- The medicine that the urologist gave me back in the summer helps a lot with the bladder pain and discomfort! That means that the bladder issue is most likely Interstitial Cystitis, and it has nothing to do with anything else that's going on. That's okay though, because we found something that can make it feel better, and I only have to take the meds when it's acting up, AND they don't have any side effects... besides making my pee blue, which is pretty cool.
- In August, I saw a neurologist for the first time. They decided to try using the same treatment that they use for patients with fibromyalgia. The medicine that is used by a lot of neurologists for that is Cymbalta, which is actually an antidepressant. It helps with the pain and other neurological symptoms that the patients have. I've been on a very low dose of it since, and physically, it has done nothing except make me constipated for 10 days straight. However, the doctors think it might be helping me deal with the depression that being sick all of the time causes. I'm not so sure.
- I went back to the neurologist in October, who decided it's definitely not fibromyalgia or anything like that, and the nurse practitioner decided I needed to go right to my oncologist. We thought she meant in a week or so, but the next thing we knew we were getting sent right over to Hematology Oncology Associates, where I had been the year before.
- When my oncologist saw me for the first time in a year and a half, he was very concerned that I was still sick. He had figured I had gotten better because he hadn't heard anything. He ordered a PET scan, but insurance wouldn't cover it, so we had to do a chest x-ray first to "prove" that it wasn't enough to diagnose or rule out anything. The doctor also had me record my temperature 3 times a day for three weeks. I also had to take it whenever I felt like I had a fever. It was SUPER stressful, because it made me think about my fever all of the time. It turned out to be worth it though, because he was shocked at how often I get fevers over 100. He liked my chart so much, that he took a copy of it just to use for insurance purposes.
- Then, my oncologist ordered a CT scan, because insurance still wouldn't cover a PET scan. His main reasoning was to look for any giant lymph nodes, but he also just wanted to see everything in general. That was on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
- On Thanksgiving (before we had the results from the CT scan), I woke up feeling really sick to my stomach. But, well, I figured it was just my body being weird like always, so I still went to the Thanksgiving run that my team from high school does each year, just so I could say hi. The pain was getting REALLY bad when I was there, so I booked it back home, where I exploded and passed out a few times (and hit my head/face on the side of the bathtub a few too many times)... and did that throughout the day. At one point my mom said "Is it a cyst again?" and I said "No, my OB/GYN says I can't get those anymore!" Well...
- We got the CT results a few days later, which showed an ovarian cyst. My OB/GYN had put me on birth control a few years ago to stop those, and then whenever I told him that I thought I was still getting them, he told me that I couldn't because of the birth control. He has been kindly informed that he was wrong.
- The CT scan also showed a thyroid nodule. Thyroid nodules can be anything from harmless cysts to malignant tumors. The nurses at hematology/oncology are scheduling an ultra sound so that we can find out if it's fluid or solid, and then I'll be seeing my oncologist again that same day.
- My oncologist also sent me to an orthopedic to look at the dino egg on the back of my leg, because although it was originally diagnosed as a cyst by an orthopedic, it is clearly not a cyst.
- The nurse practitioner at the orthopedic place figured that we might as well stab it with a needle to see if any fluid comes out, because then it would be a cyst. She did, and it was solid... and it HURT. Then, I had an MRI of my leg.
- I went back today to go over the MRI results. It didn't show any mass, so it's most likely a herniated muscle, BUT... it did show some abnormal colors or whatever MRIs show, but then they realized that she had stabbed me with a needle right before, so they don't know if that's what the abnormal "stuff" is from. So... I have to go back for another MRI sometime soon.
- The orthopedic is making me wear a brace on my wrist, because she thinks I have triangular fibrocartilage complex issues. That has nothing to do with anything else.
I think that's it! I also finished another semester, and I only have one more left until graduation! Things have been really tough, because having a fever all of the time makes everything difficult. It's so frustrating to feel like I'm not fully present all of the time, because a lot of the time I feel like I'm in a little fever daze or something. The fatigue is crazy, but God keeps giving me the strength that I need each day, and I'm still learning how to take one day at a time and not worry about the rest. My family and I still need your prayers. We're hoping for a diagnosis and HEALING very soon. I will be posting much more frequently again for now. :) Thank you SO much to everyone who's been praying and encouraging me!!!!!!!!
