So it's been a little while - but better than last entry (-:

Hi!

So it's been a busy couple of weeks and I am sitting here on a Saturday night trying to figure out what to do. Yes - it would be an excellent time to update my blog! So here I am!

Hmm....Let's see - I am not regretting my last entry, as I realize that I DID create this blog with the title of "Rollercoaster" in it - and all days are not going to be as good as I would like them to be.

Since I last wrote, I have had a few positive things pop up in my life. The day after my last entry, Thursday February 26, I went to my family doctor's office to request a copy of my most recent blood work - I was nervous as I picked up the results. These were a series of tests that the internal medicine doctor I had visited had requested. They were to follow up on more specific Lupus tests since I was having a few positive results with the more generalized tests. I got the paper from my family doctor as I was due to go see a rheumatologist for a further consultation on it all. I took the paper out to the truck, sat there for a minute looking at each line...Negative, negative, negative!! Yes! I was so happy - I remember calling Cory to pick him up to switch with the vehicle, getting to his work, and telling him the news. Now for the visit to the rheumatologist to confirm this good news. I could breathe for the moment...

Wednesday, February 27 - I felt so accomplished. I managed to have the energy to get to the group home and work for a few hours on the wall mural - I finally finished up my giraffe wall mural that I had been working on for so long. I still have quite a bit to do but to be able to complete yet another one, felt so great!

Thursday, February 28 - went to work in the AM - was quite anxious as I knew that my afternoon would be filled with trying to find the Rheumatologist's office in an unfamiliar part of Kitchener, then thinking about what he was going to have to say about it all. I got there - heart pounding out of my chest as my appointment was at 1:30pm - having heard that this doctor can be "quite abrupt" - I was prepared for the worst. Not only that - but I walk into this hotsy totsy office where the lady at the front desk chatted and chatted on the phone about a teenager cleaning their room etc. etc. and not acknowledging that I was there....yeah - blood pressure going through the roof for me. Funny how the little things can seem so big when waiting to hear what's in store for the rest of your life...

Finally, the doctor enters - I guess he had a late lunch....I got in to see him around 1:55pm - which seemed like a forever.

He wasn't as bad as I thought he would be - so much for preconceived notions. He was abrupt, yes - but in the way I wanted him to be. Don't dance around the subject - let's just get to the point - without rudeness - that's how I like it...

So, he said yes - you have a FALSE POSITIVE syphilis test, yes - you have a positive ANA - which are both indicative of Lupus - but having tested further with the more specific Lupus tests, and those being negative - the test results are not strong enough to make a diagnosis of Lupus. GREAT! Glad to hear that!

He went further to say that yes, having an autoimmune disorder means that I do have all these antibodies running around in my body, therefore, the fact that 20% of the population have positive ANA tests PLUS me having the autoimmune disorder, he does not see cause for alarm at this time. He told me to keep an eye out for additional symptoms to arise, and if they do, to come back. I expressed to him that I was concerned because 3 years ago I went to my family doctor suspecting that I was entering perimenopause as that can be part of autoimmune disease - and because the tests came back normal at that time, there was no follow up - and here it is, 3 years later and my ovaries have shut down. I asked him if it is possible with the positive tests that I have had, could I be on my way to having Lupus. He told me that there is no way to tell, so no way to predict or prevent it, since with autoimmune disease, your body shuts down whatever it wants, whenever it wants...Basically, all he had to offer me was the fact that I have to just live my life right now and be aware of any new symptoms that may arise. I was disappointed to find that he could not offer me any new solutions to the debilitating fatigue I have been having - but so relieved to find out that, at this stage of my life, I DO NOT have Lupus.

I left there with one part of me wanting answers for the fatigue - but napping seems to be a simpler solution than dealing with something like Lupus! (-: Other than that, it was bitter sweet for me - because to learn that there is NO preventative medicines I can take, it kind of feels like driving at a brick wall and not having any brakes sometimes - to know that another part of my body can shut down at any time, and there is not a damn thing I can do about it....

I did have a productive weekend though - had myself a great energy burst - they are rare so I was thankful! Managed to vacuum my whole house from basement to stairwell to top floor, swept and washed all my floors - so I felt so happy for being able to get that done!!

Went for more bloodwork at 7am on Monday, March 3rd. Had a great day because I saved us some money ha ha. I remembered that our phone/internet had been on the blitz for about 10 days in January, so I called our provider to get them to issue a credit. Still waiting to see it on our bill, but apparently, it was issued. I then asked if they had any promotional offers to give existing clients, and she offered me $10 off our phone bill for the next 12 months - so I was happy to save us another $120 for the year!! Doesn't take much to get me excited! ha!

The rest of the week went well except for the occasional sore tummy for our pup Eddie. He has a sensitive stomach, so the lack of sleep for me can make one day flow into the next, and I am not aware of it...

I felt great last Friday (March 7th) as I was able to cross off 3 out of 4 things off my errand list that I had been wanting to get done for quite some time now. I actually had the energy to go to work in the AM as my schedule had been changed around temporarily and then forced myself to get the errands done that I needed to. I managed to go to Global Pet Foods for a return, A&P to pick up some sale items, Walmart, order some pics that I wanted to get done since Eddie arrived home, went to Petsmart - managed to return $60 dollars worth of merchandise - and then went to Zellers to pick up my drugs, and off to Zehrs to drop off film that had been in my fridge for the past 5 years! Picked Cory up from work and felt pretty good that I did something with my day.

The rest of the weekend I worked - was quite tired as the clocks went ahead and I did lose an extra hour of sleep...adjusting now though....

Monday, March 10, went to the vet with Eddie and Grey - wanted to follow up on Eddie's vaccinations and check the recent parasite he had been on antibiotics for. Also wanted to get Grey checked to make sure Eddie hadn't passed on anything to him...well we were quite disgusted to learn that all this cost us $340...our drive home was quiet...very quiet. At least Grey will have flea treatments for the next 6 months if we travel and he needs to be boarded. Eddie returns in another 3 weeks for another vaccination....

Wednesday, March 12 - I went to see my Endocrinologist (Diabetes/thyroid) - it was a good meeting as I was quite nervous...

So, it turns out, all my hard work has paid off for something - for the FIRST TIME in 6 years, my thyroid levels came back NORMAL!! YES, NORMAL!! As she put it, "Beautiful!!" I was so pleased. My diabetes came back worse than ever, but at least 1 out of 2 ain't bad, and considering the stress I have been under with the premature ovarian failure diagnosis, plus having a new puppy, the 8.7% result on my HbA1C was to be expected....She asked me if we were considering adoption, and I didn't realize until my eyes filled up with tears, that this whole fertility thing must be bothering me more than I thought....Oh well, such as life...

I managed to call and book my 3 hour pump hook up appointment for saline on April 14 - the real stuff happens on the 3 hour appointment of April 28 - and then 2 follow up appointments which take me into the end of May. I hope it goes well and that the next diabetes test and visit with my Endocrinologist on June 25th will produce better results.

My Aunt and Uncle came to visit since this past Wednesday (March 12) and left today as she had to go for a MRI in Hamilton. They are living in London now, so the drive is a little longer for them to stop by.

I have my 4 day weekend off this weekend and am thankful as I have been experiencing quite a bit of headaches and muscle pain in my neck and shoulders...I hope it straightens itself out by the time I go back to work on Tuesday. I managed to get my vacuuming done today and a bit of cleaning done before Cory came home. He worked today as he is trying to get more time in at work so that it pays off down the road for us.

Once he got home, we were both zonked so we went for a good nap. The dog is doing so much better with his potty training now - no accidents recently - but waking up in the middle of the night to let him out is still difficult for me...but way better than doing a clean up job at 3am! ha!

So, this brings me to current! Monday (March 17) we are on our way back to Hamilton...Cory has testing to be done for 9am and I have my follow up appointment around 1pm to see what they have to say about my bone density test and my antral follicle count on my ovaries. Hopefully St. Paddy will send us some jolly green luck! If not, we can have ourselves lunch and make a day of it since Cory will be taking time off work for this.

In the meantime, we are hoping to just have a little bit of time to relax tomorrow so that Monday will not be too tiring with the early rise.

Must go for now, see if we can take the dog for a walk - glad to have updated my blog!

Take care, thanks for stopping by...

Keeping my chin up (-:

Love Cindy
xoxo