Cleveland Clinic - Day 2

Today was another very long day.  We were at the clinic from 7:30am till 6pm.  First, I had my GI appointment, which turned out to be my most helpful appointment yet!  The doctor was very thoughtful, thorough and nice.  I really like how much time they spend with each patient here.  None of the doctors have seemed rushed at all!  Anyways, we talked for a long time and then she went out to get another GI doctor, who also talked to me for awhile.  They don't have any diagnosis yet because I still have a bunch of tests to have done, but it's very possible that there's a few different things going on, and irritable bowel syndrome might just be kicking my butt along with my "mystery illness" that is causing the fever/weight loss/fatigue/etc... but, the tests will check for everything else that they think is possible, so we'll see.

After that, I had an appointment with a spine doctor.  Why?  I have no idea.  It was just on my schedule, and he didn't seem to know why either.  It might be because at the time I faxed my symptoms to Cleveland, I was having a lot of neck pain/stiffness and back pain... but, once again, it was one of my many symptoms that came and went within a month or so.  That appointment wasn't very helpful, but we didn't expect it to be, so we weren't dissapointed.

After a much needed break out in the park on the campus, I came back in to prep for an abdominal CT scan.  My schedule said to check in at desk A 30, but when we got there it said it was the "Vascular Surgery" place!  The guy said I was in the right place, though... it was weird.  I sat in the IV room for a long time getting injected with something (probably contrast, but at that point I wasn't even paying attention...) and chugging good 'ol Barium Sulfate while watching the Sandlot... until it got to the part where the kids are on the ride at the fair and they all puke.  It almost made me puke up my Barium that I was trying to hard to keep down in the first place.  Thankfully, I found the "Contemporary Christian" station on the tv at my chair, and "Strong Enough" by Matthew West came on.  Seriously.  Every little encouraging thing that I hear/read while I'm hear makes a HUGE difference.  Then, I ate food!  That was my favorite part of the day.  The clinic has a bunch of gluten free and "allergy friendly" food in their dining area that we always buy at Wegmans!  Jackpot!  They also had plain baked sweet potatoes, so I was very happy with the food there today. 

The last thing that I had their today was my blood test.  My GI doc told me that even though there were quite a bit of things to be tested for, it should only be about 3 vials of blood.  Not true!  They took 25!!!!  The phlebotomist that I had was REALLY good though, and he was able to get my tricky vains on the 1st poke.  It took a really long time (and 2 veins) to get all of it, so we chatted for awhile.  I also got a free can of apple juice!

The days at the clinic have been super exhuasting and just really hard to get through sometimes, but they do a really good job providing things to get your mind off of medical stuff.  I've never been so thankful for random things like the crazy art and shops around the clinic.  They also have a place called the "Rooftop Pavilion," where you can eat outside on the top of one of the really big buildings.  We wandered up there yesterday (after accidentally ending up in the middle of the hospital instead).  We found out that we aren't going to be able to go home until next Thursday because I have to have another colonoscopy on Wednesday, so we'll definitely be taking advantage of all of the cool things that they have for us.  Here are some pictures from the past few days!

Part of our hotel room, and my awesome prayer quilt!

There are 50 tvs just in this "skyway!" And they're all showing the same exact thing!

The view from the Rooftop Pavillion

A really cool fountain.  It looks better in real life.

The rooftop pavillion is on top of this building.  It's only one of the many buildings!

I was really excited about the pager they gave me yesterday.

I was also really excited about the shuttle.

These signs are on every single staircase that we've seen at the clinic!  My dad actually thought there was free excercise equipment on the other side of the door and walked in...

The park where we rested for awhile, and the building where a couple of my doctors are.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  We're looking forward for some time away from doctors and tests.  Thank you SO much for the prayers and to everyone who's been sending me text messages/facebook messages/anything... it means a lot, and it really helps me get through the days here (even when I'm not able to respond right away).  Please keep praying!!!