Another Dr. Appointment Update

I just got back from the doctor and thought it would be best if I updated it here so people know what is going on without me having to explain it a zillion and ten times. (Ok, that is an exaggeration, but still).

The bottom line is that they still don't know what is wrong with me.

If you want more details here you go:

The oximetry test came back normal. My oxygen levels don't dip like they would with sleep apnea. At this time they are not going to do an overnight sleep test as they feel that would be a waste as I am sleeping fine.

I have to do a fasting blood test tomorrow and they are going to draw blood for the the following tests:

CBC (blood counts)

Lymes and Ehrlichia

Glucose

Thyroid

Mono

Yes, I had many of these before, but he wants to compare them and see if anything has changed. He also mentioned sending me to an infectious disease specialist but they generally want a little more information to go on. He could refer me to them if he needed to, but wants to see how these tests go. The doctor did say that there is something going on in my body with the low-grade fever, fatigue, and headaches.

I am supposed to continue taking my naproxen and amitriptolene as I am now.

I see the doctor back on October 8. I am off work until at least October 9.

I just wanna cry...

(First, isn't that a song name?)

Once again this morning, I got up at my usual time when I work and had full intentions of going to work. While I was showering, my headache came back in full force and I am just so drained. I know I couldn't make it 3 hours on my feet in class. I'm having a hard time focusing on anything. I hate this. I feel like I'm not pulling share at work, and like I should be there. I've always hated taking time off from work for sick days. I hate it that my body isn't agreeing with my mind. I feel like I should be going, but my body tells me differently. Though looking in mirror I can tell by both my eyes and the red half-heart above my upper lip that I don't feel good.

I have my dr. appt. this afternoon again. I'm planning on sleeping until then. I'm hoping that I can find out something there. I hate feeling like this and that if I were a stronger person I would be at work.

Sisters

Oh how I love this picture of the three of us.

Susan, Amber, and Julie

August 18, 2009

At the Rapp Family Cabin

Taken when we did a "Trash the Dress" photo shoot.

Larger image can be found here.

Weekend

{This is a picture of one of the Bridges at the cabin. Love this picture. I think Julie took it. Oh and this has nothing to do with my post here, I just liked the picture.}

On Friday I woke up and my headache was nearly gone! I felt awesome!!! I did sleep in until about noon though. I really wanted to run into RSC since Mama Jenny and Jessi were going to be there, and I did! I did a bit of shopping and some visiting. I think I was there for 2 hours. It was awesome though. I so needed some Bellywing time. Laughter and flashing is always fun! Loved it!

That night Leslie came over and brought me dinner and insisted on doing dishes. Dinner was fantastic and I loved catching up with her. I don't see her nearly enough. Leslie, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you doing the dishes and how much Jason did as well. Thank you so much hon! I love spending time with Leslie, she is so much fun and we have so much in common. Time flew by though as it always does.

I managed to not even nap on Friday, and while I was a bit tired, it wasn't unbearable.

Sadly that didn't last. :( I woke up today (Saturday) with my headache back again. Not as bad as it was, but it was bad enough. :( Jason and I did run up to the Cities to go to Chili's and get me a Sonic Sweet Tea. (Isn't he the best!!!) I slept up on the way up, but not on the way back. Despite all my meds, my headache was back in full force. When we got home I went and laid down and slept again. So tired and so headachey today. Ugh, I want days like Friday back.

But you know what, I'm grateful for having such a great husband, friends, and family. I honestly don't know what I would do without you all.

Thank You!

I have the best friends. Seriously you guys, your emails and comments on my last post meant so much to me. Thank you.

While waiting at Mayo for my appt. I made a list for Jason and he is still at the store. He dropped me off and I went up to sleep. I couldn't sleep, but did rest and read. I feel a bit better now. All of you guys helped me so much.

I'll be replying to emails tonight, so don't think that I'm not going to.

P.S. If you were wondering the bread did not turn out. Jason is either going to come home with bread or a new bread machine. We will see. :)

Pity Party for 1

I know that I really shouldn't be complaining, and I know that there are so many people going through stuff much worse than me, but today all those little things just added up and it's like the straw that broke the camels back.

I went to bed at about midnight last night and had a hard time falling asleep. Not a big deal as I'm off today. Today I woke up at about 7:30 to go to the bathroom and was up for maybe 30 minutes before heading back to bed with Jason. And let's just say I wasn't up for Jason's teasing today. After I finally got to sleep, my cell phone rang at about 9:30 and it was Mayo, with my test results, but I couldn't figure out how to answer the damn phone as I was half asleep and didn't have my glasses on. Grrrrr. Had an awful headache so rather than calling back I decided to go back to bed. Slept again until about noon.

Tried to call Mayo about my test results, and of course everyone was out to lunch. Tried twice since then and they haven't been able to get a hold of the nurse. Ugh.

The one thing that Jason asked me to do today was to make bread as we are out. Usually this isn't a big deal, but today the bread machine doesn't work. I unplugged, re-plugged, and banged it around for a good 15 minutes almost in tears since I had everything in the bread pan already. I ended up mixing it by hand, and now it's supposed to be rising, but it's really not. Failure.

Huge headache still at this time, and I can't take my pills until I have eaten something. Well considering we haven't grocery shopped in about 2 weeks, we have close to nothing in the house. I debated about running to get somewhere but I didn't trust myself driving with the headache. Lunch today was an English muffin with cheese. Great fulfilling lunch huh? Finally got my pills in me, and hoped that would make me feel better, but my stomach is still rolling.

I have to go to Gonda at 3 p.m. today to pick up the oximeter thing (I think that's what it is called.) and to learn how to use it. I get to wear that on my finger tonight. I am so not up for going, but I want to have it all done. I managed to shower, and managed to almost slip and fall on the bath mat in there, and when I turned the shower on, I managed to get all wet (this was before I was even undressed.) Ugh. At least I am clean.

Tried to call Mayo AGAIN for my results and no nurses are available to give them to me. Ugh.

I had plans today to go and see Mrs. A at RSC and get in a bit of girl time, but I know I'm not up for that. :( I'm so sad that I had to cancel. I was so looking forward to that.

I was also hoping to go to the store as we have basically nothing in the house to eat, and I need to eat food with my pills. For some reason I don't think that will happen either. :(

MRI Results

I just got home from my Dr. appointment and the results of the MRI are in. Everything looks good, which is good.

The bad is that the Dr. still doesn't know what's wrong with me.

They took more blood today to run more tests, and tomorrow I have to pick up an oximeter and get to wear that while I sleep. Depending on those results I may have to go in for a sleep study. He wants to rule out a couple of things, including Sleep Apnea.

I'm very happy with all the time that he took with me and that we are working on ruling more things out.

He also wants me to get as much rest as possible and to stay on the drugs that they have prescribed me. He said that I can go back to work as long as I feel up to it, and if I don't, then I need to call in for another Dr.'s note.

So there you have it. You all know as much as I do now. :)

Update on Me

First, I'm so sorry for not updating sooner, but as soon as I got home, I had to nap. I was so damn tired. I had the MRI this afternoon. It went ok. I'm very happy that I decided to take the Ativan (oral sedation). I absolutely hated how loud it was even with ear plugs. How in the hell is that supposed to help me?! I was fine until they pulled me out and had put the contrast in. After that I felt so nauseous. But I didn't lose anything! I was fine as long as I kept my eyes closed and focused on the sounds, which I ended up counting since they were different.

Anyway, we don't know the results yet, that appointment is scheduled for next Monday. I am going to call tomorrow and see if it can be moved up. I don't want to wait that long....

Sick ASS* Update

Let's see. I had another appointment this morning and the bottom line is that they don't know what's wrong with me.

All of my tests came back as normal or negative, which I guess is a good thing. I'm very happy that they are ruling things out, but on the other hand, it's frustrating not knowing what is wrong with me.

The doctors decided to find out the cause of the headaches first, and then they are hoping that that helps with the extreme fatigue that I have been feeling. They put me on Amitriptyline, at 10 mg each day at night. After 1 week I increase that to 20 mg, then 30 mg, etc. all the way up to 50 mg. I also got a prescription of naproxen to take twice a day. With those I can't take any over the counter drugs. I feel like a pill box. I hate taking pills. Ugh. But honestly if it makes the headaches go away for a while, then it's worth it. Also with those pills, Jason and I try for a baby. So back to using protection for a while. Ugh. That makes me sad, but I need to get better first.

Also, I have a head/brain MRI on Monday to see if they can find out what is causing the pain. The only bad thing is that I have to wait a week from Monday for the results.

I have to say that I have some wonderful friends out there who have offered me basically anything that I need. I love you guy so much! I'm very thankful that I have next week off of work to sleep and relax.

Now the question is does anyone want to come over and clean my house? ;)

*Btw, for those of you that don't know my initials are ASS and the Bellywings call me ASS because there are a few Amber's in our group. :)

Looking for Yarn Donatoins

I got this from a co-worker and thought I would post it here to see if anyone wishes to donate. I will bring all donations into my co-worker, Deb. Oh and if you need my address to send them too, post a comment here or send me an email at gamerbabe360 (at) yahoo.com

Here's a copy and paste of the email that she sent me! I think it's for a worthy cause. :)

A group of young women that I work with are knitting and crocheting blankets for Methodist Hospital labor and delivery. We've been asked to make white blankets for babies that die during delivery and can be wrapped in our blanket for the parents. On some of the blankets we'll add a row of blue or pink.

The young women I'm working with are mostly stay-at-home moms and don't have big cash reserves. If anyone would like to donate white yarn to us, we would be thrilled. An occasional blue and/or pink skein of yarn would be appreciated as well.

Short update on being Sick.

The title basically says it all.

My influenza test came back negative. Which means I don't have influenza of any sort.

Now back to the drawing board so to speak. *Sigh*

Sick

So I haven't been feeling 100% for the past three weeks or so. Yesterday my headache got so bad I went home from work early. So rather than explaining everything to everyone who asks, I am going to link everyone to this entry, lol.

Symptoms:

• Headache Daily for about the past three weeks. Some days worse than others, but it's been really bad since Sunday. Yesterday it got so bad I have to leave work. I got a bit dizzy and couldn't focus or concentrate.


• Extreme fatigue. I seem like I can't enough sleep. It's gotten so bad that I'm having a hard time staying awake at work. Yes, I am getting enough sleep at night, and napping while I can when I'm home. I'm still wiped out.


• Chills. Off and on for the past 2 or 3 days.


• Low-grade fever. Don't know for how long as I never thought to take my temp.


• According to my Doc, I have enlarged glands and my liver and spleen seem tender.


• BP and pulse is good.


• About 2 weeks ago I had an awful runny nose.


• I have a bit of a sore throat, but not too bad.

Ruled out by the Doc Today:

• Mono. Test came back negative.


• Pregnancy. (Could be causing fatigue, and needed to find out if I was so she could prescribe me something.)


• All of my cell counts and everything came back fine.

Action taken today:

• Tramadol injection given in my bum to help relieve the headache


• Prescription filled for 800mg of ibuprofen to help


• Influenza test taken will know results tomorrow


• Thyroid and other blood tests taken. Will know results on Friday


• Told to rest and sleep a lot.


• Can't go back to work until Friday at noon at the earliest.

Course of Action:

• Influenza test results back tomorrow.


• Appointment on Friday morning for other results.


• If the Doc's can't find anything wrong I may have to go for an MRI/Catscan if the headaches don't ease up.

Bottom line:

• The Doc's don't know what's wrong with me.

At this point and time:

• I'm feeling pretty good. Headache is gone and I made supper tonight. Now feeling really tired. I'm hoping and praying the headache stays away.


• I still feel clammy/like I have a fever.


• I'm feeling a bit nauseous/upset stomach and don't know why.

Cat in a Bag

I'm working on pictures to post, but in the mean time, enjoy this video of Cullen. :)