Thursday, June 20, 2013

It is what it is and what it is going to be

A little bit of an update I suppose. 
            I saw the doctor in Phoenix, AZ, at Arizona Center for digestive health.  Although, I hate waiting I did like him. He seemed pretty knowledgeable. I guess as a gastroenterologist specialist that is his job though.  A lot of talking about that last few years and symptoms that “may or may not be related”.  He was not quick to jump into placing a feeding a tube as my primary doctor had recommended to him.  He believes that my GP may just be an aggravating factor to the root cause of issues.  He ordered some tests that I think are to rule out the “simple”.  He talked a lot about dysfunction in my autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is ironic because I had been researching something called POTS do to my erratic heart rates. POTS is a kind of like a subsidiary of and ANS problem. I think.  It is all VERY confusing to me.  The internet says testing in the ANS is typically done starting with a tilt table test.  As dizzy as I am this test does NOT sound fun.  It has not been ordered at this point though so I will not worry about it.   
            Yesterday I had a CT small bowel enterography done. Super fun! Not. I am pretty positive there is some evil person in research that say “Hey this person vomits anything that goes in, lets require a test that makes her drink TONS of barium and NOT vomit or start over”. Okay, maybe not. But the test just sucked. I had to drink a lot of very thin barium over an hour. Now the amount would have been a lot for a normal person (I think) but for someone with GP it is just not fair! Whole new meaning to “I vomited in my mouth a little”. Luckily, I had a fantastic nurse who comforted me through it all and never once made me feel like a baby.  It really is true that a good nurse will make or break a visit. Between her and the nurses at the IV infusion center I believe Yuma still has some good ones.  Had iodine of course as well, I really think iodine is cool. I can feel it’s every move in my veins. So that was easy.  CT took for what seemed like forever, and ended just in time to fill the trash can with a crap ton of hurled barium. The rest of the day wasn’t a picnic, nor is today.
Even weirder testing to continue. Have had some crazy lab work done, tests I definitely have never heard of. I have had A LOT of labs taken.  Still waiting on results.  My blood flow was very slow on draw day. It’s never a good sign when the technician mentions how your veins are dehydrated. But they took a lot of blood so I think I will blame that for now.  Seriously, it amazes me sometimes how much blood they can take and we just don’t run out. The body really is pretty amazing.
I have learned many things about my body and just how amazing it is. Well, not my body specifically but the human body in general.  I am very much a patient of Dr. Google. I look up everything! Sometimes it is good; it gives me something to talk to my doctors about. It has been helpful at times and very UNHELPFUL others. My local GI doctor likes that I Google, my primary hates that I Google.  Honestly, I’ve started to not as much because reading into the whole ANS stuff is so confusing, and frankly scary.  I’ve learned it is just time to take each day as it is.  I’m sick of being sick and tired of being tired. But it is what it is. I mean really, I can’t change it; I can only change how I respond to it. That’s all I need to do, because really it just is what it is.
Hugs and Love,
-Jess

1 comment:

  1. I *HATE* the barium swallow with a passion. The last time I had one, the nurse gave me TWO bottles of it (almost all came back up). She asked me if I wanted berry, apple, or chocolate flavored. I can tell you that the flavoring does NOT help at all.

    *hugs*

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