Good morning to all, and Happy 2018!
Well, no news is good news for the most part. I haven't had too many things to talk about in regards to the MS department since my last post, which should be a good sign. The unfortunate news is that now - something else has gone wrong!
Besides the classic MS symptoms that come and go (my L'hermitte's sign, the cramping toes, the fuzzy brain and fatigue), I have been generally well. That is, until mid-December, when I had terrible stomach cramping. My stomach would bellow and growl so loudly that my coworker could hear them across the office - I was certain I had some kind of obstruction, if it wasn't for the fact that at least my bowels were moving. I have always felt a sneaking suspicion that I had some kind of inflammatory bowel condition (as I read they commonly accompany MS), so I figured it was something that would have to be addressed eventually.
At the same time, my husband thought the mole on my back looked suspicious (I disagreed...it has been there my whole life!) But to placate him, I made an appointment for a general physical. I thought I would still be symptomatic with stomach pain by the time I came in - but it had subsided about four days prior to my appointment. I asked about getting my foot looked at to finally get my bunion removed, got a flu shot, and asked for my birth control and anti-depressant prescriptions to be refilled. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful visit the week before Christmas. She ordered me basic labwork and I went on my merry way.
When I went in the next day for bloodwork, I didn't expect anything to pop up or look funny. I always have slightly (as in, a few points) strange labs for a couple of figures, but nothing that has ever raised a red flag. But this time I noticed that my platelet count (which normally hovers around 400-425, a little high but nothing big) had jumped to 570. Whoa! I felt fine, so I thought maybe it was just leftover from a stomach bug or whatever was bothering me a few weeks before. She also noticed that my cholesterol numbers were all over the place, and my triglycerides were high. Okay, okay, I know I haven't been very good at exercising lately. But could these things be tied together?
I largely ignored the labs, and my doctors told me they wanted to retest in 3 months but weren't terribly concerned. My neurologist was unhappy with my Vitamin D levels (granted, they were very low) so now I had to take more Vit D. Easy enough.
I remembered reading that MS could give you issues with your bladder, and I had a history of UTIs that had no symptoms. So I did an at-home AZO stick test, and found that I had a high level of white blood cells in my urine. "That's odd," I thought, though the nitrate stick was fine, so I couldn't have an active UTI. I told my doctor that I wanted her to order a full urinalysis and I would take it when I got back from my business trip in a week.
Well, here we were on said business trip - in Las Vegas. Which means I was not at home. My 20-month-old daughter was roaming the streets with my husband while I was in classes, and I noticed on the second day we were there that I had to go to the bathroom after every class.
UH OH, says every woman I know.
I drank water and drank water some more. I paid close attention to every sensation - dammit, I feel like I have to pee again. Oh no, now it's starting to hurt. I was hating myself for even thinking about having a UTI, because now I was certain I had cursed myself, and I hadn't had one in years! I moaned to my husband and we spent a lot of time walking back and forth to the Walgreens across the street. They should have given me a job, I was in there so much! I loaded up on Pyridium (the 'numbing' stuff that turns your pee bright orange) and cranberry juice, Cystex, and AZO strips. By 10 PM, I was passing small red blood clots. And that's when I had the thought - "You know, this isn't a burning...it's a soreness. And now I'm passing blood clots. It doesn't smell funny. Could I have....Kidney Stones?!"
To be continued.....
No comments:
Post a Comment