WAITING, WAITING, WAITING

Not much to post for the moment.  I am scheduled for an Upper GI next Monday and this waiting is torture. I honestly can't remember what it feels like to not be nauseated.  I've lost 8 lbs. in the last two weeks, since I truly don't want to eat.  I've been passing a lot of time researching exactly what a hiatal hernia is and what will need to be done to fix it.  Although, at this point, I still don't know what kind I have, since there are different types:  a sliding, a paraesophageal or mixed, which means a little of both.  I'm sure I'll find out after the upper GI.  I wouldn't wish this on anyone, but at least I finally have a doctor that cares and is actually getting some place with a diagnosis.


As I have said before, if your in pain, feel sick and your doctor is ignoring your complaints or treating you poorly, find a new doctor.  No one deserves to be treated like its all in their head.  Especially, when in my case, they are now finally realizing its not.  I actually do have a medical condition that needs to be corrected.

Onto Another Week

Onto another week..hopefully getting closer to a solution:

My appointment with my family practice doctor went well last Monday.  Although my kids have gone to her in the past, I decided it was time to go and I’m glad I did.  I think in this world of “specialists,” we forget how important it is to have someone behind us, that can handle everything from a “general” perspective.   She actually offered to act as my voice…getting in touch with the surgeon and other specialists that are handling my care when I have a question or need something and I can’t get in touch with them.  She is working with my other doctors now on pain management and coming up with a better solution to make me a little more comfortable in the mean time, until they figure out what is going on.  She’s actually on my side..it feels like I’m not quite alone anymore. If you’re not seeing a family practice doctor, I recommend it. 

She ordered a ton of blood work, which I had done Monday afternoon.  My surgeon’s office requested for her office to order a list of stuff, that unfortunately had not been checked in a couple of years.  When you have bariatric surgery, they are supposed to check everything from vitamin levels in the blood, for anemia, etc.  Plus she added a few extra tests, like for my thyroid and to check me for celiac disease.  The results aren’t back yet, as of this morning, but I’m not truly surprised….they took over 12 vials of blood and actually had me drink orange juice before I was allowed to leave.

My appointment with my gynecologist went okay too.  At least she didn’t yell at me J.   With everything going on, I had put off seeing her, getting a mammogram and a pap smear.  And yes, I know it’s important, but I can only handle so much.  She’s convinced the cyst that was showing up on my other tests is completely normal for my age and nothing to worry about.  I do have to go have a pelvic ultrasound done, which I’ll schedule for sometime this coming week, but it’s just her way of being thorough for the surgeon, since he was the one that insisted I go see her.  As for the pap and mam, I have to go back in December to see her and she’ll get me caught back up then for my yearly visit.

The EGD was Friday and unfortunately, I’m still sore from it:  sore throat and my jaw actually hurts, where its turning black and blue, since he must have had a hard time getting the tube down my throat…ugh.  I saw the surgeon before the test, but not afterward…he did talk to my husband though, while I was in recovery.  He said I have a very large hiatal hernia, which will definitely have to be taken care of surgically.  He isn’t quite sure why it was ignored by my old doctor, but it is big enough to be causing a good amount of my problems.  But, as usual, he isn’t done with tests yet.  He told my husband he wants to schedule me for a lower gi now, so that is to come. He needs to be sure he fixes everything within one surgery, since I have such a high rate of adhesions. So tests, tests and more tests, but at least he found something.

October Doctor Appointment and Current Symptoms

It’s now October of 2011:

          Current list of symptoms I am dealing with:

Abdominal pain/spasm (constant, but worse after eating, and when severe, gets hot to touch).

Back/Shoulder pain (when abdominal pain is at its worst).

Nausea (constant with occasional vomiting, with green bile and no food, OR undigested food).

Feel Full/Bloating during meals/ OR Feels like the food gets Stuck —occasionally, feels like I will get sick if I eat another bite.

Blood sugar levels too low or too high, occasional (causes the headache, dizziness, lightheadedness, shakiness, sweating).

Fever…usually around 99.

Heartburn—very occasionally.

Metallic taste in mouth OR sour taste—constant.

Hiccups—occasionally.

Muscle cramps in legs and feet, occasionally, mostly nights.

Chest Cramps- occasionally..feels like a spasm in my middle chest.

Insomnia---constant (when I lay down, it feels like my heart will pound right out of my chest).

Alternating constipation and diarrhea—constant.

Plus, I still have the hernia.

                                     

This Week:  I am scheduled for another EGD with a biopsy.

My new surgeon will be performing this test/surgery. According to the surgeon’s PA (Physician’s Assistant), the last EGD results from June, preformed by the Resident, showed I had Intestinal Metaplasia.  Neither the resident or my old surgeon explained any of this to me, so I will admit I got scared until I talked to my nurse friend, whom explained it to me.  So the new doctor needs to confirm and treat it, if possible, before this gets worse.

This Week:  I see my family practice doctor.

She is going to do a complete blood panel and will now be working with my new surgeon to figure out what is happening to me.  The blood panel needs to be completed, since the PA also explained that neither my old surgeon, nor any of the residents had done a complete blood panel on me since 2009 and that if I am deficient in any vitamins, have mal-absorption or anemia, it could be contributing to my other symptoms.)

This Week:  I have to see my OB/GYN as well.

          Although they do not believe any of this is related, one of the

Resident’s CT Scans, showed I have a cyst on my ovary, which no one bothered to tell me about either, needless to say it needs to be checked out.