Life and Health

You know, you're going through life, got some things wrong but who doesn't? Then get some health insurance to start working toward a healthier future, 1st thing is to go to the doc to get started on building said healthier future...but hear words you don't expect to hear.

I'll be very honest in my blog writings about what's going on with my health so if you don't want to read about it, that's fine and I understand :).

Have had some belly pain lately, swelling/bloating - won't go into all the details. But figured I'd ask the doc about it while I'm there. By the time I left her office I had orders for blood work (done right then and there) and a CAT scan ASAP which happened to be this morning, 48 hours after my appointment.

I asked her what are all the possible things that she thinks could be going on. She gave me a list of her "rule-outs" - ulcers, hernias (umbilical and/or hiatal), pancreatic, esophageal or other cancers (had a barret's esophagus dx several years ago). Said she would have thought I'd be getting sicker faster than I am (she sees me quite a bit for various chronic stuff I've got going on) were it pancreatic cancer, so that's a good thing at least.

So blood work came back all fine. YAY! Now will just see what CAT shows.

Chronic conditions include arthritis in the knees and spine (right knee is disintegrating/wobbling around and not very supportive, hence the walker to get around), the whole issue of nerve damage to digestive track/very weak peristalsis for the last few years, since a particularly nasty bout of food poisoning, and of course the prinzmetal's that was first diagnosed in 1997. Also I want to address this cataract that has my left eye pretty much blinded but still somehow manages to mess up distance perceptions and spatial relationships (why I run into, knock over, and trip on things constantly, and why I can't drive). Yeah, my right eye is ok but needs a new lens rx - no point in getting that until I get my left eye fixed. I manage but of course it affects my quality of life. All of the above does. Seems like everybody I talk to has chronic pain, so why bother to mention mine? Between knee and belly these days, I'm pretty much totally sedentary, even with the stronger pain med she's got me taking now. In the recliner, legs elevated to keep pressure off my belly (while I watch it swell and prepare to explode) is the limit of my activities these days...

So I'm hoping in the next year to get back on track with whatever I need to gain back whatever I've lost in the last several years without insurance. Once we deal with whatever is causing my current state. Which brings me back to the beginning: I didn't think I'd spend the start of my 53rd birthday getting a CAT scan...