What a Week!

This week's stresses and ailments have been so many I'm not even sure if this is where I should post but here goes.....Came home Monday from a wonderful weekend following my son around. He's marching with the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps out of the Chicago area and we haven't seen him for two months!!! So, his dad and I go to three shows and visit with him and it's wonderful except.......all the while my right leg is getting swollen, and more swollen, and even more swollen as we are sitting out for hours under the Texas sun and heat. I have a knee replacement and have had phlebitis in that leg.

By the time we start heading for Houston, I'm having trouble breathing, short of breath, some pain in my chest., and my leg twice its' normal size. We go straight to my rheumatologist's office and she puts me in a wheelchair and takes me straight to the ER. My blood pressure is high so they're not very happy about what's going on. I do get put in a room pretty quick, get the iv and continue to wait. Finally they come to get me for a venus doppler to check for blood clots in my leg and that turned out okay. They we rushed to the room where we CAT Scan was and we were there for quite awhile. No blood clot there either but had to spend the night to have more tests run. So, next day they did all the heart tests - heart scan and imaging, heart ultrasound, chemical stress test. After all that radiology decides to read the report and discovers that I have a hernia with a possible mass and a lump on my right breast so it's not over yet. I have to start thinking about other types of doctors to think about seeing. At least my infusion is not for 4 more weeks!

And to think I was supposed to be getting checked out to have knee surgery. What a week!!! And on top of all that I have a horrendous flare with my IBS-D...just awful!!! Then I wake up this morning with my neck and upper spine swollen, red, and painful. I'm not sure anything else could have happened in this week! At least I hope not!!!

Surely this week will be better! I really hope so. I'm just about at my wits ends

Well. I'm not in the hospital because I BEGGED them to let me go home. My husband and I promised to come in and take care of whatever tests I needed to have. My leg is much better but I've been taking Lasix and have had it elevated above my heart for almost a week now. So, it's starting to look back to normal. And my rheumy has been calling daily. She's been worried, too. All my tests should be at her office by Monday so I'll see her on Monday and maybe we can develope some kind of plan to address all of this. My blood pressure was high and it is back to normal now. I did have an attack of angina so I do have nitroglycerin now to help with that but that's about the extent of my answers.

The strange thing is they didn't tell me everything that showed up on the CT scan. I went to the hospital to get a copy of the films and report to take with me to the GI doc and my rheumy and THAT'S when I read all the different things that showed up. Unbelieveable, huh?!?!? But, I am being extremely careful, staying out of the heat, and just trying to rest when I'm not going to doctor's appointments. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for the response!

deejane