Medical Stuff Gone Wrong

This is a little outline of my health problems and meds. No doubt I've left some out.

Extreme broad-spectrum allergies, with:
Anaphylaxis
Asthma
Bronchospasms
Chronic bronchitis
Pleurisy
Rhinitis
Urticaria
Vocal cord dysfunction

Rheumatoid arthritis, with:
Impingement syndrome (both shoulders)
General connective tissue inflammation
Plantar fasciitis (both feet)
Recurring tendonitis
Synovitis
TMJ

Fibromyalgia
Neuropathy
Hypothyroid
Diabetes (Type 2)
Severe sleep apnea
Mitral valve prolapse
Uterine fibroids
GERT
Gastritis
Edema
Depression, anxiety

Recurring MRSA
Disseminated HSV-1 w/ Ramsey Hunt Syndrome, & oral & other blood blistering
Recurring Epstein-Barr
undiagnosed granulomatous infection


Here's some of what I use to treat all that:

Prednisone, on alternate days 50mg, 25 mg, 50,...
Benadryl
Doxepin
Flonase nasal inhaler
HCl nasal spray
Azmacort inhaler
Albuterol inhaler
Guaifenesin/PE
Cortisone cream
Benadryl cream
Oxygen
Epi-pen

Relafen
Zanaflex
Fentanyl patches
Viscous lidocaine

Synthroid
Glimepiride
Protonix
Prozac
Xanax

Minocycline
Acyclovir
Hibiclens
Silvadene ointment
Iodosorb ointment

Basic Nutrients multi-vitamin
MSM
Calcium/Magnesium/Malic acid
Ester C


I've had my gall bladder out - with its roughly 200 gallstones - and lots of little things like oral surgery, fractures, stitches. Pneumonia, nasty MRSA sinus infections, stuff like that.

In 2004 I was in the hospital for 10 days with a MRSA abscess the size of a small grapefruit in my left foot. This got him named Poor Mr. Foot. By some miracle they saved the foot instead of amputating it. It has a lot of scar tissue, mostly inside, and doesn't work or feel very well. Looks great, though, all things considered. Most of the time, anyway. Unfortunately, the "keeping it" may not last forever. But we'll see.

All this requires a lot of medical monitoring and analysis. Since I'm semi-housebound much of the year, I try to cram most of my medical visits into my relatively *healthy* time of year - midwinter. Lately, that's meant 6-10 appointments per week. Doctor checkups, diagnostics like x-rays and ultrasounds, blood tests, so forth. Then follow-up visits to go over the results of the procedures.

We still don't know what the lumps are that are crawling up my right arm. Neither my ID (Infectious Disease doc) or dermatologist - both superb physicians - had any idea what it was when they looked at it. The derm. doc did biopsies and cultures. The first early results were that it was a granulomatous infection, a chronic type. Often that means a mycobacteria, like a form of tuberculosis that attacks skin. Or - with my luck! - leprosy. The culture takes forever to grow, 6-8 weeks. So you wait and wait and just try not to think about it.

The results finally came in a few days ago. Totally negative.

Maybe I should be thrilled. But what it means is, we still have no idea what the thing is, or how to treat it. It could just be that this tricky culture didn't go well, and they have to do it over. I see the dermatologist again on Feb. 3, we'll go from there.

Then, having had gall bladder-type gut pains again for a good couple of years, I finally went off to see a great new gastroenterologist. A liver/pancreas/near neighbors ultrasound looked good, yay! Next stop was that endoscopy. The preliminary findings were: Extensive inflammation in the esophagus and duodenum; mild gastritis in stomach; removed a benign polyp; took a biopsy. I'll hear about that biopsy in a week or so. I'll call in on Friday just in case it's back fast, and then I wouldn't have to try not to worry all weekend. My aunt died of duodenal cancer, which I hear is quite rare. So I didn't like to hear he took a biopsy.

This is just a little overview, here. Dealing with these health issues gets way more complicated than it looks. And since it's one of the principal reasons I started this blog, I figured it was time to lay out what makes me disabled and half bedridden and full of pain. And yes, sometimes full of anger, too.

And full of the jokes and fun and thought and projects and explorations that allow me to thumb my nose at it all. Without that, life isn't worth living.

I'm here to tell you all - it's worth it. Way, way worth it. Yes indeed.