About those tests today
Well it's a safe bet that there's kidney damage. The ultrasound took an hour, most of which was devoted to taking pictures of my right kidney. Either there's something medically wrong there or else the kidney is now imprinted with a likeness of (choose one: a)Mother Teresa b)Virgin Mary c)Jesus d)Stephen Colbert) and the tech is going to sell the photos to a tabloid. In which case I demand a cut of the profits, and you'll all be getting invites to the freakin' huge bash I'll be throwing.
I'm going with something being medically wrong. She started off assuming that it was a simple stomach complaint, but that lasted about 90 seconds. Of course professionally she had to be circumspect, but she was fairly easy to read. I told her I was being tested for lupus; after hitting my right side she asked rather pointedly, "And when did you say all this started?" So it's a safe bet what she was seeing has been going on for a while. And later, when it was obvious that she was concentrating on the right kidney, I told her that my latest blood work showed a high probability of kidney involvement. She asked if the blood test was done there, because she'd like to see the report because she was sure it was going to be "interesting." Uh-huh.
Next was the chest x-ray, which I'm almost positive is going to be unremarkable. Except for the spot on my lung that always shows up and has been determined by the doctors in MA to be scar tissue from past pneumonia. Of course these guys don't know that, so I expect a call about it.
Then came the upper GI test. The good news is that it's not an ulcer. And my pouch is still really small. (I've been wondering if I'd expanded it over the years.) The bad news is that there's a blockage or something that's stopping the food from flowing smoothly between the pouch and the intestines,and that's most probably what's causing the pain and nausea. I'll have to be referred to a GI specialist for further work.
The radiologist was very funny, because he thought this was the most interesting thing he'd seen in ages. I was still standing on the pedestal on the x-ray machine in my lab gown, waiting for them to give me the OK to get dressed when I see the radiologist waving me over to his little room. "Come here and look at this. It's fascinating!" Who am I to say no to a chance to see a movie of my innards? So I pad over to him, and he starts reviewing the scans and explaining everything to me - except he's using very technical terms. You know that Gary Larson cartoon about a dog listening to her owners talking to her, and what she's hearing is "Blah blah blah blah blah blah, Ginger."? Well, that was me. But I still got the gist if not the jargon, and it was wild to see my little pouch and all of the other working (or not) parts. Hurrah for high disclosure radiologists! Hee. I just wished that I could have dragged darlong out of the waiting room to interpret for me.
After that it was more blood work and a urine sample. Easy peasy. Or eesy peesy, as it were. The tech, who was a delightful young woman, told me that the ultrasound, x-ray, and GI results would be on a disk and on their way to my doctor's office by tomorrow afternoon. Which means I'll start hounding my doctor Friday morning. I'm very anxious to see those ultrasound results, as you might imagine.
Along with all of the medical nonsense, I also had to bring my car into the shop today. It's been in bad shape for weeks now and getting worse every time I took it on the road. Yesterday coming back from the vet's office was so bad that Dar and I were pretty sure that we weren't going to make it home. I have no idea what's going on with it. So far the guesses are tie rods, bearings, transaxle, and exhaust system. All I know is it makes a horrible, loud, scary grinding noise - off and on. So since Mark stayed home today to shepherd me to and from the hospital, we took the opportunity to have him follow me to the garage so I could drop the car off out there in the middle of nowhere down a gravelly country road. Seriously. The mechanic is the brother-in-law of one of our alpaca friends, and he has a great reputation. He's just a bit off the beaten path. And the paved road.
So that was our day. Never a dull moment, eh? Oh, and Dar found a growth on Chloe Kitty's stomach. So we'll be hauling her furry butt into the vet for sure.
But for now, I sleep.
I'm going with something being medically wrong. She started off assuming that it was a simple stomach complaint, but that lasted about 90 seconds. Of course professionally she had to be circumspect, but she was fairly easy to read. I told her I was being tested for lupus; after hitting my right side she asked rather pointedly, "And when did you say all this started?" So it's a safe bet what she was seeing has been going on for a while. And later, when it was obvious that she was concentrating on the right kidney, I told her that my latest blood work showed a high probability of kidney involvement. She asked if the blood test was done there, because she'd like to see the report because she was sure it was going to be "interesting." Uh-huh.
Next was the chest x-ray, which I'm almost positive is going to be unremarkable. Except for the spot on my lung that always shows up and has been determined by the doctors in MA to be scar tissue from past pneumonia. Of course these guys don't know that, so I expect a call about it.
Then came the upper GI test. The good news is that it's not an ulcer. And my pouch is still really small. (I've been wondering if I'd expanded it over the years.) The bad news is that there's a blockage or something that's stopping the food from flowing smoothly between the pouch and the intestines,and that's most probably what's causing the pain and nausea. I'll have to be referred to a GI specialist for further work.
The radiologist was very funny, because he thought this was the most interesting thing he'd seen in ages. I was still standing on the pedestal on the x-ray machine in my lab gown, waiting for them to give me the OK to get dressed when I see the radiologist waving me over to his little room. "Come here and look at this. It's fascinating!" Who am I to say no to a chance to see a movie of my innards? So I pad over to him, and he starts reviewing the scans and explaining everything to me - except he's using very technical terms. You know that Gary Larson cartoon about a dog listening to her owners talking to her, and what she's hearing is "Blah blah blah blah blah blah, Ginger."? Well, that was me. But I still got the gist if not the jargon, and it was wild to see my little pouch and all of the other working (or not) parts. Hurrah for high disclosure radiologists! Hee. I just wished that I could have dragged darlong out of the waiting room to interpret for me.
After that it was more blood work and a urine sample. Easy peasy. Or eesy peesy, as it were. The tech, who was a delightful young woman, told me that the ultrasound, x-ray, and GI results would be on a disk and on their way to my doctor's office by tomorrow afternoon. Which means I'll start hounding my doctor Friday morning. I'm very anxious to see those ultrasound results, as you might imagine.
Along with all of the medical nonsense, I also had to bring my car into the shop today. It's been in bad shape for weeks now and getting worse every time I took it on the road. Yesterday coming back from the vet's office was so bad that Dar and I were pretty sure that we weren't going to make it home. I have no idea what's going on with it. So far the guesses are tie rods, bearings, transaxle, and exhaust system. All I know is it makes a horrible, loud, scary grinding noise - off and on. So since Mark stayed home today to shepherd me to and from the hospital, we took the opportunity to have him follow me to the garage so I could drop the car off out there in the middle of nowhere down a gravelly country road. Seriously. The mechanic is the brother-in-law of one of our alpaca friends, and he has a great reputation. He's just a bit off the beaten path. And the paved road.
So that was our day. Never a dull moment, eh? Oh, and Dar found a growth on Chloe Kitty's stomach. So we'll be hauling her furry butt into the vet for sure.
But for now, I sleep.