Moving On...
Wow! It has been over seven months since I have posted here. I knew I had this account, and remembered that I had been tracking my diet here... but since I got discouraged and quit calculating my calories and documenting exercise (what's that?), I stayed away from my blog.
Just the other day when I was updating another blog I manage (for my MOPS Area), I was once again thinking I should occasionally blog about my life. So, since this is Musings from a Busy Mom, I guess I don't have to just blog about food and non-weight loss here! =) So I am moving on with blogging with what I feel like, and when I feel like it (I am not a historian and I don't keep a diary, so don't expect something every day here!).
So... moving on... yucky medical diary below; read with caution...
I am currently waiting on test results from my doctor. My life has changed since moving to East Tennessee six years ago. Some ways good, but when it comes to my health, things have not been good at all. It all started just a couple of weeks after we moved here. On July 3, 2006, my family went out to eat at a local chain-restaurant (buffet). I started feeling bad on the way home. My husband got the kids in bed (we were in a furnished two-bedroom apartment while we searched for a home), then went outside to take a phone call. In the meantime, I got very ill with a lot of stomach pain and things that come with that. My husband heard a thud, and come upstairs to find my passed out in the bathroom. The doctors assumed food poisoning.
About a year later, I experienced the same thing. This time the doctors assumed it was from eating out after getting the family accustomed to an organic diet. But then this started happening almost monthly. Naturally after making sure my stomach and gall bladder were okay, my gynecologist assumed it may be related to my reproductive organs. After this happened with my husband out of town, and my five year old son had to run to a neighbor's to get help, I had a hysterectomy in 2008. Life was grand for the next year.
Then we joined my husband family in Colorado for a week of camping. The night we arrived, I awoke in severe abdominal pain and my husband had to help me to the bathroom. After passing out in this bathroom, my brother-in-law drove us to the emergency room. I was told this episode was probably because of the altitude, lack of water, and low sugar. Since then I have continued to have one or two of these severe episodes a year, and having minor episodes (where I just go to sleep for a while and drink lots of water) every few months. Until now.
Now my minor episodes are coming more frequently, and I have stomach cramps almost anytime I eat. I am also having frequent headaches, and most of my joints hurt. The joint pain will start in one place, and then other joints feel obliged to keep the first hurting joint company. My neck frequently hurts, and I get nauseated when I turn my head to the left. I am tired and frequently light-headed. I cannot remember things that I need to remember and often get my words confused.
What is going on with me?! I finally have a doctor who sees this as a problem that needs to be solved. He does believe everything is related, and did a lot of tests last week. The doctor said he was testing for everything he could in-house that could cause these symptoms. He said it could be anything from a connective-tissue disease to a vitamin deficiency to thyroid problems to diabetes. I have never had anyone take so much blood at one time!! He also had a sonogram done on my heart, the arteries in my neck, and my abdomen.
So far all I know is that my heart looks good to the guy who did the sonogram and that I have gallstones and a little thickening of the gallbladder wall (the guy thinks I will need to have my gallbladder removed). What I don't know was if he was supposed to tell me his thoughts on the sonograms... but I am glad he did! I always wondered why the person who did the sonograms were never allowed to tell you anything but the sex of your baby (if the sonogram was for pregnancy, that is... obviously they wouldn't tell you the sex of your baby if you were having a sonogram on your heart... I can see it now - little old lady having a sonogram on her heart as her great-children wait to take her home, only to hear the sonographer cry out - 'it's a boy!' Man... that could be a shock). Oh, and he also confirmed that my gynecologist did remove everything he was supposed to. =) Yeah, I am one of those people... just had to get that confirmed!
Now I am half way through this waiting game. Almost six years of health problems, and I get the official results next week. Surprisingly, I am not all that anxious about it. I am excited to finally be - hopefully - getting answers. According to the doc, if all the tests he did don't indicate the problem, there are more tests to run... but those will be run in the hospital. So, I am just looking forward to getting my answers next week in the doctor's office.
And just in case you're wondering, I got a nice painful reminder of why I stopped riding horses last month. I am glad the orthopedic gave me pain meds to get me through until my doc gets the results. But it was so good to ride today... I look forward to riding on a regular basis again!
I am thankful for what the Lord has shown me through this time. A family who cares... and seeing such tenderness from our children when they see I am not feeling well. A husband who knows I simply cannot clean house much right now and who has been willing to finish teaching the children when he gets home from work. My husband's work which has been supportive by allowing my husband to keep the kids in his office or to stay home with them while I am at the doctor's. A good support of fellow homeschooling moms and friends who pray for me (I love my secret sisters!!). And a God whose grace is sufficient. No matter how much we suffer, He has suffered so much more... and He is here to go through it all with us. Therefore I choose to praise Him and bask in His love, and not be anxious and not doubt His plans for me.
Just the other day when I was updating another blog I manage (for my MOPS Area), I was once again thinking I should occasionally blog about my life. So, since this is Musings from a Busy Mom, I guess I don't have to just blog about food and non-weight loss here! =) So I am moving on with blogging with what I feel like, and when I feel like it (I am not a historian and I don't keep a diary, so don't expect something every day here!).
So... moving on... yucky medical diary below; read with caution...
I am currently waiting on test results from my doctor. My life has changed since moving to East Tennessee six years ago. Some ways good, but when it comes to my health, things have not been good at all. It all started just a couple of weeks after we moved here. On July 3, 2006, my family went out to eat at a local chain-restaurant (buffet). I started feeling bad on the way home. My husband got the kids in bed (we were in a furnished two-bedroom apartment while we searched for a home), then went outside to take a phone call. In the meantime, I got very ill with a lot of stomach pain and things that come with that. My husband heard a thud, and come upstairs to find my passed out in the bathroom. The doctors assumed food poisoning.
About a year later, I experienced the same thing. This time the doctors assumed it was from eating out after getting the family accustomed to an organic diet. But then this started happening almost monthly. Naturally after making sure my stomach and gall bladder were okay, my gynecologist assumed it may be related to my reproductive organs. After this happened with my husband out of town, and my five year old son had to run to a neighbor's to get help, I had a hysterectomy in 2008. Life was grand for the next year.
Then we joined my husband family in Colorado for a week of camping. The night we arrived, I awoke in severe abdominal pain and my husband had to help me to the bathroom. After passing out in this bathroom, my brother-in-law drove us to the emergency room. I was told this episode was probably because of the altitude, lack of water, and low sugar. Since then I have continued to have one or two of these severe episodes a year, and having minor episodes (where I just go to sleep for a while and drink lots of water) every few months. Until now.
Now my minor episodes are coming more frequently, and I have stomach cramps almost anytime I eat. I am also having frequent headaches, and most of my joints hurt. The joint pain will start in one place, and then other joints feel obliged to keep the first hurting joint company. My neck frequently hurts, and I get nauseated when I turn my head to the left. I am tired and frequently light-headed. I cannot remember things that I need to remember and often get my words confused.
What is going on with me?! I finally have a doctor who sees this as a problem that needs to be solved. He does believe everything is related, and did a lot of tests last week. The doctor said he was testing for everything he could in-house that could cause these symptoms. He said it could be anything from a connective-tissue disease to a vitamin deficiency to thyroid problems to diabetes. I have never had anyone take so much blood at one time!! He also had a sonogram done on my heart, the arteries in my neck, and my abdomen.
So far all I know is that my heart looks good to the guy who did the sonogram and that I have gallstones and a little thickening of the gallbladder wall (the guy thinks I will need to have my gallbladder removed). What I don't know was if he was supposed to tell me his thoughts on the sonograms... but I am glad he did! I always wondered why the person who did the sonograms were never allowed to tell you anything but the sex of your baby (if the sonogram was for pregnancy, that is... obviously they wouldn't tell you the sex of your baby if you were having a sonogram on your heart... I can see it now - little old lady having a sonogram on her heart as her great-children wait to take her home, only to hear the sonographer cry out - 'it's a boy!' Man... that could be a shock). Oh, and he also confirmed that my gynecologist did remove everything he was supposed to. =) Yeah, I am one of those people... just had to get that confirmed!
Now I am half way through this waiting game. Almost six years of health problems, and I get the official results next week. Surprisingly, I am not all that anxious about it. I am excited to finally be - hopefully - getting answers. According to the doc, if all the tests he did don't indicate the problem, there are more tests to run... but those will be run in the hospital. So, I am just looking forward to getting my answers next week in the doctor's office.
And just in case you're wondering, I got a nice painful reminder of why I stopped riding horses last month. I am glad the orthopedic gave me pain meds to get me through until my doc gets the results. But it was so good to ride today... I look forward to riding on a regular basis again!
I am thankful for what the Lord has shown me through this time. A family who cares... and seeing such tenderness from our children when they see I am not feeling well. A husband who knows I simply cannot clean house much right now and who has been willing to finish teaching the children when he gets home from work. My husband's work which has been supportive by allowing my husband to keep the kids in his office or to stay home with them while I am at the doctor's. A good support of fellow homeschooling moms and friends who pray for me (I love my secret sisters!!). And a God whose grace is sufficient. No matter how much we suffer, He has suffered so much more... and He is here to go through it all with us. Therefore I choose to praise Him and bask in His love, and not be anxious and not doubt His plans for me.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:6
'For I know the plans I have for you,'
declares the Lord,
'plans for welfare and not for calamity
to give you a future and a hope.'
Jeremiah 29:11
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