So it has been an insane 6 weeks! Still sick, but seeing improvements each day. This last cold apparently mutated into a sinus infection, and strep throat. I also had a ruptured ovarian cyst that morning. I was up at 6am since I was unable to sleep and wanted to receive a priesthood blessing before everyone left the house for work. About 10 min. after receiving the blessing, I had sharp abdominal pains that continued despite taking ibuprofen for two hours without relief. I was pretty sure by this point what had occurred. I called the county clinic and they weren't very helpful about refilling my antibiotics or helping with pain meds. So I called my parents old off-base drs. office. Rock Run Medical in Roy, Ut. They were EXCELLENT! New patients without insurance normally are $144.00. I was seen with a blessing discount for $72.00. He gave me off brand names of meds., and prescriptions for everything so if it wasn't outrageous I could get them filled and otherwise I could buy the Equate brand.
I had been praying that the Dr. could put the pieces together of random symptoms and figure out a diagnosis. I'm still open to a 2nd opinion when I get medical insurance, but I was diagnosed with Lupus. I have both the external (though not too bad), and the internal. I had inflammation near the bottom of my rib cage. Apparently you have tiny nerves that run along your rib cage. The things I learn...hopefully to come in use someday in the future. So I picked up a Z-pac 250mg, Naproxin 550mg, and Prevacid. I have the antibodies in my bloodstream for Hashimotos disease and Lupus. If you have 1 autoimmune, you typically have others. They have to run bloodwork for each one to verify them. So maybe in the future I will have genetic bloodwork run. There is no cure for either, they just tend to treat the symptoms. There are some key things to keep an eye out for though for having lupus, since my immune function is low and small colds can transform into big problems.
I now have an antimicrobial face mask that is washable. It has daisy's on it. I wear it when I go to church or out shopping. I talked to a sister at church who also has Lupus. She gave me a lot of ideas on how to best treat some of my symptoms with specific vitamins or essential oils. It was nice to finally have someone who could relate to me with the same diagnosis. For many years, I've kept in my medical info. around church, because most people don't know how to respond to so much medical information. I got fed up with those who would feel sorry for me ect. I'm a normal human being, and just want to live a normal life.
Anyway....on to my EXCITING news!!!
This Tuesday a man from SLC will be coming up to measure me for a refurbished powerchair. They have a grant that will make the cost of the chair free. If not, it will be about $250, which is pretty close to the cost of batteries. My old chair died, and we're not sure if it is the batteries not holding a charge or the motor. I'm pretty excited that I should have wheels soon and won't be stuck in the house or waiting on someone else's schedule to ride with them somewhere. It has been a very mild winter as far as snow fall, and I'd like to be able to take Ruby for more walks.
I've only had 2 seizures in the last 6 months. They were provoked by physical activity. It's really stinky that I can't do even 25% of what I used to be able to do. I don't have stamina. There are a lot of things that I would like to be able to do in the outdoors and feel like I am limited and stuck. I was only able to sled down the hill about 6 times before I was wiped out during our first snowfall this winter. I feel like I've improved in stamina some since I've graduated, but I feel like some of that has gone down the tubes since I've been sick the last 6 weeks. I use the manual wheelchair when we go to Walmart. I'm hoping to find a replacement manual, since mine is getting rusty and won't live too much longer. It has been used greatly!
Anyway, I'm grateful for the opportunity this Tuesday to be able to be sized for a good fitting powerchair. Even if the grant isn't able to happen, and we pay for it--at least it will be affordable. I'm looking forward to more independence and freedom to go places in our neighborhood on my own.
Since it is daylight savings time...I really need to get to bed so I can be healthy for church tomorrow. I still get facial twitching and buzzing/busy feeling abnormal brain waves. Still no confirming diagnosis or solutions, though I've figured out more patterns in their triggers. Good night!
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