I should be sleeping but it's overrated. Or that's what I tell myself.
February, the shortest month. It sure was a full month. A visit to Dr. Bryant, whom (or who? never sure on that, I should look it up...no one uses it when they speak but it's still in writing but when is it used correctly? *ponder*) is I believe a toxicologist or infectious disease specialist. I don't have an infectious disease, as far as I can tell, and I haven't been poisoned so I think I'm just continuing to see him because I interest him. Which is ok, he hasn't written me off and he knows what he's doing and he's getting me to the right people. And I can add "infectious disease specialist/toxicologist" to the list of doctors I've seen.
The ophthamologist was a fun visit. She probably knows a lot about eyes, and my eyes, it seems are healthy. I'm still angry, pissed, at her in general, for her lack of respect towards me, and her attitude in general. Cha-ching. More money towards the doctor mill. I can though, say that my eyes, perhaps not my VISION, are in general good health.
The neurologist...all in all was painless. A blood draw which is by now standard operating procedure, and another test that was....an x-ray of something? Was that it? Wow. I can't remember. The procedure, whatever it was, was at the same location as the blood test and I did them at the same time. CT scan? I don't think so. I did lay on a table. Ah well. It will come to me, or the EOB or bill will!
A visit to Seth to fill him in on what's going on and discuss meds. His visits are, 9 times out of 10, quick and easy. I think I also entertain him, or at least keep him interested medically. That visit resulted in going off most of the meds I was on. Yay! To a point....I was taking them for a reason.
Spinal tap #1 - the failure. I want to see the chart and why they couldn't complete it. Someone, Seth or Dr. Liptan, said something about I couldn't bend the right way? But they never asked me to bend, even when I asked about changing position. Anyway, that turned into the 5 day headache from hell which turned into the ER. Which was ... interesting. ER doctors DO show expression. I can't say it was a fun experience or that I want to do it again, but the people there made it an OK experience. I felt like they actually cared what was going on, and they forgave the fact that I didn't have two active brain cells to rub together. And their individual little patient cubicles really are hermetically sealed, which was great. Once they got that shot of wonder into me, I was able to relax without the noise and kafluffle from outside the room bothering me. Except for that alarm that kept going off. *L* I thought more than once that it was from another patient, and that someone, a doctor or nurse, really needed to get in there and turn it off. It had to be important if it was that loud...I could hear it through the hermetically sealed door! Nope...it was my alarm; my oxygen stats had dropped too low because my breathing was too shallow from whatever they'd given me. Heheheh...yeah. I think that happened.... three or four times? They had to have been glad when it wore off enough tat they could send me home.
Then spinal tap #2. It worked! Yay! They gave me some kind of IV sedation, I have no clue what it was. It put me out enough that I don't remember most of it, probably only about 2%. I remember the infamous, "This will sting a bit.", meaning it will sting like a mo-fo. I remember them putting the first needle in, but not it hurting..I think I actually went into the great world of sedation between when they injected the needle and when the pain sensation hit my brain. Perfect timing. I do remember them saying it was going to bump as I got wheeled in and out of the CT machine, maybe three times? Someone said that they got enough fluid as I was going back onto the gurney from the table..and I think I heard something about the fluid being clear. This may have been wishful drug-induced hearing though, as I'm fairly certain that the people/doctors who do the procedures don't give any indication, good or bad, normal or abnormal, about any findings.
Yesterday was another visit with Seth. Two weeks off the meds...I've noticed it a bit but not too badly. I think I've been too busy sleeping off the spinal taps, getting over the spinal headache/migraine/ER visit and surviving work to be able to pay attention. The concern is the migraines, and he knows my concerns about those. But...I'm going to taper off the topamax. Yes, it's scary but I understand why.
Today was Dr. Liptan. I went through all of what I just typed out, and she acknowledged that it's been a really rough, busy month. It has. I got through it, no HUGE breakdowns. I did have to cancel my ENT appointment, and I NEED to reschedule it, but only because I was in the ER that day. It matters that someone acknowledged it, that I survived the month. Yes, it matters because she's gone through some of this so she gets it, but it just matters. I've got people online who have stuff going on, and I can put some posts out there. I can talk to Linda, and a little bit to a couple people at work. It's really nice to have that little pat on the head... kind of the gold star on the forehead for surviving the month with my sanity intact.
Now I get to go to bed. Tomorrow's goal....be on work on time, call and reschedule the ENT appointment, cancel the follow up eye appointment at OHSU, get a new planner/calendar (mine has disappeared/been stolen)....
**YAWN**
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