My 2nd Day As A Lab Rat!

Hello, everyone!  Before I begin my blogging, I just want to say a great big THANKS to POLLY on Facebook for helping me with resizing the picture above. I don't know if you noticed it before, but the picture didn't quite fit in the box and the side spilled over the boundary of the box. Now it's just perfect!  So again, thank you Polly.

I have met so many neat people on Facebook. Not only have I reconnected with my high school friend Denise and my aunt, uncle and cousins in Texas, I've met a FANTASTIC group of friends we lovingly call "Fibromites."  People like me, who know what I'm going through day to day. All the pain, stiffness, frustration over people not believing us, and I've gotten some great tips from my new friends on how to cope with this baffling disease. It brings on its very own set of problems that are impossible to deal with alone - but when I feel overwhelmed or having a bad day, I go to my Facebook clan and I feel so much better!!!  And, plus, I have a terrible addiction to Farmville....I can't stop playing it no matter how hard I try!!!  Anyway, I highly recommend the support groups available out there on Facebook. They are the BEST!

OK, today was the 2nd part of my stress test and boy, oh boy.....I don't wanna do THAT again!  I got to the cardiologist office and they hooked me up to all kinds of gizmos-heart monitor, blood pressure and oxygen monitor, EKG and started an IV in my hand for the administration of the chemical test medication.  Within a few seconds, I felt like I was running a marathon and couldn't stop. I felt dizzy, chest pressure, heart pounding, short of breath and my mouth was so incredibly dry my upper lip kept sticking to my front teeth!  I couldn't eat or drink or have my medications this morning, so naturally my right leg from the sciatica was killing me. My blood pressure at first was a little high from not taking my blood pressure pills.  The medication they gave me took care of that, though, and brought it down low. The tech said all the symptoms I was having are normal with adenosine (the medication used in the test) and would last only four minutes.  I cannot believe how LONG four minutes could be!  They instructed me to deep breath, in through my nose and out through my mouth and that will help to get me through the test.  I wanted to tell them to stop so many times, but then I thought of my mom and how strong she was and went through so many painful procedures, I couldn't let her down by wimping out on one little test because of some side effects!  So, Mom, be proud of me....I DID IT!  :0)

After the "stress" part of the test was done, I went to the waiting room and had my Sprite and a banana and I could take my pills.  Thank God!  I waited about an hour and a half and then had to have some more pictures taken of my heart. So back into the tube again for another twenty minutes, while this huge machine rotated over my chest, taking views of my heart from every angle.  When that was finished, I could leave. Yay!!!  Now all that's left is the sleep study, and I haven't heard a word about that. I called earlier this week on it and my insurance had yet to authorize it.  So we shall see.  I have mixed feelings about the sleep study....I've heard they don't let you take your night pills and hook you up to a zillion gadgets. I can't sleep with all that stuff on or people looking at me.  And I can't sleep for sure without my nightly "fibro cocktail" of sleep medicines.  So I won't be too heart-broken if my insurance takes two months to authorize it!!  And if I do take the test and it shows sleep apnea or something, the treatment for that is CPAP and I just don't think I can sleep with a mask over my face. My friends tell me that it's no big deal and if I can finally get a good night's sleep, it will be worth it. They are right, as I haven't had a good night's sleep since my back and leg started getting really bad with the pinched nerves in my lower back.  My husband does say I snore sometimes, but I don't know how he can hear ME when he snores so loudly!  Men!

I won't know the results to any of the tests until my follow-up appointment June 11th.  I hope everything looks normal so I can have that lap band procedure, lose weight and finally have the corrective surgery on my back. Then maybe, just maybe, I can return to work and make lots of money and my husband and I can travel the world.....ooops, think I'm getting carried away there!  If I could just return to work so we could move out of my in-law's house, that would be good.  They have been very kind in sharing their house with us for the past two years but it's time we moved on.  They have a beautiful Winnebago motor home that beckons them to hit the open road!!  And I don't blame them for wanting to travel and have fun. They had long working years and raising three kids and my mother-in-law has had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis since she was 12 years old.  So of course they should have fun!!  And not have to worry about and take care of us. I think my husband and I have come a long way since my mom died.  We are more clear- headed and can take on challenges and responsibilities without too much of a panic!!  When my mom was alive, she took care of everything for us and my dad, so we never really learned the basics....cooking, taking care of a home, managing finances...she "babied" us so much and then when she died, it was like, "what are we gonna do now?"  Well, we are going to live the best way we know how. I have learned that in the almost two years that she has been gone.  My dad is learning it, too, as in Michigan he has a new apartment and is going to learn the hard way about taking care of himself AND the apartment and try not to be evicted the first month he moves in!! 

Well, I better get ready to go with my husband to his surgeon appointment and see what the game plan is with this new growth in his intestine.  I hope and pray it's only that and they can remove it cleanly. We've had enough tragedy to last us a lifetime!!

Stay happy, healthy & safe, everyone!
Until next post,
Missy