Friday visit to neurologist

Hi, all!

I just got home from the appointment to go over my "normal" test results. The neurologist does not think there's anything neurologically related going on, but he wants to find out what IS going on. I mentioned the research I'd done on Cushing's Disease/Syndrome and how my symptoms seemed to fit the profile. He rolled back in his chair and looked at me and said, "Well, you've got the round face that's usual with Cushing's. Let's send you to an endocrinologist to get that checked out." So, I have an appointment with an endocrinologist on Monday afternoon. (He's in the same medical group as the neurologist).

In addition, he's still a bit concerned about the splenomegaly (I've decided that's my word for the day) - the enlarged spleen. He wants me to go see a specialist. Amazingly enough, I have an appointment with him next Wednesday afternoon! (Same health care system, but not same medical group). I'll be taking copies of all the MRIs/CTs with me with me.

It looks like I will at least feel like I'm getting something accomplished next week! Keep sending out those good thoughts & prayers! Maybe I've finally found that yellow brick road of answers...

By the way, since I once again did not sleep at all last night, Bobby told me to get some sleeping pills. I mentioned this to the doctor and he gave me a prescription for Ambien. Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight??? Oddly, I don't feel totally functional but I don't feel sleepy either. This typing thing has been a challenge, though! Mr. Delete & Ms. Backspace are getting a workout on this.

On the landlady's foreclosure & our rental predicament, she was supposed to be getting info to me about a possible lease-option to buy deal with some lender. A lady from the lender called & left a message the other night, but did not call me back later like she said she would. I have not heard from the lender or my landlady since. This could get interesting!

I also have a nice stack of forms to fill out for my long-term disability. Short-term disability leave is up in 10 days and there's a whole new set of forms to fill out for long-term disability. Thank God I've been carrying the Salary Continuance Insurance. I don't think it's full pay (60%, I think??), but it's a whole lot better than nothing! As long as I continue to pay my share of the premium, my health insurance will remain in effect, also. If worst comes to worst, the SCI would actually continue until I turned 67, though I think it's adjusted if I were to get Social Security Disability at some point. Let's just hope I don't have to worry about that. I really don't want to do all that paperwork!

At least I'm feeling slightly less hopeless today. I'll update whenever I have more info.

Love to all!

Test results

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Well, I got the blood/urine test results a little while ago. Unfortunately, all results were "within normal range" according to the nurse. I have an appointment tomorrow (Friday) morning to go over the results and, I assume, figure out what to do next.

I got the birthday present I wanted - test results. Too bad I'm normal (though I'm sure most of you would dispute that finding!)...I was hoping we'd finally start getting some kind of firm idea which path to take. It's rather like getting the exact thing you wanted, but in the wrong color.

I'll send/post information after my appointment tomorrow. Please keep those prayers going.

Happy birthday?

Well, I'm officially older today, but the only gift I want is information from my doctor.

:-(

No, I still haven't heard anything. I'm almost ready to go camp out in the waiting room until I get some kind of answer.

I'll let you know when I finally hear something!

Wednesday already?

After getting about 3 hours of sleep, I'm not even sure what day it is. I'm just hoping I fall asleep in the recliner or something so I'm not so loopy.

Meanwhile, no news from the doctor yet. I called and left a couple messages yesterday, but no response. Odd, they were as eager as I was to get the results. It sounded like they were extremely busy yesterday, so my fingers are crossed I'll hear from them this morning. The stress from waiting is not exactly helping my headache, that's for sure!

Nothing else right now. Hopefully I'll be posting results soon!

Sleepy

I am getting tired of being tired...my sleep is so screwy. I felt pretty good yesterday as I had gotten a "normal" kind of sleep (first time in several nights). Then last night I couldn't sleep for the longest time, finally dozing off sometime between 4 - 5 am in the recliner. After Bobby got in the shower, I went and crawled into bed about 5:30 am. I then was in the sleep-wake-sleep-wake cycle for several hours. Bobby texted me shortly before 11 am to remind me of the time/channel of a show I wanted to watch (knowing I'd forget...told you he takes care of me!). So, now I'm awake and watching the show.



No call from the neurologist. I'll be calling them this afternoon.



Since I mentioned Cushing's in yesterday's entry, someone searching "Cushing's" was directed to my blog. Turns out she has a blog about her family's journey with Cushings - both her children and her husband have the disease. It's interesting reading, but I kept tearing up as some of the descriptions of symptoms/problems are exactly what I've experienced. If I don't get a diagnosis of Cushing's Disease/Syndrome, I will be completely amazed. If you're interested, her blog is at http://judcol.blogspot.com/ and she has links to lots of other blogs. (If you want to get a chronological read, make sure you go to the archive links on the right-hand side and go back to the beginning). I haven't read all of it yet (the whole concentration problem), but I'll be reading more on a regular basis.



Again, any news will be shared. Love to all!

Another Monday

Well, here I am again. Staring at my phone, like that will make it ring faster. I'm hoping I hear from the neurologist sometime soon about my test results so we can figure out a plan of attack. My guess is that my left adrenal gland is working overtime, causing Cushing's Syndrome. I think I'd have to have surgery to remove the gland, but then I should be ok. That's the assumption I'm working under --- let's just hope the test results fit in with that. Otherwise, I think we'll be on another prolonged search for a cause. Again, these are my guesses based on my symptoms and some research on Cushing's.

Meanwhile, on the foreclosure front, we're basically in limbo. According to the person at the lenders' attorney, the process takes at least 3 months in Kansas, and frequently longer. So, we don't have to move immediately, anyway.

I also received an email from my landlady, asking if we'd be interested in purchasing. Apparently, she has been in touch with some company that would offer us some type of lease-to-own. I'm waiting for more information on that. Depending on cost/terms, that could be an option for us.

I'll let you know when I get test results!