Wow! Today, it has been 3 weeks since I saw my Endo who recommended that I see the head of neuromuscular conditions at University hospital. Ta-da! I have an appointment on June 2, 2009 at 8:00am. Apparently my foot drop helped get me in relatively quickly.
I feel like I would be remiss if I neglected to briefly discuss all it took to get this appointment. Four phone calls to the endo’s office to get a form filled out; 15 calls to University Hospital to find out what they needed from me and to make sure they got all of my information; Five calls to the neuromuscular scheduler; multiple faxes; and a lot of anxious waiting. Not to mention lots of questions from people such as ,”What’s taking so long to get that appointment at University?”
My appointment is the day after I turn 36. I had a long pause looking at that number. In one sense, I can’t believe I’m already going to be 36 and in another sense I can’t believe I’m only 36 and have these health problems. The appointment begins at 8:00am and at 1:00pm I have an EMG scheduled. What happens between 8:00am and 1:00pm? No idea. My husband is able to get the day off and will be able to go with me. I’m thankful because 95% of the time, I’m all alone for all these appointments. Of course, there is a part of me that worries that the doc will make some sort of comment that will send my husband off into a rushed optimism (see my post here) but I don’t want to go alone.
Tension is high in my home right now.
This Friday is my thyroid biopsy. I don’t want to go alone but don’t have a choice. In preparation for my biopsy, I am not able to take any ibuprofen, aspirin, or similar pain relievers all week. This stinks. I have been on methylprednisolone since Thursday (05/14/09). It was intended to reduce my pain but I believe it’s having some weird effects or my problem(s) is manifesting itself in a different way. I am incredibly weak. My leg feels like it could break if I bumped into a chair. In between my toes hurts. My ankle feels like it is being sawed off. I’m getting weird shocks in between my fingers.
So, I am happy I got in with the University doc. I was told it could take up to 6 months and if it did, i was going to look into my second option. I’m nervous about it, too. Am I going to get a diagnosis that day? What tests will they perform? Will I be getting bad news? How will I react? How will my life change? Will the doc be smug and arrogant? Will I still not have answers? What impact will this have on my family? What short-term impact will this appointment have (will I be an emotional mess?). So many things are racing through my mind.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | EMG, foot drop, neurologist, neuromuscular
Methylprednisolone is an immunosupressant. If you took that and your overall health got worse, that suggests something along the lines of a bacteria is causing your symptoms. So suppressing your immune system let it gain a stronger foot hold.
I’m trying not to look through my biased eyes on this, but I keep going back to things like candida/mold, Lyme’s (spirochetes), or parasites. But I readily admit that I am going on very little, since I’ve just begun reading your blogs. You could EASILY have more than one thing going on, thus “muddying the waters”, so to speak, to make it harder to find a definitive diagnosis. But I’ll keep reading as time allows