Since the last time I posted, I have had a few appointments with my internal medicine doctor (She had basically been seeing me once a week---but is now waiting a month to check my blood levels again, so I don't go back until the 7th of June). Pretty much same for the pain specialist, I was seeing him every other week, now its a month, and I'll see him again on the 11th of June.
The EGD on the 1st was pretty uneventful, except for my having a fever of 99.9 and they almost canceled it, but he decided to go ahead and do it anyways.. All it showed was a lot of inflammation, which as of yet, they still don't know what is causing it. The biopsy came back normal. My IM doc, the Gastro Doc and the surgeon all sat down together and had a pow wow meeting about my case, but have definitely decided I am not a candidate to have the bariatric surgery reversed. At this point, they believe all of the abdominal pain that I have is being caused by nerves and muscles which have been damaged from all of the other surgeries. Unfortunately, this is not repairable and something I am most likely going to have to live with.
One additional thing has appeared, that they are not sure if its related or just got infected because of my immune system being so messed up, but I developed an abscess on the back of my thigh. Its amazing that cutting yourself shaving can cause such a problem. I (of course), thought I could take care of this myself, it was just a big zit, basically, right? Wrong? I took a needle and opened it, blood and pus came out and I threw a band-aid on it. But within a week, this thing turned into this huge, over a half-dollar size sore, that hurt like hell, looked like a big blood blister and wouldn't go away. She ended up having to put me on 2 different anti-biotics, cut it open, clean it out and I am stuck with it draining and putting on anti-biotic ointment for the next 2 weeks. Think I might stop shaving back there, if there's hair there, oh well. I won't let this happen again. Ugh!
Right now the biggest concerns are still the edema, first and foremost. I had a doppler done on my legs which showed no clots, but because the edema is so severe, I am at a very high risk of developing one.
This picture is after they've been raised a while, they are even worse if I try walking for a while, they swell almost all the way up to my knees and I can barely walk. Usually you can see the veins and some of bones in my feet, I can't wear any of my shoes, only my husband's slippers. Even my toes are swollen :(
She put me on 20mg of lasix and has now increased that to 40 mg. They reduced my Neurontin medicine to only 2 times a day, instead of 3, because it can add to the edema, but it increases the pain in my abdomen. Currently, I am supposed to either be in a lying down position, such as in bed, with my feet elevated above my heart or if I have to be up and about, my feet and calves have to be in braces or wrapped to keep the swelling down. Its painful and not much fun. She is keeping an eye on my kidneys, since they are not functioning at a very high level, but they think its because of all of the medications, but its their 2nd highest concern. Basically, because the pain in my abdomen is being managed with pain meds at this point, its been put on a back burner until they solve the edema problem. They are also keeping a very close eye on all of my vitamin levels, since it appears my body is not retaining any of them, especially the most important vitamin D. So, right now, between pain meds, nerve and muscle relaxers, and vitamins, I'm taking around 25 different pills a day. I still can't drive, since most of these medicines leave me sleepy, dizzy, or light headed. I can't focus or concentrate, which makes doing stuff like writing this blog or doing my MBA homework hard and I'm having to time it so that its done during the least amount of side effect times. And let me explain, when your taking Percocet every 4 hours and morphine at night, along with Neurontin in the morning and at night, plus muscles relaxers ever 4-6 hours, and Cymbalta at night, it doesn't leave many times during the day to not be fuzzy headed.
Oh, plus I started the battle with Social Security Disability. Not sure if I'm going to qualify and get approved or not, but filled out all the paperwork (took 4 hours) and I know my one doctor filled out his portion already. Cross your fingers for me, with only my husband working and me with no income, its been really, really tough. We need this bad, especially if it turns out I'll never be able to work again.
Well, that's about it for now. Once they figure out more I will let you know.
