I’m an unhealthy SOB

Ok, that’s just a phrase.  My mom is the complete opposite of that word.  But this isn’t about her.  Well, maybe it is because she always worries about my health so much and of course I have always given her reason to worry.  But the reason I would say this has anything to do with her is because I don’t want her to worry about me.  Which is futile because she will anyway and I get it because I feel the same about my kids as well.

I have never really been the picture of health.  Forget about HIPPA.  I’ll give my whole background to get to where I am today.  So in case I become incapacitated and have no family to give the details, just refer health care people to this blog that will endure time and be saved on the interwebs for eternity.

The first major health issue I had was my appendix when I was a senior in high school.  I still have the scar since it was the days of gutting you to get it out.  The scar is about six inches lower than it was when I was that skinny little shit back in high school.  I won’t go into details about the night it happened because that is a detailed blog for another time.  I will at least mention that if you have never crawled on the floor and finally started calling out for your mom and your dad who normally slept through anything answers “What do you want?!” you may not be able to relate.

As I begin to write this I realize that every health issue I’ve had included funny stories to go along with it.  So as I go back and recall each event I can at least look back and find the positive in each issue even if it’s only to laugh at myself.

ADD is something I will have to add to the list because now I realize that in order to keep this from being too long and never getting to the point of my current health issues that I will indeed need to have a different blog for each funny health occurrence.  So I will just make a list of the life of stupid health stuff and have a different future blog for each of them.

THE LIST…

• Appendix
• Hemorrhoids
• Ulcer
• High Blood Pressure
• Pneumonia
• Anal Fissure
• Diabetis
• Enlarged Prostate
• Broken Ribs
• A.D.D.
• Sleep Apnea
• Broken Thumb
• Heart Attack
• Unknown (Yet to be determined)

I’m so slow at doing blogs I don’t know that I’ll be able to get to all of those as it wears me out just thinking about the 14 different blogs that would entail.  I guess only 13 because this one is all about the unknown issues I’m currently dealing with.

THE CURRENT STUFF…

A few months ago I wasn’t feeling well.  It started during the time that things were changing at work so I assumed it was just stress.  I was tired all the time no matter how much or how little sleep I got.  I felt foggy like I was on cold medicine all the time and my usual excellent memory wasn’t so good.  I was nauseated all the time.

The change in ownership meant a change in insurance which created an issue for my blood sugar meds.  So because of that and the stress I didn’t think about the health stuff that was going on.  Except, then after a routine blood test before Thanksgiving the doctor didn’t call or e-mail the results for several days.  That was unusual so I called and left a voicemail and an e-mail.  They followed up saying my numbers were off and they wanted me to come see the doctor about the results.  Since I knew that blood sugar was going to be off because I went a few days without my meds and then was being switched to a different med.  So I assumed that they just wanted another office visit and I knew exactly what the recommendation would be etc…   Things were busy so I put off calling them back for a few days until I got their next voicemail that said they really wanted me to come in because my white blood cell count was high.  Well that’s different.

By now my symptoms had expanded to a cough in the night, bruising on my body like an old man, red spots on my skin etc…  My doctor is actually a PA that I have been seeing for over 20 years.  I haven’t seen a regular doctor except during my hospital visits during that time.  So after giving me antibiotics thinking that I just had an infection even though I didn’t have any thing such as a cold or sore throat, Trina talked me into going to see a doctor at Urgent Care that someone recommended.  That doctor wanted me to get more tests right away and see doctor she wanted to refer me to.

The new doctor was awesome.  He listened and took time to talk about a lot of things and possibilities.  He didn’t over react but he took all the potential diagnosis seriously including leukemia.  We did another set of tests so this was the third round of testing and my PSA had continued to rise so that was something he wanted to address with a urological specialist and setup a referral for that.  He wanted to address the high blood sugar by trying insulin because he felt that the way it has fluctuated was harder on my body and that as you get older it might be more difficult to continue to fight a losing battle of avoiding the insulin.

So to refresh, there are three things we’re looking at.  1: The weird stuff with the bruising and fatigue etc..  2: The blood sugars.  3: The high PSA levels and prostate issues.

1:  This weird stuff is still a mystery.  My white blood count went up again but then went down and a specialist looked at the blood work and didn’t think it appeared to be leukemia.  They said something about multiple cell lines they were going to monitor. Some of the symptoms started to lessen but then they have come back again.  It looks like Trina is abusing me with my bright purple bruises I have this week.  She actually might be in my sleep!  The most frustrating thing is being tired all the time and the foggy memory.  That resulted in me screwing something up at work because I forgot to do something.  I would have bet my live I had done but sure enough I did not.  It was a moment like in Golden Pond.  I’ve been like Norman Thayer unable to find my way back to the cabin.

2:  The insulin is improving my blood sugar but it’s slow going.  I keep increasing my dose each night until we can get it in the proper range.  We haven’t made it there yet but the doctor assures me that we will.

3:  The prostate stuff.  This has been fun.  I was referred to a specialist in December .  Trina knew someone who said it was a good referral because the guy was good but didn’t have the best bedside manner.  So I looked him up and found it funny that like all doctors I’ve looked up, people give five stars or one star.  One said that he misdiagnosed her urinary problem and she was going to attend her follow up appointment to tell him to retire.  I take those reviews with a grain of salt.  Over Christmas I never got the call from the specialist to make the appointment.  On January 2nd I had my follow up with my doctor and mentioned it.  They said to try and call the doctor and if I didn’t have any luck to follow up with them.    When I got a hold of the specialist office they informed me that he was retiring in two weeks and basically said thanks for calling I have to finish my resume because my boss is quitting and I really aren’t concerned about your prostate.  I might be embellishing that.  I call back to my doctor and they had no idea he was retiring and said they would setup a different referral.  I finally got a call from someone with the new specialist who said they would be able to schedule me for his next open appointment which would be March 19th at 2:15 p.m.  That was basically 11 weeks away.  I said ex squeeze me?  Ok, I guess but they were kinda hoping he could check me for prostate cancer.  Her silence on the other end appeared to show that she was unmoved by my comment.  I said ok I’ll take the appointment and then get back with my doctor.   So I already have my follow up with my doctor on February 2nd so he said we would see how I was doing at that time and perhaps we run some more blood work to see if anything has changed.

So that’s where I am today.  Now I’m kind of giddy, laughing at the 13 other blogs that I need to write to go over all the show prep my health has provided over the years….

Stay tuned.