Health Update

Hello,

I meant to get an update out sooner, but things move pretty slow for me right now.

Anyway, on Wednesday I saw a gyno specialist dude in Omaha who recommended a few things we're going to try. Unfortunately, while these methods may make me "better" I will have the same amount, if not more, pain and the bleeding will probably continue.

Thursday morning I went into my local gyno's office to get my hemoglobin checked because I had been feeling so weak. Surprisingly, my hemoglobin was 10.6 (even higher than it was after my blood transfusion), so that was good news. However, it didn't change the way I felt. In fact, looking back, I'm surprised I didn't faint on my way out of the hospital building. I spent the rest of the day in bed reading and sleeping. In the evening I tried to fold a small load of laundry but I had to do it in stages I was so weak. Kinda pathetic, huh?

But...I got to talk to some friends yesterday, which was awesome. I get a little lonely being in my room all day with nothing but sleeping rats and a demonic--I mean, loving--black cat. Poor Velvet, she works so hard to take care of me and worries herself whenever I leave the house (she never knows if I'm just going out for an appointment or if she won't see me for a week or two). But yeah.

Today I'm doing a little worse (so far), but I hope things will look up as the day goes on.

Health Update

Hi everyone!

Yesterday we went to Omaha and talking to my liver doctor. He didn't change anything in my care, except to have a nutritionist call me with more ideas on how to keep the weight on.

We got to do some fun shopping in Omaha. It pretty much finished me off, but I'm glad we did it.

I was calling back the gyno's office just as we pulled into our driveway and they said they wanted me to come in and get my hemoglobin checked since I had been bleeding more. So, we went straight to their office. My hemoglobin was very low at 8.4 and they decided to admit me so they could give me a blood transfusion and observe me overnight.

I got to be in the brand new women's area at Bryan East. The rooms are really, really fancy. The toilet seats are heated and the toilets even have special washers in them so you can keep clean "down there". It was so awesome.

Still, I was very glad to come home this afternoon. I'm not feeling so weak and the pain isn't as bad and I'm not bleeding so much. So fingers crossed!

Tomorrow I'm going to see some gyno specialists in Omaha and they will decide where we need to go from here. Since I didn't get many of the menopausal effects from the lupron shots it seems that the liver didn't assimilate them like it should. So, my gyno decided it would be good for me to see specialists who were in the same place as my liver doctors, that way they could all work together, especially if I have to have a surgery or procedure (which may happen if things don't improve, but I have high hopes since I'm doing so much better today).

If I start bleeding more again I'm supposed to go straight to Omaha.

Right now I am enjoying being back at home!!

Hi all,

Okay, now you finally get the whole story:

My period started getting out of control so Saturday morning I called the gyno on call at the office. She upped my hormone pills and said to call on Monday. Around ten or so in the evening I started to have bad pain that wasn't responding to my normal pain meds. The pain just exploded and so we went to the ER. They gave me a shot of morphine: nothing. Shot of hydromorphone: nothing. They gave me an IV and started shooting drugs into me with only a little improvement. At around 3 AM the admitted me. I was able to get some sleep and I was given a meth pill as a last resort for the pain (so now I've tried meth! It didn't do much...). In the morning the pain was still there, though more tolerable. I was given two different narcotics before I was stable enough to be sent home.

I've slept all day and have to continue on the heavy duty narcotics and meth.

The pain is from my crazy period and what is happening is my body is doing somewhat of the same thing that happens when you give birth. Thus, the horrible pain. So, last night could technically be compared to a long labor, only I still have lots of pain and no baby as a reward.

Health Update

Hi All,

I hope everyone is doing well!

Unfortunately, I am not doing so great. I seem to getting worse, feeling much as I was in last fall. My appetite has diminished greatly, I'm in much more pain, I have more severe fatigue (if that were possible), and I'm more jaundiced. My blood is having more trouble clotting than usual, another sign that the liver is not doing well. I also started my cycle, which is not supposed to happen when you have menopause, of course. I haven't had a period in around 3 months, so this is weird and, of course not helping my current situation. I'm waiting to hear back from the gyno about that.

I have an appointment to see my primary care doc on Thursday and I see my liver doctor in Omaha at the end of the month. Hopefully someone will have some answers, but I'm not counting on it. I got a blood test yesterday but the med center called and said that my place on the list had not changed. So much for that.

So, being at home stuck in bed more than ever I am, of course, a bit bored (reading and sleeping are all swell, but they do get old after a few days), so anyone who wants to come and entertain me and/or bring me presents is more than welcome! ;-D I'm still trying to make it to my various classes and meetings.

Health Update

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

I've been doing O.K. lately. Mostly I've been very, very tired. Around Christmas my blood pressure lowering medication built up a little too much and I became very weak so I pretty much slept through most of the holidays, or, if I wasn't sleeping, acting like a brainless zombie. Just ask my mom about all the brainless, and even dangerous, things I did (and continue to do). As always, part of my "slowness" is because my liver isn't filtering chemicals that go straight to my brain. Don't ever give me new instructions on how to do something. It just doesn't work.

I want to thank you all for the lovely, wonderful gifts!!! I want to get out thank you cards, but lately with me, these things don't always come to pass.

I've still been having pain, but it's not as bad as it was, say, 3 months ago. I've started physical therapy and continue to see my pain control doctor.

I've been keeping busy with various projects and social endeavors. Though I don't always have it in me to do everything I want to do, I still am able to get out of the house on a regular basis while (usually) keeping up with things like laundry, rat cages, and keeping my room sumptuously clean and tidy. ;-)

One of my biggest complaints right now is the cold. I'm very sensitive to it and can shut down physically and emotionally pretty quickly when it comes to the cold. Despite keeping my room at around 75 degrees fahrenheit, I usually wear two or three layers of clothing, usually with at least one layer of fleece or some other toasty fabric on each part of my body. If I leave the house I put on even more layers and wear my gloves at almost all times (yes, even indoors).

I also get these horrible chills if I don't keep my pain under control. Sometimes the chills remind me that I have pain I need to take care of because, after living with these paricular pains for over 6 months, I sometimes don't notice them.

As for the menopause thing: I can keep the menopause symtoms under control pretty easily, but the pain in the ovary area is still the same as ever, if not worse. I'm on my second shot now and am due for the next one in a couple months, although if it hasn't delivered satisfactory results by then we'll have to look at other possiblilities.

I've been doing a lot of research into natural pain relief and have completed my Reiki training so I can do more advanced self-healing (this helps my pain a lot). I've also been doing some Reiki on friends and family (and of course the animals) who all seem to really enjoy it.

I have one energy healing group in town who are giving me their services for free. They do wonderful work. I always feel more energized after a session with them and the pain relief I get is sometimes better than narcotics!

I think that pretty much covers it for now. As always, I'll try to keep ya'll updated as often as I can.