Originally, I was going to go on one of my opinionated rants (which, being me, my opinions are pretty strong so they could get pretty lengthy) about television--especially commercials. The thought occurred to me last night when I was writing about the family Easter I missed on Sunday, but a different and more fitting thought struck me as I found myself pouring a bowl of cereal for dinner and taking my medications earlier than usual about a half hour ago because I feel like hell. And as I opened my blog page, I noticed a pattern.
I finally reached my newest specialist yesterday after reaching his technician last week and finding out that yes, my test results were in, a copy would be mailed to me because my fax machine isn't working, and yes, he would call me the following day. As of Saturday, I received neither. I only half expected a call considering she did mention he was called to the hospital to take care of a patient. When I spoke to his tech yesterday, she assured me that I would hear back from him with "mostly good news," but he just hadn't had the chance to review all of the results then mail me a copy. With 14 vials drawn, I'd imagine it would take awhile to read through it all. I know he ran dozens of body chemistry tests including basic panels (cbc, diff, sed rate, liver, kidney), but he also ran any and all tick born diseases because of the area I live in and the sharp increase of the diseases in the past few years. Being someone who has had 7 or 8 confirmed cases of Lyme Disease, it was a good place to start even if I am obsessed with the best bug spray there is when I'm doing anything other than walking out to my car and back. The good news? All of those tests came back negative. The Lyme panels all came back with levels that showed a previous infection(s), but were well within acceptable ranges. He didn't mention anything else on the test, but will discuss them further during my next appointment and decide what to test for next. Aside from pain, which isn't something a doctor can physically see, there are several physical symptoms that can't be ignored, so he, like my neurologist, knows something is going on. He also wants me to stay on the medications he put me on--one being a drug commonly used to treat painful, damaging autoimmune disorders. The other is just a very powerful narcotic pain medication that I always take at night, but some days I'm forced to skip if I have to put the dose off for more than 2 hours if there are things that have to get done. The first takes at least 4-6 weeks to start working, but I'm already noticing very slight improvements. The biggest improvements (even though small) are in my feet. The swelling is still pretty extreme most days, but it's slowly going down and I'm noticing, especially in my right foot, that they don't hurt as much. I also noticed that I'm not doing the "zombie shuffle" as often because of the extreme pain of putting weight on them the way that I used to. It may be small, but it's still a huge step. No pun intended.
And of course, it's April. So that means a month full of rain, so we can enjoy a May full of beautiful flowers. And today a pattern finally clicked with me. When a warm front is nearing or coming through, I'm in pain. Same with a cold front. But there's a difference in the pain. A warm front tends to bring a dull, widespread, almost vibrating pain that affects mostly my muscles in addition to my joints, which also have a dull ache to them. Cold fronts are far worse. With them, I feel a very acute, sharp, sometimes unbearable pain in every joint and prior injury, but less in my muscles. My movements become very stiff. Both fronts bring a worsening in joint swelling, but different types and areas of pain. And I don't need a weather radar to see when rain or snow starts. Just a few moments before any precipitation begins, the pain intensifies before it levels out (even if it levels out to almost unbearable levels, it still levels out). I'm going to have to bring this up to my new doctor during my next appointment. Maybe it means something, maybe nothing. But it never hurts to ask. At least I can out-forecast any meteorologist in the business :D
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