It's been awhile...

Hi all,



I haven't posted in awhile and it was by design. There were a lot of ups and downs over the last couple of weeks and I wanted to have it all in perspective before I shared anything.



First is the update of my blood testing. Two days after the blood draw, the hematology department's social worker called me with this statement: "Your results are consistent with a blood disorder". Then they set me up with the first hour-long appointment that the doctor had available. In totality, I have a two hour appointment set up. The first hour is to talk to the nurse about the diagnosis and treatment plan and the second is to spend time with the doctor and ask questions. I'm a little concerned about this.

I didn't say much about this in my last post, but hemophilia is a concern because my great-grandmother had three boys who died in childhood of hemophilia. I also have a great aunt who had a son with hemophilia. He was only a few years older than me and had a very rough life because of it. Per the link I posted in my last post, if I am a carrier and my hubby and I have children, we have a 25% chance of having a son with hemophilia. Aside from that, I'm concerned that there is another bleeding disorder because of symptoms that I have. My maid of honor at my wedding has seen more than her share. She saw me bleed excessively from a small head wound when we were in a car accident together, and also saved my wedding dress with quick thinking when I got one of my infamous nose bleeds at my wedding reception. So, we'll see what happens when I go in on March 22.

Next, I had a nerve block on March 5. My plan after the last one was to refuse to have another one because the effects were not long lasting. Having two needles shoved through my back is not fun, and any procedure comes with risk. But, I was talked into it by the pain clinic doctor after hearing that a patient in a similar boat as mine had to have five before she received a year's worth of pain relief. So, I dove in for number four this past Friday. I quickly learned that the nerves that were blocked were not the ones that caused all of my pain. Long story short, I got back into see my pain doc the following Tuesday, and he gave me some different muscle relaxers, upped the dose of a med that I take that is supposed to help with nerve pain, and told me to call in week if I still have the pain. The plan is to do a small injection to help that nerve if needed.

After that, I had a few good days, though I still have to take pain killers and muscle relaxers. I'll take it for now. The great news is that I only had a couple of appointments last week and was able to really focus on work and homework, and I was also able to do a bunch of errands and things I was waiting to do. The downside is that I still wake up in a lot of pain and have moments of pain between doses of the painkillers, but I'll take it for now.

Here's to a great week!
-S