Mystery Diagnosis

I'm sure you are probably thinking I am going to write a blog post on the CoVID-19 virus but nope. I think people have heard enough about that to last a lifetime. This time, its about my recent trip to the Urgent Care facility.

I woke up yesterday morning with pain in my right side that was getting stronger by the hour. It didn't matter if I sat, stood up, walked or laid down. It had no affect on the pain. Now to give as specific as a pain comparison as I could, it felt like when I would run in high school and you get the stitch in your side. It wasn't constant but in waves. So I would have moments of reprieve.

So thinking I wanted to rule out things like appendicitis, I thought I would head to the Urgent Care over the Emergency Room. Not only to keep the wait time down, but to prevent me from having to be around so many sick people too. Thankfully, there was only one person waiting so I knew it wasn't going to be a long wait.

So when I was finally seen, the pain was on a scale of 5-6 if I wanted to be reasonable. I didn't really want to try and take something without knowing what is going on. The doctor asked all the usual questions, but when he pressed on the area that was sore, it almost put me through the roof. So he agreed that we should rule out appendicitis. So he said he was going to send me out for a CT Scan and run an IV just in case. So after all the usual paper work being faxed over and approvals, I was off to get a CT Scan with contrast complete.

To sum up long waiting times and getting through all the testings, lets just fast forward to the end result. No appendicitis, which was a relief, but it could be kidney stones, or the large stone I have in my gall bladder. Since the pain from the gall bladder didn't match up with what I was experiencing, he didn't think that was the case. So he said to give it a couple of days and see if perhaps I didn't move the right way, or caused something to pull when it shouldn't have and if it gets worse of course come back.

They weren't even going to prescribe anything for the pain, and wanted me to take Tylenol or Advil and rest. I kindly smiled and said if that were the case, I wouldn't have come into the office today. So he agreed to Tylenol 3. I was so happy to leave, I didn't really consider the pain level I would have to deal with later, that taking a Tylenol 3 wouldn't even touch. They did offer to give me Toredol in my IV before they took that out. However hours later, it didn't do anything.

The most interesting thing was looking at my discharge paperwork to see what they thought was wrong. I found 6 sheets of instructions for kidney stones, gallstones and stomach pains. Then I thought, did they seriously expect me to manage my pain level based on over the counter meds for any of those, with the exception of stomach pains?

I hate being the mystery diagnosis. The one they know there is something up, but they don't know why. That has been something I have dealt with my whole life. The one where all signs don't point to the same thing and instead remains a mystery. So while last night's sleep eluded me, and today I am barely functioning based on being so tired, I am just hoping to get a good nights sleep.

Do you ever face these issues or am I that unusual? Share your story with me today.

Back in the Saddle Again

Hard to believe that Christmas is gone and the New Year has already begun. Have you made an predictions of what you hope 2015 will bring yet?

I know, I am right there with you.

In fact, I took some time off from everything during the last two weeks of 2014 and just enjoyed the time I had with my husband.

But like all good plans it doesn't always work out like you had planned.

We knew we had a lot on our family calendar besides just celebrating Christmas, with two family Christmas's we were celebrating afterwards on the 27th and the 3rd of January. I was more than thankful my hubby was off and not traveling.

Turns out what I thought was a pretty severe UTI turned out to be a Kidney Stone. I found this out, three Urgent Care visits in about 3 weeks when all the antibiotics failed to work. It's funny how you can't get a doctor's appointment within 2 weeks any longer and our medical group had changed its hours so I couldn't even be seen by my own medical care group.

The last thing I wanted to do was to go to the ER, because here in the High Desert, that is almost your last option. It will be at least a 4-6 hour wait and all that will happen is they will do what they can to stabilize you and get you out the door until you can be seen by your own doctor.

So for the duration of the Christmas break I bought the bullet and suffered through it all. I was lucky to get in for a CT scan which verified the kidney stone about 6-7mm in my right kidney junction. Now all I had to do was pass it. Easier said than done.

After dealing with the pain of thinking it was a UTI or bladder infection, I was more than worn thin and worn out. Top that off with the Christmas parties that still had to take place as planned and the frustration of not knowing what to do. Thankfully when I went to the final Urgent Care facility which was able to diagnose me after more than 8 hours, I was sent home, full medicated and feeling wonderful to wait to see if it would pass on its own.

I tried lemon juice in hot water, apple cider vinegar in cranberry juice, more water than is in the state of California, sleeping on the side with the stone in it, you name it. I prayed, asked others to pray for me, and then one morning I noticed that urge to go to the restroom was gone, along with the pain that accompanies that. I never had the severe pain everyone else had told me they had and just like it showed up, all my pain went away by the time I had to visit my dad on the 3rd of January. Go figure?

Any way, during all that time, I truly had no desire to Facebook, browse the internet, blog or even read any of the novels I had gotten in. I simply rested. Sat by the fire drinking hot lemon water with honey and just tried to find life again.

The saddest thing is that precious time with my husband is so rare, I feel like I missed out on just being with him. We didn't get to do anything except run ourselves ragged and before we knew it, today was upon us. For him, it means back to work, for me, back to school and blogging and book reviews while we wonder where it all went.

How about you?

How did the last two weeks of 2014 turn out for you?