I have a heart?

Yesterday, I was sitting at my desk in my office at work, doing what I normally do when I'm at work, and I was suddenly hit with stabbing pain in my chest. To be more specific, it felt like someone had stuck a knife in the upper left side of my chest and was twisting it around. It took my breath away and I was seized with pain. My husband, who had walked into the office just as the first stab hit, was unconcerned and asked if I had gas, then suggested something else, then took off for the bathroom, promising to return to make sure I wasn't dead. While he was gone, the pain continued and I felt a little tingling weirdness in the left side of my neck, near the ear. I was pretty freaked out by the whole thing, which lasted about 15 minutes. I took some of my boss' aspirin, which I assume resolved everything. But what happened? Was this my heart? Is it going to happen again? Wait a minute, I have a heart?

My cat is still broken

Poor Fly. A few weeks ago, we took her and Booger to the vet to have their teeth cleaned. Each cat had one extraction and was sent home with Clavamox (liquid antibiotics) and a pain pill. Neither cat was thrilled about getting dosed, but Fly refused the pill and would drool uncontrollably if she tasted it. Even hiding it in Pill Pockets didn't work. But the vet said she was probably OK, just finish the Clavamox. Well, a few days later, she started vomiting and attacking Booger. The vet said to stop the Clavamox and keep an eye on her. A few days later, she was still barfing and attacking, but the vet said to keep watching. A few more days and the situation hadn't improved, so the vet ordered up carafate.

The carafate seemed to help, but Andy and I had a trip planned and our wonderful house-sitter had a terrible time dosing Fly (she did it once with help from our neighbors). Fly was OK for a few days, but barfed the last 3 days we were gone. Upon returning home, I resumed the carafate twice daily and Fly seemed OK...until we found barf Monday afternoon and she barfed again yesterday morning. So I stopped the carafate and am waiting to see what awaits when we get home tonight.

The attacks on Booger have slowed, but every now and then, Fly will get a wild look in her eye and lunge for him. This happened in the middle of the night a couple nights ago and she awoke Andy as she raced across his chest.

Needless to say, Fly will have to go back to the vet. I dread taking her in, because it seems like that caused all of this in the first place. But I can't have her barfing and attacking for the rest of her life!

Nose

My nose is really sore again. Feels like someone hit me on the right side, but there's no bruise. My doctor had theorized that the nose pain I had last month was sun-related. This new occurance started after I was out in the sun for a good 45 minutes, so maybe? But why would a burn make it feel like the underlying membranes were injured? And only on the one side now? I don't get it.

Froggy

I seem to have lost my voice. We went to Magic Mountain yesterday and I screamed like a little girl on a few of the rides. This morning, I noticed my voice was froggy when I tried talking to the cat and couldn't quite get my words out. Not sure if the cat noticed.

Normal?

Got a message from Kaiser last night telling me that all of my lab work came back normal. That's good, except that it doesn't explain why it seemed like I was a walking heath disaster last month. Then again, maybe the stress of being unwell compounded the situation and made things appear worse than they really were. I suppose it's possible.

I would just like to go on record with the statement that I am not a hypochondriac!

Even more results

Folate and Vitamin B12 are both in normal range.

More Blood

Ferriatin and Complete C3 & C4 are both within normal range.

Some Blood

Thyroid stimulating hormone, iron, and liver (AST, ALT) tests have come back normal.

Poop

Just got a message that my poop was negative for some infection that my GI doc wanted to rule out. One result down...

Kaiser

I emailed my doctor a couple weeks ago. I was frustrated that, although outwardly healthy, I seemed to be dealing with multiple health issues all at once. When I first received the ulcerative colitis diagnosis, my primary care physician mentioned that there was a possible auto-immune component and that we might consider testing me for AI diseases, like lupus, at some point in the future. I did a little reading on the internet and started thinking that maybe my problems are connected: the colitis, the weird joint pain, the redness across my nose (perhaps a malar rash?). So I emailed my doctor. It turns out she was on leave and the doctor who was covering wanted me to make an appointment. The soonest I could get in was yesterday. My doctor was scheduled to return from leave last week, so the appointment was with her.

I arrived at Kaiser, signed in, and took my seat to wait. Within seconds of taking out a piece of paper to jot down my list of complaints, I was called back to get my vitals and put in a room. This was about 4:15. I was in that room until shortly after 5pm. At no time did I have a lengthy wait - my doctor was very attentive, but she did have to leave and return a few times. Towards the end of the visit, she mentioned that the appointments are scheduled in 15 minute blocks and I shouldn't wait for a bunch of things to be going on before being seen. Funny, because I really wasn't waiting. I'd seen someone (via same day appointment) early in the month, was in communication with my gastroenterologist, and had emailed my doctor a couple weeks ago.

So from there, I hauled ass out of the north building, through the central hospital, and to the south building for blood work. For some reason, most of the Kaiser labs now close at or around 5pm. I ended up at the urgent care lab, but they were kind enough to see me anyways. The tech collected about 6 vials of blood, joking that he left me a couple drops. From the south building, I hustled back to the main hospital to pick up my prescriptions, along with a "procto prep" kit for my upcoming colonoscopy at the end of the month.

By the time I was home, more than 3 hours had passed since I'd left. This morning, I realized that my doctor also ordered a CT scan for my sinuses. So that leaves me awaiting the following:

Results of a stool sample
Results of multiple blood tests (usual CBC, liver function, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, etc)
Scheduling for CT scan
Colonoscopy

Can't wait to see how it all comes out!

My House is Broken

Ah, the joys of being a home-owner. Last week, upon our return from Vegas, amid the torrential rain, we noticed that the toilets weren't flushing right. The drain in the back yard was flooded and I suggested that there was a link. It was a long shot. The drain in the yard went to the street. The toilets were connected to the sewer. Why would problems with the one affect the other? When the rain let up, the toilets resumed their normal functioning. When the rain resumed, the toilets started acting up again. So last night I called the home warranty and this morning, someone from Contractor's Connection came out to snake the sewer line. He snaked it twice, then said it seemed there was some root involvement, which wasn't covered by the warranty. He recommended sending down a scope, packed up, and left. As he was sitting in front of the house, we noticed that the toilets were worse than they had been this morning. After he left, we noticed the pool of murky water around the drain in the yard. We decided to spend the $225 to scope the line and Fernando returned a couple hours later.

I took a break from the action to get groceries. Upon my return (and Andy's departure for an oil change), and after more snaking via the backyard, it was revealed that that drain is connected to the sewer line and that it uses a p-trap, which is probably where all the mud they kept seeing on the snake was coming from. Right now, at 5:15 PM, a team of guys is jack-hammering the concrete to reach the p-trap in an attempt to remove it and clean the line. I'm told this will take about 5 hours and cost about a grand. Meanwhile, we can't run the water (no toilets, no showers) and we can't go anywhere (we had a birthday party to attend - but neither of us have showered today). Fortunately, our wonderful neighbors across the alley will be home in a couple hours and they said we can use their commode.

Ah, the joys of being a home-owner. I have one question: why is my house broken?

Ear - part 2

Saturday morning, I stuck a Q-tip in my ear and it came out with yellow-greenish fluid on the cotton. An earlier check by Andy had revealed that there was no visible problem in my ear, so the Q-tip was vindication that there really was something going on. Yes, it's trivial, but I'll take what I can get!

Fly

I mentioned I have two cats, but really I only have one. The other belongs to Andy and he refuses to acknowledge that I am Booger's mother, even though I have known the cat for most of his nearly 8 years. But, no, Booger belonged to Andy before we met, ergo Booger is Andy's cat. Fly was my cat when we met; thus, Fly belongs to me. And no matter how I try, Andy refuses to consider Fly his cat. Part of it may be bitterness that I adopted Fly when I was still with my ex. Part of it may be because she clearly prefers her mother (me). Most of it, however, has to do with the fact that Fly prefers to poop and pee al fresco.

At some point in her youth, Fly got a wild hair and decided she didn't want to pee in the box any more. It may have been because I had 4 cats and 1 box and that 1 box didn't get cleaned all that often, so she sought out cleaner pastures. Or it could have been because she is an evil little kitty bitch (this is Andy's theory). The 4 cat household did not last long, but it made a big enough impression on my little girl. So much so that, even when the number of litter boxes matched the number of cats, and the boxes were cleaned every day, she would still periodically pee outside the box.

Every now and then, Fly likes to throw us a curveball by leaving a turd on the floor. It's always on the hardwood and no one has ever stepped in one (except for the time Fly pooped on Andy's flip-flop...but that's another story). And the poop is much easier to clean up than the pee. Naturally, the pee is always on the carpet. But, of course, not on the pee pee pads I bought her.

I don't know why she continues to spite us. She still uses the box (clearly not all the time) and seems to have no medical problems. She was on kitty valium a few years ago, but that didn't help. I clean the boxes EVERY morning. I even give her treats just after she's used the box. So why does my cat continue to do her doodie in the wilds of our living room?

Perhaps my cat is broken too.

My Left Ear

A few nights ago, I was on Day 4 or 5 of using my neti pot to help my sinuses. I prepared the mix, inserted the tip of the pot in my right nostril, tilted my head forward, and started to pour. As the water flowed out my left nostril, I felt pain in my left ear. The neti pot instructions indicate that, if your Eustachian tube is too wide, water will enter it, and you should discontinue use of the neti pot. I think this is what happened. I immediately got clogged up in that ear and felt a great deal of discomfort. Luckily, I was getting ready for bed and didn't have long to suffer while awake; however, the couple times I awoke and moved around during the night, I was immedaitely aware that there was something wrong with my hearing on the left side. The pain was gone, but I still felt a lot of pressure. Some time the next morning, my ear popped and the episode was over. I haven't used the neti pot since.

Almost a week later now, and I'm sure completely unrelated, it feels like something has crawled into my left ear canal and bitten the tissue. It's probably a blackhead. *sigh*

The Couch

We have a very comfortable couch. When we bought it, over 3 years ago, I told my husband to get whatever he wanted. This was not an open invitation to spend; rather, it was a hostile order, issued after a long day of driving from one furniture store to another, and back again, searching for the perfect couch that we both liked. I am frugal in my spending habits and was guided mainly by price. Andy, on the other hand, wanted something comfortable, that would fit his 6' frame, and looked good. I felt sorry for the salesman who witnessed the terse exchange prior to making our purchase, but he probably sees that sort of thing all the time.

So we ended up with a very comfortable couch, good for sinking in and sleeping on. In fact, both of us have slept on the couch many times. It used to be that Andy, tired of hearing me breathe and unable to sleep as a result, would get up in a huff and retire to the living room, where he had the comfy couch and some quiet. This always made me feel bad - one, because I was the cause of him not being able to sleep and, two, because we're married and we should be sharing our bed! It didn't help that his departure always woke me from my deep sleep and caused a bit of anxiety/confusion.

For the last four days, I have elected to sleep on the couch so Andy could catch up on sleep and I could breathe in peace. The first three nights were fine, but last night was not so great. I woke up a few times, open mouth dry from breathing through it. Falling back to sleep was made difficult by the sound of the cat pulling kibble from his bowl, onto the floor, so he could eat directly off the floor. This morning I am tired and looking forward to the end of the day, knowing that our office will be closed tomorrow (furlough day) and Monday (MLK holiday), and that our weekend trip to Vegas will allow us to share a bed once again, if only for a few days.

My defects

My husband asks me all the time: why are you broken? He asks because I seem always to be suffering from some strange ache, pain, illness, infection, you name it. My primary, ongoing complaints are my ulcerative colitis and my sinus issues. If you're not sure what ulcerative colitis is, go to Wikipedia and check it out. The severity of the disease varies and I am told that mine is relatively mild, though it sure doesn't feel like that sometimes! I take an oral medication called Asacol, 3 pills, 3 times a day (that's 9 pills a day) to control my symptoms. Sometimes, when things get out of control, I have to take medication via enema. As far as my sinuses, they just seem to be defective. I'm always sniffling, sneezing, stuffed up on one side, running on the other side, blowing my nose, etc. At night, I'm told I breath loudly and sometimes snore, which becomes problematic for my poor husband, who is sensitive to this type of noise when he's trying to sleep.

Other complaints include random spells of lightheadedness that don't seem connected to anything (example: I was walking down the street and suddenly felt like I was being pushed down and was going to fall over), occasional joint pain and foot cramps, a random squeezing feeling in the left side of my chest, lower back pain...I think that's about it. Right now, I've got a sore upper left arm from a pneumonia vaccine I received almost a week ago.

Are you starting to see why I might be broken?

Me

I guess people start the blogging process by introducing themselves and why they think they have something of interest to say. I'll focus on the who I am part now and the why I'm interesting (or not) later.

Most people call me Jen. I'm a 36-year-old, married, white female of average height and weight. I have no *obvious* defects or problems. I live with my husband and two cats in the San Fernando Valley. I grew up in Northern California, but came to LA for college (UCLA - rah rah) and made this forsaken land my home. I've earned degrees in Psychology, been licensed as an emergency medical technician (though I never worked as an EMT), trained in phlebotomy (gave a friend a great hematoma that had people asking her if she'd started slamming drugs), worked in an animal shelter, researched HIV risk behavior, and more. I am currently a professional bureaucrat, a word I can only spell correctly using spell-check, at UCLA. In my free time, I like to watch TV (current favorites are Heroes, The Biggest Loser, and So You Think You Can Dance), tend to my bitchy cat, sample new libations, hang with friends...the usual.

So that's me in a nutshell (I guess that saying means I'm the nut. Hm, I never thought about that before).

grumble

My first attempt at blogging and it didn't save.