I promise, no more medical talk after today (maybe....)

So, I'm hoping this is the last of my "oh woe is me and all of my medical problems" posts

The last doctor I met with (well, in relation to the evil sickness) was an infectious disease doctor

Pretty much the first thing he said to me was "I don't even know why you're here"

We went over my medical history

The fact that I don't smoke, drink, do drugs?

All of that worked really well in my favor

He was impressed

The fact that I hardly ever get sick (besides the typical cold) really worked in my favor

Pretty much he told me I was a fluke

He has no idea why my immune system was so shot

(I'm wondering if it had anything to do with the fact that Hubby and I weren't getting decent sleep for way too long....we're night owls, it's a problem)

(and for some reason his body handles it way better than mine...not fair)

He said to me, probably 4 or 5 times, "I'm not worried about you, you're going to be just fine"

He said that while the majority of people have the herpes virus, hardly anyone actually suffers from it

Only about 5% of people, if we're going to be specific

I'm just lucky enough to be one of the 5%

I used to get cold sores pretty regularly when I was a kid, but I haven't had one for years

And that's the last symptom of herpes that I've had

Until this one, anyway

The doctor couldn't even figure out why the other doctor referred me to him

To him (and me, let's be honest) it was the most ridiculous appointment ever

He ordered 2 more blood tests, just so he could cross his t's and dot his i's

(they came back clear)

He told me that the herpes would never leave, but that I shouldn't really be affected by it, especially considering my history

So in other words, I think I'm good

Which is a huge relief

The Hubster is still having a hard time with it, he's so worried that I'll get sick again

It's pretty cute, most of the time

I'm able to eat anything I want again, which is sooo nice

I still am eating smaller meals, but I can handle that when they're not limited

I lost about 20 pounds in the month that I was sick, so I'm trying really hard not to go overboard with the eating and gain that weight back

It's hard when I just want to eat everything that I haven't been able to eat, but I just have to remind myself that the food isn't going anywhere and I don't have to eat everything all at once

This is the first week that I haven't really felt any nausea

Our routine usually consists of Hubby getting out of bed and taking care of his business, and I fall back asleep for about 30 minutes or so

This week we've been focusing really hard on going to sleep at a decent time to see if that would help with the slight nausea that I still get in the mornings and it seems to have helped

So this last week when Hubby got out of bed it woke me up, as usual, and I felt a little bit of nausea

So I rolled over and went back to sleep and by the time I woke up the nausea was gone, horray!

So this is the first week since I've been sick that I've been able to spend all day without feeling any nausea

It's been so nice

So as long as this keeps up, I'm going to start walking on the treadmill next week

Very slowly, because I've been inactive for about two months

But I need to get my energy back up and my body moving again to remind it that it's capable of doing things

I went about two months not drinking soda, not eating chocolate, just eating very basic, plain things and I told Hubby that I just didn't think I would be the type of person that would all of the sudden hate foods that I couldn't eat for a long time

I was right, everything still tastes as wonderful as it did before

My tongue is not as used to the spices and stuff, but it's still just as delicious

Other than that, as far as I can tell, I'm back to being as healthy as possible

(and I completely forgot about this post....so, carrying on...)

We tried the whole going to bed at a decent hour thing for a week or so and the nausea has completely gone away

I'm sure it wasn't just because of extra sleep, but I'm also sure it helped

Other than that, our life has gone back to normal, or as normal as it was before

Hubby works an insane amount, both at the actual office building and here at home

He's salary, so they require him to work 115% which means that he does a lot of work after work at home

When he's not supposed to be working

When he's supposed to be spending time with me

But, it could be a lot worse

And really, at least he's at home working, so I get to see him

And I'm a big fan of his job right now because they approved his time off request for Christmas

So that means we get to go home for Christmas :)

And we'll be home for two weeks!!

Oh I'm so excited I could scream

And I probably have

Cause it's just awesome

And I'm soooo dang excited

Other than that, our lives continue on as normal as possible

Hubby goes to work every day, I stay home every day

Now that I'm recovered and getting my strength and energy back I'm getting back to working on my school and doing little projects around the house

I'm currently tackling making pillows for our couch

I haven't done any sewing since I was in young women and I made my own pajama pants for Girl's Camp

But I want to sew

I want to create things

I want to be my mom :)

She's like the awesomest person I know and if I could have half of her talent....I'd just be the best seamstress and cook and baker and everything else all rolled into one

Anyway, I'm learning

And praying that I don't mess it up because I only have so much fabric

And when I go home for Christmas Mama Smurf is going to teach me to crochet

A lot of learning going on

Really the only annoyance we are dealing with right now is medical bills and insurance companies

There are a few different "offices" where our doctor is and they are all also connected to the ER, so while it's a little confusing, it's nice because they were all interconnected

They do go by different names, but the names are so similar that it's hard to really distinguish them

Because they're all in the same building and they're all connected in some way or another we just assumed that the billing would all be connected too

(i'm assuming that my naivete on major medical problems and billing and how it works comes into play...but if I have to be naive about something, I'm glad it's this)

So we got the first statement, which was not a HUGE amount...more than we would have liked, but it could have been a lot worse

 A few days later we got another statement in the mail, but because I was still slightly out of it I didn't really pay attention to it and assumed, for some strange reason, that it was the same bill as the first one

Last week I was working on paying all of our bills and I left the doctor's bill for the last because I was dreading it trying to decide how much to put towards it

By this point I had completely forgotten about the other statement until I was shuffling through all of our bills

When I saw it and really looked at I just about died of shock

It was definitely not the same bill

It was very much a different one

So add that to the other bill and we weren't too thrilled

But, it was manageable, we would just have to make smaller payments on our other bills and get those out of the way first since they're not as gracious as our credit card collectors

But then yesterday we got yet another bill from one of the same people

Because why can't they just lump it all together so we can pay towards one bill?

Obviously that's just silly talk

Obviously they just need to make life difficult

****

And wow....I just went on and on and on for far too long on medical jargon

Sorry friends

In other news, I finally pulled out the crazy puzzle that I've been working on forever

This one

(I just realized I haven't posted a picture of the puzzle since 2011...wow...and sad, especially when you see how far I haven't come with it...)

So, these are the last pictures I posted:

And this is what it looks like today

Okay, so a lot more progress than I thought

I feel a little bit better about life

It went through a rough life after we got married and then moved

You can tell by the fact that the one boarder in the sky is missing

And the fact that it wasn't missing before

I'm just crossing my fingers that I actually find it

Cause if that one piece is the only one that is missing?

I'm not going to be happy

I wanted to glue this and hang it somewhere one day when we have room for it and/or a spot

So if we are missing any pieces...that just means I have to buy it again

And that's going to tick me off

Because I'll have to put it together again

But, we're not thinking about that

We're just going forward with the hope that I will find all of the pieces

AND!!

Something else SOOO exciting??

I'm an Aunt again!!

My brother Jared and his wife Rachel had their 6th child a few weeks ago

2 days after my brother's birthday, to be exact

World, meet Tabitha Alegreia (which means joy in English...all of their kids have a Portuguese middle name [except their son, who's middle name is my brother's name])

Oh she's so adorable!!

I love having new little ones to dote on, but I hate that I'm not there

And I can't hold her

And I haven't officially met her yet

So sad

It's a good thing we're going home for Christmas

We'll have to get lots of snuggling in

And now I must publish this post

Before it takes me another month to finish

I swear I'm going to get on top of this blogging life again

I hate writing essays just to talk about what has happened in the last three months

It gets tedious

Happy Fall, everyone

I hope you're enjoying your fall clothing, hot chocolate, beautiful colors, and whatever else you love during fall weather

Those are my most important items, including Gilmore Girls

I'm currently on season 3 and I'm trying to decide if I want to speed watch them or drag them out

And if I choose to speed watch them, how reasonable is it for me to watch them again immediately afterwards?

Tough decisions..

A bit of an update

Well, it's been a long week and a half over here, but I feel like we're starting to make some progress towards a happy ending

I did end up in the ER last Monday because I was so dehydrated

We checked in, told them why we were there, they got me hooked up to an IV, which included something for my nausea, and then the doctor wanted to know what was going on, etc

So I told him which resulted in him wanting a urine sample, an EKG, etc

He did come in at some point and said to me "Well, looks like you're a little dehydrated..."

Thank you??

I ended up having 2 bags and they sent me home with a report to give my doctor

It's amazing how much better my body felt with fluids!!

When I saw the doctor/surgeon the week before that to see about a scope (when I thought I was getting a scope and fasted the morning beforehand for no reason...) he changed the antacid I was on to a different one because what I was on didn't seem to be making a difference (either of the medications, honestly)

After I started taking the new antacid things improved

I don't know if it was just the antacid or if my body was starting to heal, or maybe both, but this last week has been easier at least in the drinking/eating department

Of course, that's also when I started getting really nauseous at night and that would stick around until 11:00 or 12:00 the next day

So that made sleeping/functioning fun

Anyway, on the day of the scope I fasted (again) and, fortunately for me, they had a cancellation that morning so I was able to have my appointment sooner which meant I didn't have to fast as long

Hallelujah

They injected me with an other IV (in the same vein, too...my poor veins) and we waited for the doctor to arrive

So I dozed in my hospital bed while Hubby played on his phone

There was a such a party in that hospital room, let me tell you 

They wheeled me back finally, the doctor finally showed up, and the anesthesiologist gave me the drugs to make me sleep

The doctor started talking about how I was going to have to help them get the scope in and not gag it up, etc 

The anesthesiologist rolled her eyes a little and told me not to worry about it because I would be out

The last thing I remember was apologizing to the doctor if I threw up everywhere

And then I got drowsy and the next thing I know they're trying to wake me up, to which I told them (in my head, of course) to leave me alone

I finally gave in and they checked my vitals, etc

Hubby told me he had been waiting for almost an hour before I started stirring

He said the doctor showed him pictures of my esophagus and it was not in a happy state, which allowed me to feel a little bit of vindication

He took a bunch of biopsies of the esophagus and some of the stomach and told us they would let us know

I delayed getting released until my IV bag was empty because I didn't want to chance being dehydrated again

We finally went home and I was glued to the couch (aka my new place of residence) sucking on water the rest of the day

Things stayed status quo for the next few days

I went to bed nauseous, woke up REALLY nauseous, and dozed on the couch until the nausea went away

(and no, I'm not pregnant...the doctors tested me and I tested me)

They called back a few days later and told me what I had was herpes esophagitis

Something I didn't even know existed

(so I promptly googled it...apparently it's rare, because I found very little information on the subject)

The doctor called me in a new prescription that I have to take 3 times a day (I'm getting sick of pills) and told me he was referring me to a GI specialist to see if she had anything else she recommended for speedy recovery

The good news out of all of that is he told me that I didn't have to take the "slime" drink I've been taking anymore that was supposed to be coating my esophagus but that didn't ever end up doing anything (as far as I could tell)

It's not very much, but it's awful, just trust me

Anyway, I started taking the new prescription a few days ago and the nausea worsened

Of course, because since my throat doesn't hurt anymore, there has to be something

The day came for the appointment with the GI

Hubby had to be my chauffeur because I was too sick to drive

The appointment was early in the morning, meaning I couldn't go lay on the couch for a few hours and let the nausea subside

Meaning I threw up 3 times before we left for the appointment

It was a rough morning

And, in my opinion, it was one of the most pointless appointments ever

She expressed surprise at the fact that I have what I have

(like I said, it's pretty rare, especially with people my age, especially when you have a strong immune system [which I do, I hardly ever get sick beyond the seasonal colds] and I've pretty much flabbergasted everyone with this diagnosis)

We talked about the nausea and how that's very common for what I have and how the new medicine I'm taking also messes with your stomach

(Awesome. I'm on a roll)

She prescribed me a pill to help with the nausea so I can hopefully get some sleep and function during the day (hallelujah)

And then wanted more blood work done to see if I had diabetes or HIV, because that would explain the herpesness (yes, I just made that word up)

We weren't there very long (which I was grateful for because I was still feeling really sick)

I gave the blood they wanted (I really, really hate needles...especially when I've been throwing up and am dehydrated)

We picked up my new prescription and then Hubby took me home

I took an anti nausea pill and curled up on the couch and slept for a good while

 When I woke up the nausea had subsided a little bit, thank heavens

Someone called from the doctor's office and told me that my diabetes and HIV had come back normal, so I was cleared from those, thankfully

And then they informed me that they were referring me to see yet another doctor

(is this number 500?)

This one is an infectious disease doctor cause they just want to know why I have what I have dang it!!

Seriously....this is getting old

I get it, I want to know why too, but...come on, give me a break!!

That night I took another one before we went to bed and I slept okay for about 4 hours, but at 4 am the nausea kicked in yet again and I barely slept after that

Of course, I had another appointment that next morning with a different doctor (my new primary doctor)

(have I mentioned that I'm getting really tired of doctors?)

Woke up really nauseous, so our plan for me to take Hubby to work so I could just drive myself to the appointment didn't happen

He came home from work and took me to the appointment, which was really just a get to know you appointment and let's talk about your health history and all of the medications you're taking

She and her little nurse helper person (I really don't know what to call them) were, again, both astonished that I have what I have

Neither of them have ever seen it in their time in the medical field

(when I get sick, I really know how to get sick...go me?)

She kept talking about "if this comes back in the future..."

Really?? Now is not the time to talk to me about the potential of being this sick again

Some of the things I've read and the people I've spoken too say not to worry about getting it again, and then on the opposite end of the spectrum there are those that act like the sky is always falling

I would rather be safe than sorry, but I would also like to hear that this is just a fluke and the chances of it happening again are really, really, really slim

Anyway, she wants me to come back because she thinks it's been too long since I've had a physical (she's wrong, it's never been too long for that) so I have an appointment with her and the infectious disease doctor next week...both of them

Luckily, our insurance is pretty epic, there's only been one prescription it didn't cover and we found a replacement for that

Everything else has been really cheap, so I'm grateful for good insurance right now

I'm just not looking forward to all of our bills we're going to be getting, especially for the ER trip

But, it is what it is, not much we can do about it

The last couple of days I've hardly had any nausea, which has been REALLY nice

I slept REALLY well last night, compared to previous nights anyway

So I'm really hoping I'm past the nightmare part of it and making my way to the bliss of not being sick any more part of it

So yeah, it's been a long monthish, but it appears that things are on the rise

My veins are ready for things to be on the rise, that's for sure

ER visit, scope visit, and diabetes/HIV testing (the throwing up had left me extremely dehydrated so it took a couple of times for her to find a vein)

We found that like....7 hours after the fact

I think we missed one

I promise not to gross you out too much (well, I guess I can't promise that...but I hope it won't), but I figured I'd show you an example of the the pictures he took of my esophagus

That's the good portion

And that's part of the bad portion

So yeah, pretty nasty

I'm ready for it to be over

There were two nights that I slept on the couch instead of our bed and that is the first time that we haven't slept in the same bed since being married (minus when we were in different states, of course) and that I don't approve of

I wore my wedding ring yesterday for the first time in weeks because what was the point of wearing it before when I was going to be asleep on the couch for half of the day and stuck to it for the rest of the day

It's going to take some getting used to again, but this is definitely a getting used to that I'm okay with

Anyway, I hope soon to not plague this blog with my illness

It's not very fun to read about, I'm sure

****

I'm excited September is here!! Cooler weather, fall colors, sweaters and sweatshirts, soups, hot chocolate, blankets, blankets, and blankets galore

I love it all

Hubby has today off for Labor Day, which I'm super stoked for

So we are watching the 6-hour version of Pride and Prejudice

He's good to me

We've watched almost all of the Jane Austen movies since I've been sick

There's just something about them

They're perfect "sick" movies

And Hubby loves me and humors watching them with me

He even asked me to read Pride and Prejudice to him one of these days

Well color me shocked

I hurried and agreed before he had the chance of taking it back

We're already reading a book together, but as soon as that's done....Lizzie and Jane, here we come

Anyway, it's getting to the stressful part of the movie, so I better close this before I become distracted and forget to finish it

Happy September!!