April 9: 26 hours!
Apologies, as usual, for not posting sooner. I'm not sure why I didn't last weekend. And now I'm jammed for time. I'm supposed to leave tomorrow, would leave the house in less than 24 hours! I'm so excited, but kind of concerned. The foot hurts every day, and there's a reason for that....
I got my bone scan results back, and let's just say it isn't good. There are multiple stress fractures in the left foot. He can't be more specific than that because it just measures increased uptake, indicating cellular activity, in the area. Stress fractures are internal fractures in the bone that don't go through the surface--picture crackle glass. Without an MRI there is no way to tell the number or severity of the stress fractures. (Did I mention that no MRI because you don't put a person with their chest full of metal around a super strong magnet?) He doesn't want me to go on the trip.
Additionally (because it's me, so there has to be more!) he thinks the foot is so bad because I have fairly advanced osteopenia--thin bones, they pre-stage to osteoporosis. This would be bad in someone my age, especially being pre-menopausal. Why do I have this? Well, obvious reasons are family history and steroids for my asthma. I've always taken in a lot calcium, taken supplements and recently increased my vitamin D. Is that all? Who knows. I made an appointment with my primary doctor and will get a DEXA scan when I get back to see for sure and then go for there.
And I have arthritis in both shoulders--thank you, 25 years in EMS. And my lower back--L-S Spine, is really bad. I've known for years that I had degenerative disc disease (DDD): I was kicked by a horse when I was about 10, started seeing a chiropractor at 15 years old. Also a family history and 25 years in EMS. I knew it was significant, apparently it's severe. He says I have no discs left between L4-L5 and L5-S1 and can't believe that I wasn't complaining of it. I replied that I was in pain, but it's all relative. I've been in pain for 30 years, some days worse than others. And, most of the time, the pain in my sternum is worse, although Saturday I was in so much pain I could barely get out of bed but didn't feel guilty about taking medications to control.
Tuesday brought an unpleasant surprise: panicked calls from my cardiologist telling me that my blood was critically thin and I had to go to the ER. My first response was "I don't have time for that!", but then my clinical side kicked in and I went (after eating and finding a book!) So their number was "greater than 10.0", they don't measure higher than that. So at major risk for bleeding from anywhere and/or a stroke. They gave me the antidote and allowed me to go home. Wednesday it was down to 1.5, which is critically low and put me at risk for a stroke (because of clots forming on the mechanical valve). Long story short, after battling with my insurance company again and ordering a portable monitor (to the tune of $2,500 out of pocket, but still better than a stroke), my boss agreed to let me take one from the office.
So, in pain and limping, with too thin or too thick blood, I'm supposed to leave tomorrow.....
So, my next post will either be from Italy or having canceled. I guess I have to decide soon, don't I?
Thanks for checking, Laurie
I got my bone scan results back, and let's just say it isn't good. There are multiple stress fractures in the left foot. He can't be more specific than that because it just measures increased uptake, indicating cellular activity, in the area. Stress fractures are internal fractures in the bone that don't go through the surface--picture crackle glass. Without an MRI there is no way to tell the number or severity of the stress fractures. (Did I mention that no MRI because you don't put a person with their chest full of metal around a super strong magnet?) He doesn't want me to go on the trip.
Additionally (because it's me, so there has to be more!) he thinks the foot is so bad because I have fairly advanced osteopenia--thin bones, they pre-stage to osteoporosis. This would be bad in someone my age, especially being pre-menopausal. Why do I have this? Well, obvious reasons are family history and steroids for my asthma. I've always taken in a lot calcium, taken supplements and recently increased my vitamin D. Is that all? Who knows. I made an appointment with my primary doctor and will get a DEXA scan when I get back to see for sure and then go for there.
And I have arthritis in both shoulders--thank you, 25 years in EMS. And my lower back--L-S Spine, is really bad. I've known for years that I had degenerative disc disease (DDD): I was kicked by a horse when I was about 10, started seeing a chiropractor at 15 years old. Also a family history and 25 years in EMS. I knew it was significant, apparently it's severe. He says I have no discs left between L4-L5 and L5-S1 and can't believe that I wasn't complaining of it. I replied that I was in pain, but it's all relative. I've been in pain for 30 years, some days worse than others. And, most of the time, the pain in my sternum is worse, although Saturday I was in so much pain I could barely get out of bed but didn't feel guilty about taking medications to control.
Tuesday brought an unpleasant surprise: panicked calls from my cardiologist telling me that my blood was critically thin and I had to go to the ER. My first response was "I don't have time for that!", but then my clinical side kicked in and I went (after eating and finding a book!) So their number was "greater than 10.0", they don't measure higher than that. So at major risk for bleeding from anywhere and/or a stroke. They gave me the antidote and allowed me to go home. Wednesday it was down to 1.5, which is critically low and put me at risk for a stroke (because of clots forming on the mechanical valve). Long story short, after battling with my insurance company again and ordering a portable monitor (to the tune of $2,500 out of pocket, but still better than a stroke), my boss agreed to let me take one from the office.
So, in pain and limping, with too thin or too thick blood, I'm supposed to leave tomorrow.....
So, my next post will either be from Italy or having canceled. I guess I have to decide soon, don't I?
Thanks for checking, Laurie
posted by Laurie @ 6:08 PM
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