A Rough Week

This week was not nearly as good as the previous week.

Let's look at the goals and compare.

Week Ending January 14, 2018

• visit the gym at least twice (no visits)
• participate in at least one group class at the gym (no visits)
• visit the ROM at least once - COMPLETED
• work out at least three times (none)
• get steps goals at least three times of 5K or more (only once)
• go to work all five days (missed Friday)
• complete SBK up to June 2016 (no)
• complete HSKBK May 2017 (no)
• put 5% of received pays into my savings account (gross) (no pays this week)
• practice Spanish every day - COMPLETED
• pick up a new phone (delaying)
• cut out gluten (mostly)
• make a smoothie for breakfast at least two times this week (no)

I was having such a tough time this week with pain that I didn't want to push it so I didn't go to the gym and didn't do any workouts. I am upset about this, but I know forcing myself would have only made my body worse.

I only went over 5,000 steps one day, and that was the day I visited the ROM. However, I did get very close on 4 other occasions (4,968, 4,883, and 4,617) so I don't feel too horrible about this when taking into account my pain levels. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were almost complete washes however during the highest levels of pain those days. Saturday I spent pretty much the entire day in bed.

I did get a new Fitbit badge though! Not too shabby having only received the Fitbit on Christmas day!

I ended up missing work Friday due to the pain levels. I am hoping my body is slowly getting used to working regularly again and will actually be able to make it through an entire 5 day work week this week.

I visited the ROM on Tuesday and chose the Wildlife Photographer of the Year as my first exhibit to visit. I really enjoyed it. I was happy to have at least one wolf picture in the exhibit and even picked up a postcard as a memento.

I have decided to delay my phone pickup for the time being until I see how my health hopefully stabilizes. No need for a new phone if I end up losing my job due to illness.

The gluten I did cut out, but then my loving husband made dinner one night and completely forgot and made something with gluten in it, and I had no idea until it was too late. Poor guy felt so horrible when we figured it out. Oh well, at least he will remember next time!

I have been enjoying learning Spanish with Duolingo. The program says I am 15% fluent now, but I highly doubt that. But I do know how to say the cat eats ducks in Spanish...although I have no idea why I would ever need to say that!

Let's hope for a better week next week, although it's not looking good at this point as the pain levels are still incredibly high... I am going to reduce them a bit for the coming week.

Week Ending January 21, 2018

• visit the gym at least once
• participate in at least one group class at the gym
• visit the ROM at least once
• work out at least three twice
• get steps goals at least three times (5K or more)
• go to work all five days
• complete SBK up to June 2016
• complete HSKBK May 2017
• put 5% of received pays into my savings account (gross)
• practice Spanish every day
• cut out gluten
• make a smoothie for breakfast at least two times this week
• study at lunch at least twice this week

I think that's it for this week! Hopefully much better results next check in!

Endometriosis

On Monday, March 30th, 2015, I felt my world start to crumble around me a little more.

After going through multiple different tests, and seeing multiple doctors and specialists, a new, tentative diagnosis was proclaimed.

My current specialist, who also happens to be a fertility specialist, diagnosed me with endometriosis based on medical history and current symptoms. Although it hasn't been confirmed by laparoscopy, she believes it is the most likely culprit of all my years of pain and suffering. In a way I guess it makes sense, but I also tried to find ways to fight against the diagnosis.

Why had it not been seen in any of my previous surgeries in 2010? Apparently it can be missed...especially if you only have a small patch that is bothering you. But it can spread, which is why it might be worse now.

I am still holding on to the hope that they are wrong. That once they do this MRI I am waiting for that they will find something else. Something they can fix. Endometriosis can't really be fixed. There is no cure. There are treatments, but they are not fun.

Take for example my current treatment plan.

I am currently on monthly Lupron injections to reduce the amount of estrogen my body produces since that is what angers the endometriosis tissue in my body. This basically places me in a chemically induced menopause. Nice right? I get add back hormone therapy with Estrace and Mirconor to help combat the nasty side effects like hot flashes, mood swings and bone density loss.

It takes 2-3 weeks for the good effects to kick in, but oh have I already been introduced to the bad side effects!

I am having trouble sleeping...a lot of trouble sleeping. I am hot, cranky, and of course I am just thinking about all sorts of non-wonderful things so that doesn't help either. Add to that this weird burning achy pain I am having in my upper right leg and the hot flashes and you can kind of imagine maybe what it is like. Last night I tired having some Sweet Dreams tea together with an Advil to relieve the leg pain a bit before bed. It worked a little. I was able to fall asleep at least, but I did keep waking up intermittently throughout the night.

I have also noticed the mood swings. I snap much more easily now, which is never good. And of course, the pain hasn't changed yet because it's only been a week. I am trying to be strong and give it a chance, but I am really miserable right now. It's very hard to focus at work, and of course this is our busy season.

Hopefully I get an appointment for my MRI soon and they either find something that they can treat, or at least the endometriosis shows up enough to make them want to go in and excise this. Because this right now is insanity...

Seeking A Diagnosis

This might get long...I might break it up into two posts...

It's been almost two months since my last post. Since then not much has really been accomplished.

The specialist I was seeing at the time has greatly annoyed me, and I doubt I will be seeing him ever again.

The first time I saw him he seemed honestly concerned and I really liked that about him. He ordered a fresh ultrasound and I went for that right away.

A week later I went back to discuss the results of the ultrasound. There was a 8-9 cm cyst on my right ovary. Oddly most of my pain had been on the left side. We therefore agree that the pain is most likely not a result of the cyst. He prescribes me a low estrogen hormone birth control pill. Lolo, to hopefully help shrink the cyst and make my menstruation cycles more manageable. However, he decides we should monitor the cyst for two months to see what it does and go from there.

Say what? Again I say...we agree the pain is most likely not from the cyst. So why is it we decided to do nothing at all and just monitor the cyst and pretty much halt all other tests until then? I wasn't very happy about that, but I was in pain, pretty high on pain killers, and I agreed and left the office.

I went back a week later and begged for something more. The pain wasn't getting any better, in fact it was worse. The Naproxen wasn't doing anything at all and I couldn't function at work on Tylenol 3s and Percocets. He decides I should now take Toradol and take it 3 times a day whether I am in pain or not to keep it in my system. He then sends me for a CA 125 blood test. As I am leaving he tells me if the pain is still bad or anything else comes up I can call him and come back any time.

A few days later I am still in agony and things are worse. I am pretty sure I am having a bad reaction to the Toradol. I call his office to speak to him and find out my CA 125 came back and it was clear. Well this is fabulous news at least! Then I go on to say I am still in pain and that things are worse. He tells me that there is nothing else he can do for me until the second ultrasound is done. I am floored. This is very different from how I expected him to respond. I tell him I am having issues with breathing and cheat pains, most likely from the pain killers HE PRESCRIBE ME and he then tells me it's not his issue and I should call my family doctor. I am flabbergasted. I call my family doctor and she tells me to come in.

The family doctor immediately takes me off the Toradol (thank goodness) and gives me a prescription for Tylenol 3. I ask about any kind of middle pain killer that works but still allows me to function at work, but she can't think of any. We agree that specialist #1 as I now refer to him as is not a good fit for me and she personally refers me to her specialist of choice, a woman who works in the same building. I am relieved. I prefer a female anyhow.

The next day I get a call from specialist #2. She can see me the middle of May.

MAY??? That's almost 3 months away at this point! Are you kidding me? I politely ask to be placed on a cancellation list, hang up, and ball my eyes out.

The next day I am talking to a client of mine and she tells me about her specialist and how much she loves her. She speaks to her on my behalf and the specialist gives my client the name of a walk in clinic who has a doctor on staff that will refer me directly to her. I can't believe my good luck. I visit the walk in clinic the next day and just as easy as that he gives me the referral. I fax it to the specialist and she calls me the next day to book an appointment with her the very next week! Hold crap I cannot believe my luck!

The day of my appointment I am nervous and trying not to get my hopes up. The wait is long. I am sitting in the waiting room more than an hour past my scheduled appointment time. I am disappointed. Specialist #3 finally comes into the room and immediately apologizes for the delay but says she wanted to make sure she read my entire file history before she talked with me, and it was a large file. I am too shocked to say anything. I can't believe she took the time to be honest. Specialist #1 was actually reading every report for the first time as he sat in front of me, and was obviously very disorganized. She immediately takes me off some more medications she doesn't feel I need, and might actually be doing more damage then good (metformin) but also wants me to stop taking the harder pain killers and swap to stacking over the counter Advil and Tylenol. We talk about the possibilities of endometriosis and the treatment for this (more on this in my next post). She immediately tells me she is going to schedule me for a pelvic MRI (FINALLY!!!) and review my new ultrasound reports when they come in (I had just had the new updated one done that morning for Specialist #1). I will be going back next week to review the results of the ultrasound to see if (a) the cyst shrank and (b) if anything new is presenting itself. She also wants me to have a PAP because I have been so worried about abnormal pain etc. for so long that I haven't taken care of the "normal" procedures for quite some time.

Hopefully I will have some more news after next week's appointment. I also have another related post about the whole endometriosis and treatment subject.

So far, so (mostly) fabulous with specialist #3!