Post by Mahnarch on Nov 9, 2008 13:14:16 GMT -5
For those of you who have known I'm sick, I still am.
For those of you who didn't....well, I guess you just found out.
After 2 1/2 months of constant pain, pills, antacids, small amounts of plain food I was getting tired - fatigued is more like it. Mentally as well as physically.
The pain was always bearable when I was in a state of rest (sitting and doing nothing) and slightly less than intolerable when I was bouncing around in my rig or on a hi-lo.....until a week ago, when it became physically debilitating to the point where I hit a certain bump and had to pull my semi over to the shoulder of the road and puke my guts out from the pain.
I sat in the doctor's office a couple of days later where I was ran through the gamut of tests, including more blood work.
At this point I found out I was:
Down 10 more pounds (14 total)
I'm showing signs of anemia.
My protein levels are down.
and my white blood cells are up (fighting whatever).
Also, my ankles had swollen to twice their size but, didn't hurt.
Anyway, on to the CAT Scan.
I don't know if anyone here has had one before but, it's not a very pleasant experience from the onset.
First, you have to chug this white mix ("contrast", or rather 'Barium Sulfate') which they try to flavor with, I'm guessing coconut (they should've done chocolate) that'll make you want to puke it all up.
And there's a lot of it to chug.
Then, 4 hours later you get to lay down on a bed at the end of a large, white, mechanical donut.
After you lay down they put an I.V. in your arm in order to add a different kind of "contrast" at various times.
And then, before the test starts the Tech informs you that when the I.V. kicks in that you'll feel a lot of heat all over your body. A metallic taste in your mouth and a really warm feeling in your butt.
The Tech leaves the room as the table starts into the rotating machine and I'm thinking to myself, "O.K. well, the heart only pumps so much. The I.V. can't kick in that fa-Heeelllooo!!"
We're talking insta-heat all over the body.
And, my butt got so warm, so quickly that I thought I craped myself right there on the table.
The Tech also warned me about a little nausea and I noticed they even have a little, helpful reminder on the machine.
They actually have light up pictures of a guy smiling....and a guy who's about to blow his chunks.
Nice.
And, the chunk blower lights up as I'm being hovered 'head-ward' but, I never felt sick, myself.
The machine talks to you, too but, there's so much noise going on that I couldn't understand it.
I think it says something along the lines of, "Welcome. Relax. Please don't move. Please don't puke on the table."
It sounds like an airport terminal announcer.
After it was all over I filled my new prescriptions and now we're doing the waiting game.
My doctor got the results/images back and told be that my colon is scalloped and inflamed, along with several parts of my intestinal tract.
The pills are anti-inflammitories and antibiotics that seemed to take most of the pain away, almost immediately but, they are making me sicker than a dog.
The part we're waiting for is to see if the pain subsides and the nausea goes away before deciding whether or not I have Crohn's Disease, or not.
It's looking fairly good in favor of NOT having it, right now, but, I may have to go to a Gastroenterologist on Monday or Tuesday if things don't improve.
***
Talking about all this puking and stuff has made me sickly...so I'm going to go lay down for a bit.
For those of you who didn't....well, I guess you just found out.
After 2 1/2 months of constant pain, pills, antacids, small amounts of plain food I was getting tired - fatigued is more like it. Mentally as well as physically.
The pain was always bearable when I was in a state of rest (sitting and doing nothing) and slightly less than intolerable when I was bouncing around in my rig or on a hi-lo.....until a week ago, when it became physically debilitating to the point where I hit a certain bump and had to pull my semi over to the shoulder of the road and puke my guts out from the pain.
I sat in the doctor's office a couple of days later where I was ran through the gamut of tests, including more blood work.
At this point I found out I was:
Down 10 more pounds (14 total)
I'm showing signs of anemia.
My protein levels are down.
and my white blood cells are up (fighting whatever).
Also, my ankles had swollen to twice their size but, didn't hurt.
Anyway, on to the CAT Scan.
I don't know if anyone here has had one before but, it's not a very pleasant experience from the onset.
First, you have to chug this white mix ("contrast", or rather 'Barium Sulfate') which they try to flavor with, I'm guessing coconut (they should've done chocolate) that'll make you want to puke it all up.
And there's a lot of it to chug.
Then, 4 hours later you get to lay down on a bed at the end of a large, white, mechanical donut.
After you lay down they put an I.V. in your arm in order to add a different kind of "contrast" at various times.
And then, before the test starts the Tech informs you that when the I.V. kicks in that you'll feel a lot of heat all over your body. A metallic taste in your mouth and a really warm feeling in your butt.
The Tech leaves the room as the table starts into the rotating machine and I'm thinking to myself, "O.K. well, the heart only pumps so much. The I.V. can't kick in that fa-Heeelllooo!!"
We're talking insta-heat all over the body.
And, my butt got so warm, so quickly that I thought I craped myself right there on the table.
The Tech also warned me about a little nausea and I noticed they even have a little, helpful reminder on the machine.
They actually have light up pictures of a guy smiling....and a guy who's about to blow his chunks.
Nice.
And, the chunk blower lights up as I'm being hovered 'head-ward' but, I never felt sick, myself.
The machine talks to you, too but, there's so much noise going on that I couldn't understand it.
I think it says something along the lines of, "Welcome. Relax. Please don't move. Please don't puke on the table."
It sounds like an airport terminal announcer.
After it was all over I filled my new prescriptions and now we're doing the waiting game.
My doctor got the results/images back and told be that my colon is scalloped and inflamed, along with several parts of my intestinal tract.
The pills are anti-inflammitories and antibiotics that seemed to take most of the pain away, almost immediately but, they are making me sicker than a dog.
The part we're waiting for is to see if the pain subsides and the nausea goes away before deciding whether or not I have Crohn's Disease, or not.
It's looking fairly good in favor of NOT having it, right now, but, I may have to go to a Gastroenterologist on Monday or Tuesday if things don't improve.
***
Talking about all this puking and stuff has made me sickly...so I'm going to go lay down for a bit.
