Medical Update. booooooo *hiss* yaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

So, I had an appointment with the nurse practitioner at the gastroenterology clinic recently. the morning that Molly got assaulted.    She had previously ordered some blood work...regular stuff...metabolic profile, complete blood count, lipid profile, and a vitamin d test.

White blood cell counts were below normal.  They generally are and have been for a few years.  It kinda concerns me since my T-cell counts were so high, but none of the tests I had done less than a year ago turned up anything.  So I won't worry too much about it.

Vitamin D though?  Yeah, Gone like N*Sync.

I was all crunk that I had gotten down to only a few pills a day.  Now, I'm back on my probiotics, taking at least 1200mg of Calcium a day, and taking 50,000 IU of vitamin D a week for 12 weeks.   Oh well, I'll never complain about being proactive with my health...well, I will, but I won't really mean it.

I also asked why the manometry was scheduled after my CT scan.  The notes mentioned a distended esophagus.  *cries*  This coupled with the notes from my last barium xray about my LES spasming causing delayed emptying of contents from my esophagus into my stomach really really really makes me uncomfortable.   My diagnosis is still non-specific esophageal motility disorder or esophageal dyskinesia...meaning I don't yet fit into any of the known primary motility disorder categories such diffuse esophageal spasm, nutcracker esophagus,  or achalasia nor do I have condition that is causing esophageal problems.    


I'm okay as long as I know that I don't have to suffer in pain because my condition doesn't have a name and because I don't fit into some neat disease box.   


Having a medical team that truly supports you and wants you to get better is the best feeling in the world.  

It's Not a Tumor

A few days ago, the Nurse Prac called me at 6pm to let me know the results of the CT scan I had a week and a half ago.  (yes, she really called me after hours.)

There was no thymoma (tumor on the thymus), but something abnormal was found going on with my esophagus (lol duh) so I'm being sent to have a esophageal motility test...also called a manometry.  I had one of these 2 years ago, and I will say that it is pretty painless, but very uncomfortable.

They stick this long catheter tube down your nose into your stomach.  The one I had done before consisted of 10 wet swallows...I ended up having to do way more because the tech said that I kept swallowing when I shouldn't have.   I wasn't swallowing on purpose...the spasms were causing the tube to jerk...even almost ripping the tape holding it in place off my nose...it was quite involuntary.

Anyway, I had only one normal swallow.

I'm wondering if maybe my esophagus was dilated or tapered at the end, suggesting achalasia.  She seemed to be choosing her words very carefully when she called me...probably as to not scare me...but she never said exactly what was seen on the scan...

My swallowing has gotten worse...I didn't think it was possible...and I just got dilated less than two weeks ago.  I actually had a piece of chicken almost come out of my nose...and while trying to take a pill two nights ago, my throat seized up and wouldnt let anything down and the water and pill got propelled out of my mouth onto my bed.  *sigh*

So I have a manometry one week and the colonoscopy the next.  yay...or not.

So I'm going to act like I've been blogging this whole time

As much as I have to say on a daily basis, I can't seem to put it here.  

I'm trying to remember what all has happened.   A doctor divorced me, and I remarried the same day.    I quit my ADDerall...and I accidentally spilled some oil in the gulf.   One of those things miiiiiiiight not be true.   I mean, I was never married to a doctor.

So, Dr. James Patrick Herrington, gastroenterologist in Lafayette, Louisiana @ Acadiana Gastroenterology Associates, had the audacity to have his nurse call me to say I needed to find another doctor because they weren't in the business of referring patients.    

What lead to this, you might ask...well, after a while, a person living with a chronic, painful and at times, debilitating, disorder gets pretty damn irritated when they aren't being giving the highest level of care available.    This man had been seeing me since Spring of 2009, and has yet to treat me for my condition...he actually refused treatment several times.

This same man called me last summer and told me that there was nothing he could do for me.  Later, he told me that maybe my condition would go away.   Now, someone please tell me why this moron would be opposed to referring me to another specialist?   His small brained nurse said that he didn't understand why I would want to see a neurologist (keep in mind, this mystery condition of mine is usually caused by some type of nerve damage or degeneration).  

The bitch was getting on my nerves on the phone, so I hung up in her face after I asked why he couldn't at least send me to another gastroenterologist that could actually do their job.

I was highly upset, but ended up getting an appointment at another clinic right later that day.    That appointment went beautifully, as I expected it would.   I had talked to two people at my job who also go there.   The doctor was out, and I met with the nurse practitioner, and she was a doll.   She took all the copies of my records that I brought.   She actually went through that damn symptom history sheet that a lot of places make you fill out.    The visit was over an hour long, and by the end of it, she was excited by my case because it was mysterious and intriguing.  She assured me that the doctor would be too since he likes those types of things.  

I'm scheduled for another upper endoscopy (yay :-/) in which I will be totally sedated with Propofol this time. I hope Conrad Murray is off that day.  *rimshot*

*crickets*

I'm hopeful at this point.   Maybe one day soon, I'll be able to swallow and have food go into my stomach without being in pain or choking...or needing to force it down with water that ends up choking me too...or hell, without it playing red light, green light on it's way down.    oooh....or maybe I'll stop waking up coughing or maybe this constant gurgling and pressure will go away.

Or shit, maybe I'll have someone that will at least TRY to treat my symptoms instead of putting me on expensive meds that do not work at all.

So fuck you James Herrington and your shitty practice.   May your esophagus stop functioning and cause you years of pain and sadness.    woooo saaaahhh

In other news, I stopped taking my adderall.  When?   I have no idea...that's kinda a result of not taking it anymore lol...

So needless to say, I've been wide ass open at work for the past week or two.    YAY!  
Adderall worked wonderfully and I miss it, but until all this other stuff going on with me is figured out, I'm going to say au revoir to it.

I love how people think I was so quiet because I was taking it.   I'm usually quiet because I'm disgusted by the ignorance that surrounds me.  

And speaking of ignorance, straightening my hair tends to bring a lot of it.  

I don't give two shits about how much you like my hair when it's straight.   You think I should keep it that way?  That's nice.  How about you go play in traffic.  

I'm going to start going up to people and tell them I like/would like something about them if it was the exact opposite of how it naturally is.

"Hey, Mary,  I wish you were skinny instead of fat."

"Linda, girl, I like it better when your skin is paler in the winter."

ugh.

I hate people more and more everyday.