on the white board that I took two pills and when I woke up there was a message from my mom. She was mad that I took two bc she thought I was only supposed to take one. When I talked to her I told her the dr said I could take 1 - 2 every 4 - 6 hours as needed. Apparently she didn't know that. Thanks for listening to me when I told you that on Wednesday.

So I called the clinic this morning. The earliest they could fit me in was during my mom's dentist appointment. She had a rootcanal done last week. So I told them later was better. Now I have an appointment at 4:30. I'm actually excited bc hopefully they can do something for me. But I'm not seeing my pcp bc she doesn't work on Mondays. But the doctor I'm seeing is Jeff's doctor and he thinks he's really awesome. So it's all good. Now if it could just be time to go.

I'll update again when I know more.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Current Mood: Sore
Current Location: Living Room
Current Music: Wife Swap on My TV

So I interrupted my writing to write this journal post. I felt the need to make an update on life for a change.

So last week I had a horrible fight with

prettyzombiegrl. It sucked hardcore and I was miserable, as I'm sure she was too. But we worked it out eventually and things are great now. I'm so glad because she's one of my bestest intraweb friends. It also shows how far I've come since I was a teenager. When I was a teen, if we'd had this fight, I probably would have told her to fuck off and never spoken to her again. So in a way, it was nice to have a big blow up and be able to work it out. It makes me feel more like an adult and I like that. Although, I wish I could have felt that way without having to have a fight like that. But it doesn't matter now cuz we're all good =D

And just when I'm starting to feel really good emotionally, I start to feel really bad physically. I've got kidney stones apparently. They hurt like you wouldn't believe! This morning when I woke up, my entire back hurt. I thought I was dying. Luckily I have percocets to help with that. Two years ago when I got them, it took me six days to pass them. So this started on Saturday... If it takes me as long as it did last time, I'll feel better by Friday. Now I can't wait for Friday to come around. lol. But I felt so bad yesterday I had to cancel my therapy appointment b/c sitting up for too long makes me hurt. It's like, laying down makes it settle so it doesn't hurt. Then when I sit up and start moving around, it makes the stones move around and hurt. So, like, showering sucks. Even sitting at my laptop sucks. But I've been sitting up since 11:30am and I'm not out of my mind with pain, just a tad bit sore, so I'm loving it :)

Last night I told my mom that I wanted to get guinea pigs this week. She said no because this week is soooo crazy, but maybe next week. I'm so excited although she says I can only get one piggie. Mom said she was reading something and that getting them in pairs only makes them live longer so she doesn't think it's necessary to get two. I'm okay with that. But I told her that with rats you HAVE to get at least two because rats become neurotic if they don't have at least one cage-mate. But we're not getting rats, so that doesn't really matter to us. I still need to do a little research on what types of fresh veggies they can eat. Guinea pigs, like us, don't produce their own vitamin c, they have to get it from supplements or the food they eat. On one website the woman's g-pigs wouldn't drink their water if she put vitamin c drops in it and I actually read somewhere that it doesn't work as well in their water anyway. Also, just getting one means I don't have to get another bigger cage. The one I have will work fine as long as I give the piggie plenty of out-of-cage time. Which is something I'm definitely looking forward too. And in the warm months I can take it outside.... as long as I get it a harness & leash (which you can get specifically for g-pigs) or a critter play-pen. Anyway, that's something I'm really looking forward to.

Another thing I've done is figured out what to do with my birthday money my grandma sent me. Lion Brand Yarn was having a sale on this knitting needle kit. You get straight AND circular needles in sizes 2 - 15. Plus you get 4 different length cables for your circular needles. And they all come in a travel case. It's usually $90 for the whole thing. But the sale price was only $59.95! Plus, because I live in the US of A I got FREE shipping!!!! You know how I love that free shipping. lol. Since my grandma gave me $25 for my birthday, that means this $90 case of needles really only cost me $34.95. Can you say BARGAIN? Also, two nights ago I ordered a t-shirt from the Chapbros because their store is going out of buisness on March 11th. They said they don't have enough time to run it the way they'd like it to be run. So for a little less than $40 (including shipping) I got a black t-shirt that has "LBC" going down the side and on the back it sez "I've Got Your Back" and there's a picture of Leland B. Chapman.... As in Leland from Dog the Bounty Hunter! I'm so excited! I can't wait for it to get here!

So emotionally I'm doing really well even though I feel so painful at times. But really, the pain only bugs me when it hurts wicked bad and I'm trying to sleep and can't get comfortable. That's when I dig out the heavy duty pain killers. lol. All in all life is good right now. I'm having fun writing and I'm knitting a hat for charity, major karma points there :) And of course I love knitting so I'm killing two birds with one stone: doing something I love while making something for someone that needs something. Ya know? And I love the mental health providers I'm working with. Lene and Sheila are great! I miss Marisa, but Sheila is pretty awesome. And Lene is so cool. It's funny because we kind of have the same personality, except she's not all anxious and depressed and what-not. She's got the good parts of me in her. It's cool because we make the same kind of jokes and she gets the whole being able to go to concerts thing even though just going shopping can cause an anxiety attack. She's the first one to completely get it. Others have gotten it, but not to the point that she does.

What I'm really trying to say is that life is great right now. I'm happy. I'm having a great time writing and knitting and sprinting with my

hanficsprints girls. Life is good and I hope it lasts until the sun gets here because once the sun comes out, I'm WAY less depressed =D

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: my couch
Current Music: Wife Swap on My TV

So I'm going to the GI today for a Crohn's check up. I haven't had symptoms in a year which makes me insanely happy and will make this appointment easy. Except that I think I have kidney stones. Can you say ow? Srsly painful. I've been taking left over percocets from my oral surgery bc that's what the dr gave me when I had them before.

I'm going to tell my GI about the pain. I hope she'll make me get a cat scan while I'm there and not make me schedule an appointment with my PCP. I really hope she'll just diagnose me herself that way I can get on with trying to pass this thing. Or maybe it hurts so much bc it's too big to pass. I don't know. Or maybe it's not even kidney stones. Whatever it is tho, it needs to get gone and now.

If I take pain killers and a nap the pain goes away and stays away for quite some time. But if I start moving around it starts hurting again. So taking a shower was nice until I began hurting. My mom doesn't want me to take any percocets until after my appointment. I just hope it doesn't get to the point where I'm practically in tears sitting in the waiting room. That would suck.

My mom's getting out in about 15 minutes so I've gotta go. I'll let you know how things work out.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Current Mood: Painful
Current Location: Living Room
Current Music: Criminal Intent on My TV

So I haven't really posted about this except for on Twitter and Facebook. But lets face it, I haven't had a real livejournal post in quite a while. That's probably b/c of having the swine and working on NaNoWriMo and knitting a sweater for Operation Santa.

Anyway, Buddy the Birthday Kitty started having bathroom issues last week. He would squat in different corners in the house trying to pee. He had an appointment at the vet's two days later for his annual check-up and shots. But because he was squatting like this, we decided to call the vet and see if he could be seen sooner. So we took him in that night, which was Tuesday last week. After a night in the hospital to get a urine sample, they decided he didn't have a UTI. He has what is called FLUTD, which stands for Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease. There are a bunch of other names for it too, but this is the one I remember.

Basically the symptoms are the same as a UTI; pain and the constant urge to go even when you don't, but it's not an infection. FLUTD is a chronic condition that has to be dealt with for the cat's entire life. My mom's all pissed b/c all of the three cats we've had have had major health issues. Luckily tho, Buddy's issue is VERY easy to deal with and lets us have a kitty shopping spree ;D

What you have to do to make symptoms better is firstly give pain medication while his symptoms are happening. But the thing that helps him the most is fluid intake, which is actually hard when it comes to cats. As a human, when we get UTI's we just drink a helluva lot of cranberry juice with our antibiotics. The thing with cats is that you can't make them drink. There's just no way. The best way for them to get regular fluids is to feed them canned food. Which is way healthier for them than dry food anyway, which I'll explain a little later. Also what you can do is buy them a water fountain. They're crazy expensive, but they really do make cats want to drink more. It's proven. Friends and family have actual personal experience with it. So we'll be ordering him one ASAP. We found one on Walmart.com that is awesome that you don't need to buy filters for twenty-four-seven.

So while at the vet's we got Buddy two cans of two different kinds of prescription cat food for urinary tract health. He only liked one of the foods. So my mom went to pick some food up on Monday and they were all out. That really pissed her off b/c she called them six hours beforehand and told them she was coming to pick it up and paid for it and everything! Luckily, he doesn't necessarily need the prescription food. He just needs some canned food. It's more about the moisture intake than anything. So Mom and I trekked it down to Petco to get him some food. We found some by Friskies that was actually for urinary tract health. There were three flavors so we got two of each.

Turns out, Buddy doesn't like ANY of them!!!! Mom was freaking out b/c the stores only carry, like, 2 canned foods that are for urinary health. The rest are all HARD FOOD, which is completely frickin stupid. But then I reminded Mom that the vet said as long as they get canned food it doesn't matter too much, altho it's slightly better to have the urinary tract kind. But really, any canned food will do as long as they eat it. So we're going back to Petco tonight to return the unopened cans and get Buddy some Science Diet wet food. They fed him the hard kind of Science Diet when he was at the shelter and we were feeding it to him too, so we know he likes it. We hope that since he liked that brand of hard food, he'll also like their canned food. So we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Now, as to why it's better for a cat to eat canned food. Basically the vet told us that as far as dogs are concerned, you can actually turn your dog vegetarian and it's no problem. They can live off the dry food without an issue. Cats on the other hand cannot. They can tolerate hard food, but they have to have meat in their diet. Hard food is made with a ton of carbohydrates to help make it into the little pellets. Cats aren't made to eat a lot of carbs. She said that cats are basically the epitome of the Atkins Diet. lol. Basically the cat's body runs the best on a high protein low carb diet. So canned food is basically all protein b/c it's actual meat. Hence why it is soooo much better for them.

To prove a point, since Buddy started eating his canned food he has all but stopped begging for food. He's been begging the past couple of days though b/c he hasn't liked the food we've been giving him, therefore he hasn't really been eating it and we've had to give him more hard food... which doesn't fill him up b/c of the carbs. It also makes him more hungry b/c of the carbs. But on the canned food (that he likes and eats) he'll be sleeping on the couch and I'll be working on Nanowrimo and all of a sudden it's 6:15 and I haven't fed him dinner and he hasn't made a sound about it! But as soon as I ask him if he wants to eat, he gets up and goes trotting out to the kitchen :) It's really nice to have him not beg for his food all the time. And I think it makes him happier.

So yes, this is my Buddy update. Now I must go shower b/c I have my social worker coming over in one hour and then she's taking me to see my new therapist for the first time. I need to get my ass in gear!

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Location: my couch
Current Music: For Your Entertainment on Repeat

In July my gastroenterologist had me take a blood test to see if my liver was producing a certain kind of enzyme as a side effect from my medication. It came back normal so that was good. But today I got a letter from my primary insurance telling me that the test was experimental so they won't be covering it. Apparently Anthem doesn't cover investigational or experimental lab work. Like WTF? And the medical review doctor is licensed in FAMILY PRACTISE. To me that means he doesn't know shit about Crohn's Disease. And another thing: why would someone consider a test on my liver experimental when I've been having the weirdest liver enzyme tests ever for the past year?

I fucking HATE insurance companies. They're not in it to help people.

/end rant

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Current Mood: Pissy
Current Location: Living Room
Current Music: Wife Swap on my TV

So my tooth has been killing me. Come to find out the infection I had last August is still here. It just won't go away even tho I had a rootcanal and a few doses of antibiotics. So last Monday I went to see Dr Moll and he checked the rootcanal and did an x-ray. Everything's fine — except for the infection. He gave me some antibiotics that have had me sleeping just about all day and all night for the past five days. But my mouth still hurts. I can still feel the pressure from the infection. Did I happen to mention that Dr Moll says I have to have oral surgery because of this? Yeah, that's right surgery. They have to lift the gum away from my tooth and clean the infection out, then stitch me back up. Did I also mention that I can't even get in for a consult until the 24th? Srsly. All I can do is sleep and take ibuprofen like it's candy. And it hurts to eat.

Basically, I'm a mess.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Current Mood: Sick
Current Location: Living Room
Current Music: HGTV on my TV

So my mom is at the ER with Jeff. He might have a bloodclot in his leg. But stupid ER people can't give him an ultrasound until tomorrow. They tell them this after they waited for them to call all these people to come do the ultrasound. So now they have to wait for bloodwork to come back which my mom thinks will take another 42 hours. Like, srsly. Are they trying to kill him? Bloodclots are pretty serious. They can break off and go to your lungs which is all kinds of horrible. I wonder if Jeff is happy he drove the thirty minutes just to come to this specific ER after all this when he could have gone down the street? But srsly, he thinks the hospital by his house will kill him. That's why he came here.

Anyway. That's my rant that would never fit on twitter. And because I'm me, I wonder if we'll ever have dinner tonight?

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Current Mood: Annoyed / Pissed / Whatever
Current Location: Living Room
Current Music: Parking Wars on my TV

So tonight we got a call from my sister, the one whose pregnant with twins. She's at 24 weeks and the babies are both 2 & 1/2 pounds. She's in the hospital. I'm not really sure what's going on, but they're giving her steroids for the babies' lungs. Her cervix I guess is preparing to give birth or something but she hasn't started dialating and I don't think she's actually gone into labor yet. But they have the babies on monitors.

I just want to cry. She lives four hours away. I'm scared and this song is making me all emo. Stupid JoBros. I'm listening to A Little Bit Longer and it's kind of hitting home right now. I hate it. But I'm torturing myself with it. Maybe I should read some Kradam to cheer me up. :p no it doesn't sound like much fun at this point.

*Sigh* I don't know what to do at this point. Jess will probably be on bedrest for the rest of the pregnancy. Therefore no baby shower and I bought the cutest little outfits for the twins. They're gonna be stylin' that's for sure. But still..... I'm weirded out and I don't like it. I don't like have my big sister in the hospital for any reason.

So I guess that's it for now. Neither mom nor I can sleep. It sucks.

Love
Me

Here's some pretty I drew on my iPod Touch:

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Current Mood: Worried
Current Location: Living Room
Current Music: A Little Bit Longer by Jonas Brothers (on repeat)

So for once here's an update that won't be so emo. I'm feeling pretty good now. That day spent with my mom helped I think. Also seeing my therapist helped a lot! I feel like I'm reevaluating things and I've come to some conclusions about my life. I'm not sure I want to really say anything about those conclusions at the moment for fear of saying them and then failing. So for now I'll keep it to myself somewhat.

I've been knitting quite a bit lately. I need to get more yarn tho. A lot more yarn seeing as how I need to make TWO blankets. Also, they need to be finished by august 28th or around that date. It's on the calender so I don't have to worry. I've decided that the blankets are going to be birth presents, the present you bring to the hospital the day the mama gives birth. I thought that would be cooler and it gives me more time since I was slacking a bit and totally started over with an easier pattern :p I know, I'm a dork.

So on Tuesday, my mom said we could go shopping — and actually buy things — for gerbil supplies. You know, like the cage and stuff. I just wanted to get the essentials last night. But then Mom called Wednesday from work and told me we couldn't go anywhere because Rock n Race was going on. I was mad because I totally forgot that was going on. Then I was pissed more because I knew we couldn't go tonight because my mom's birthday party with her work friends is tonight. Tomorrow is her birthday so I don't know if we'll go then. Oy! Why do things get so screwed up sometimes? I was so looking forward to that shopping trip. But it's okay we'll go at some point.

Also, Saturday is my mom's birthday party with me and the family friends. It shall be fun. It's at Jeff's house. We'll probably have a cook out. And I finally know what I'm getting her for her bday! I'm getting her the Mamma Mia movie soundtrack because I know that's something she really wants. It makes me happy to get her a present she really wants :)

On another good note, I think Buddy is finally overcoming his worms. When we found out he had them still we were pissed. But the vet gave us a dose of dewormed for a LARGE cat this time. I think that's what she should have done that the first time around. But whatever. His nose is pinking up, he's not eating like he's been starved half his life and he's playing more. It's awesome. I like when he's feeling good.

I'm glad life has taken such a good turn. Now I just need to figure out this blood pressure thing. I'm sooooo tired. They doubled my dosage about two weeks ago. Today is a bit better than yesterday. Yesterday I could have fallen asleep walking down the street! Not so much today but still really tired.

All in all tho, things are better and I like that :)

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Current Mood: Tired
Current Location: Living Room
Current Music: L&O: Criminal Intent on my TV

My poor Buddy-baby has worms. We figured it out this weekend. Then my mom called the vet today. They said that the only way he could get these kinds of worms is from fleas or eating dead animals. He obviously isn't eating dead animals since he doesn't go outside and we haven't seen any dead animals in our home. And hopefully we'd know if there were any. Also we know he doesn't have fleas. So Mom asked the vet if he could have had them ever since we adopted him and they said that was a possibility. I'm convinced he had them when we got him b/c the worms are like rice and on the arm of the couch there was a little dried up thing that looked like rice but I could tell it wasn't cuz it was flat. So now I'm convinced b/c I've seen these on his fur around his back end ever since the first day we had him! I'm grossed out. So now he has to take medicine and I'm praying he'll be as good with this stuff as he was with his antibiotics.

Also I think my mom probably hates the SPCA by now. We new when we got him there was a chance he could have an upper respitory infection b/c it was going around the shelter. He ended up having that PLUS conjunctivitis. He also had some loose teeth that have fallen out like the vet said they would. And now he has rice worms — I've named them. My mom's like, every time I turn around it's another hundred dollars to the vet! Its kind of funny.

But we always seem to get the cats that are sickly. My first cat MnM ended up with a bowel disease which was basically like having chronic constipation. We ended up having to put her to sleep because she was in so much pain all the time. My other cat Logan was diagnosed with a heart murmur when she was about a year old. That never really affected her though. She acted like a kitten until the day we had to put her down in January. Now we have Buddy who just has one thing after another.

We have a pet curse.

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Current Mood: Lazy
Current Location: In the living room
Current Music: Unsolved Mysteries on My TV

I haven't posted much in a while except for my Twitter posts. I figured I'd update you on another aspect of my health. Wednesday I went to the dentist to have some fillings done. Of course we had to update the dentist on my blood pressure. We told him that it was really high that day, but it was after a 45 minute walk. But he got all concerned. Apparently there's adrenaline in the novacaine. Adrenaline (obviously) speeds up your heart and makes your blood pressure go up. So Dr. Aviza checked my blood pressure to see what it was at. It was 150 over something. He said that having it 140/90 is high enough to be bad so he decided to send me home.

I have to go back in May to get the fillings done. He said it was okay because they weren't bad ones and they could wait. Also, last year I had rootcanal done on my very front tooth; the nerve was completely dead. Lately I've been noticing a bump on my gums right above that tooth and it keeps getting bigger. So Dr. Aviza looked at it and declared that I have a left over infection that is in the bone of my jaw.

Apparently when they do the rootcanal they only clean out the rootcanal and it doesn't reach to the bone. So now my bone is growing around it and that's why it's hard there. He said as the infection leaves the bone will change with it. Also I don't have to have the rootcanal redone b/c everything looked good there. It's just in my jaw bone. So I have to take antibiotics. The cool thing about them is that they're flamingo pink. They're very cool looking. I'd take a picture and post it, but I don't want people to get the wrong impression. Lol

So anyway, that's my life right now. One more thing: my BP is really good when I take it as soon as I wake up. But I don't think that counts :/

Also I'm reading Breaking Dawn and holy crap! That's all I can really say about that. Plus I found a lot of my family on facebook. My brothers, niece, nephew and aunt. Altho I'm not friends with one of my brothers. But that's a long story.

Okay I think I'm really done now. Besides, the iPod is just about dead.

Love all. Hope it's as nice where you are as it is here =)

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Current Mood: Exhausted
Current Location: On the couch with the window open
Current Music: Unsolved Mysteries on my TV

So yesterday I posted about how my blood pressure was absurdly high and I had to go see my doctor. Of course my doctor is out till Tuesday or Wednesday because she's doing continuing education right now. Anyway, so I saw this woman named Sarah and her nurse I did not like. But that's not the point.

My blood pressure was taken by the nurse and then it was taken by Sarah. It was 140/102, not good. Sarah listened to my lungs, my heart, the arteries in my neck. It was...nerveracking to say the least. I just wanted to get out of there. But apparently she doesn't think it has anything to do with my medications. She thinks it's just bad genetics. So she told me to take my blood pressure at home a few times a day for a month and take a low dose of blood pressure medication, the same kind my mom's taking. Then after that month I have to go in and see my PCP for a follow up to show her what my BP has been. Hopefully it'll be better. But who knows. *shrug*

I guess I just have a body that....hates me, or something. I wish I didn't have such bad family history. But that's something you can't really do anything about. I guess it's better than not knowing b/c if we didn't know, it could be harder for the dr's to figure out what's going on.

[please, mom, stop talking to me while I'm trying to type. i don't really care about the TV show.]

This whole thing still makes me nervous. I'm 24, this shouldn't be happening. But this is my luck, this is how things always work for me. I tend to always get the shit end of the stick. Like Crohn's Disease. Doctors aren't sure how you get it. They think it's most likely hereditary. I'm the only one that has inheritated it. I'm so cool. Enough complaining tho. I'm just completely scared and this whole thing is kind of like, What else could go wrong, kinda thing. I take so many freaking medications as it is. I didn't want to take anymore, but my prayers weren't answered.

Speaking of prayers..... You know how some people say that God only puts you through the struggles he knows you can handle or whatever? Apparently God doesn't know me very well. I'm really not as strong as he thinks. And seriously, couldn't he let up on my illnesses already? I don't like having to worry about something new every other month. Give me an effing break already! [/end rant]

Thanks for listening.
Thanks for caring.
I think that's about it for now except we're going out to dinner with Jeff, Doug and Mark tonight. At least that'll cheer me up. I hope everyone else is having a better time than I am.

*hugs to all*

[p.s.] i can't spell

Current Mood: unsure
Current Location: the couch
Current Music: House Rerun on my TV

So yesterday I went to my med check appointment where they took my blood pressure. The nurse was all excited because she had gotten this new digital BP monitor. All she had to do was push a button. Let's just say it was bad. Like 162/113 kind of bad. That's probably the highest it's ever been. I don't think it was even that high when I was having one of the most severe anxiety attacks. After she saw it was so high, she got the manual BP monitor and took it again. It was almost the same, a little lower at 158/109; still really bad though.

So the nurse had me sign an updated release form for my primary care physician. She told me that since July my BP had been rising steadily. My cholesterol doctor had thought it could have been a combination of my smoking and my birth control pills. Well I've cut down on my smoking significantly, going from almost 2 packs a day to less than half a pack. Obviously I smoked more yesterday out of nerves. So anyway, I told my nurse this and she said it was too high to be just those. I also top. Her my PCP had wanted me to quit smoking before we looked into a med change. But this nurse really didn't think it was the meds.

After the appointment Mom and I went to Borders and Hannafors. I got my books and we got trash bags, some food, and some toys for Buddy. When we got home about an hour later, there was a message from my PCP's office saying to call them back ASAP. My mom called them. They were very concerned. They asked about how I was doing with smoking and if I was feeling well; if I was dizzy or had tingling in my hands or feet. Mom told them no. So I have to go in today for a 4:45pm appointment. I'm not looking forward to it.

What's surprising is that not only am I well on my way to quit smoking, I've also lost a bunch of weight. I've gone from a size 16 to a size 12 since Thanksgiving. Also I'm eating better and getting a little bit more exercise. And my cholesterol is better than it's ever been. You'd think with all these things combined my BP would be going down not up.

But then again I've got, like, a triple whammy. My mom is overweight has high blood pressure and high cholesterol. My dad isn't overweight but he has high blood pressure and in 2001 had a major heart attack and had 5-way bipass surgery. His dad died of congestive heart failure; he had a heart attack when he was in his 40's. So basically I've got it coming from both aides of the family and it's coming hard.

I'm only 24, I shouldn't be dying so quickly. I'm freaked out. But what can I do? I couldn't sleep for the longest time, not till about 7:30 this morning. More than likely it's because I'm so freaked about today. Mom said she couldn't sleep either; which is funny cuz I heard her snoring. LOL

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed, wish me luck and pray for me. I think that'll be enough to save me. I will post again when I know what's goig on. I'll also post if I don't know what's going in. Either way you'll hear from me again later today... Or tomorrow at the latest.

Hugs and Kisses

Something to make you smile after this horrible post.....

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Current Mood: Nervous
Current Location: On the couch
Current Music: Unsolved Mysteries on my TV

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shame on you, you fool me once

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Entries tagged with health

Kidney Update....again

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