[fic-ish] Hokay...
Okay, as some people know and most people don't, I have a defective foot. Okay, okay, it's not really defective. It's just... vasculitis of some kind that five doctors (well, six if you count the fact that it was at the University Medical place that I saw the rheumatologist so he had a more senior doctor who was overseeing him) absolutely can't find the cause of. They eliminated all the really, really bad caused like any of the hepatitises and HIV and cry....something and all these others.
Pretty much the only thing we can say for sure is that when they biopsied it, the pathologist found inflammation of the small and medium vessels, which is probably more accurately called the tiny and even tinier vessel (as it was explained to me).
So...
When the temp starts to drop and it's that time where it's almost winter (in Mississippi, there's really only two seasons... spring and fall are the handful of mild days that dot the meeting of winter and summer that are hardly ever consecutive), that's when it starts. And when it starts to move out of winter, that's when it goes away. Well, mostly, anyway. Some stiffness, nothing to worry about really.
But when the season comes around, the foot (and sometimes the lower leg up to the knee) swells and gets all sorts of freaky-looking spots and discoloration and sometimes unexplained necrotic-like wounds (that's how it actually started that first time; I thought it was a brown recluse bite) and it hurts and it just generally ruins my day.
Soooooo.... I have to spend large blocks of time on the couch with my foot propped up and I'm not sure how much good it's doing but nevertheless, I have have been told and so I obey.
The really strange thing is, it's only ever in that one foot and ankle. EVERY YEAR when it comes back, it's always that one foot and only that one foot, the left one. Never anywhere else.
Now, I used to smoke and apparently that sets off vasculitis so both myself and The Hubby quit and then for two winters, my foot was like 99% fine, just got a bit stiff now and again. But now, it's back and I'm not happy. It's also possible that my medication is the cause but there's no way to test that short of stopping the meds and my psychiatrist said I'm doing so well that she doesn't want me to do that.
And the point of this long ramble that I'm sure has waaaay more gross details than you might want, is to say, sorry, but it's hard to type on my computer in the computer room from the amazing vantage point of lying on my back on the couch so I have absolutely no clue when I'll have an update for you guys.
I mean, I'd hate to go on hiatus all winter but this stupid defective foot... Grr... But on the plus side, it looks better today and I'll go see my doctor on Monday and see if she's A.) put me on prednisone since that's what the rheumatologist did and it helped (and, well, she's cheaper than going back to him) and B.) if she puts me on it for as long as they did with a high doe, if she'll give me something for the incredible indescribable pain that happened the last time I was put on it for a long while and then started to taper it off by 20mg ever two weeks. (Seriously, I've never felt pain like that before. I was literally screaming and crying and I really freaked out my parents because even though they live in an entirely different state, I called them at six in the morning crying and screaming and out of my mind and terrified because the doctor didn't open until 8 and I'd been hurting increasingly worse since 2 a.m. but only so unbearably since 5 and I'd never realized just how long a minute could really last. Seriously. I had to called them back later that day and apologize and I still don't really remember what all I said to them.. and I had to go through that three times though I still had the meds from the first time (dropping the dose from 60mg to 40mg) so the second two times (drop to 20mg and then stop entirely) were more manageable).
Er, I'm rambling again. Anyways, point being, no clue when I'll update. It's not officially a hiatus since, if my foot behaves, I will be writing, but it could conceivably be as late as the end of winter before I have an update finished.
Pretty much the only thing we can say for sure is that when they biopsied it, the pathologist found inflammation of the small and medium vessels, which is probably more accurately called the tiny and even tinier vessel (as it was explained to me).
So...
When the temp starts to drop and it's that time where it's almost winter (in Mississippi, there's really only two seasons... spring and fall are the handful of mild days that dot the meeting of winter and summer that are hardly ever consecutive), that's when it starts. And when it starts to move out of winter, that's when it goes away. Well, mostly, anyway. Some stiffness, nothing to worry about really.
But when the season comes around, the foot (and sometimes the lower leg up to the knee) swells and gets all sorts of freaky-looking spots and discoloration and sometimes unexplained necrotic-like wounds (that's how it actually started that first time; I thought it was a brown recluse bite) and it hurts and it just generally ruins my day.
Soooooo.... I have to spend large blocks of time on the couch with my foot propped up and I'm not sure how much good it's doing but nevertheless, I have have been told and so I obey.
The really strange thing is, it's only ever in that one foot and ankle. EVERY YEAR when it comes back, it's always that one foot and only that one foot, the left one. Never anywhere else.
Now, I used to smoke and apparently that sets off vasculitis so both myself and The Hubby quit and then for two winters, my foot was like 99% fine, just got a bit stiff now and again. But now, it's back and I'm not happy. It's also possible that my medication is the cause but there's no way to test that short of stopping the meds and my psychiatrist said I'm doing so well that she doesn't want me to do that.
And the point of this long ramble that I'm sure has waaaay more gross details than you might want, is to say, sorry, but it's hard to type on my computer in the computer room from the amazing vantage point of lying on my back on the couch so I have absolutely no clue when I'll have an update for you guys.
I mean, I'd hate to go on hiatus all winter but this stupid defective foot... Grr... But on the plus side, it looks better today and I'll go see my doctor on Monday and see if she's A.) put me on prednisone since that's what the rheumatologist did and it helped (and, well, she's cheaper than going back to him) and B.) if she puts me on it for as long as they did with a high doe, if she'll give me something for the incredible indescribable pain that happened the last time I was put on it for a long while and then started to taper it off by 20mg ever two weeks. (Seriously, I've never felt pain like that before. I was literally screaming and crying and I really freaked out my parents because even though they live in an entirely different state, I called them at six in the morning crying and screaming and out of my mind and terrified because the doctor didn't open until 8 and I'd been hurting increasingly worse since 2 a.m. but only so unbearably since 5 and I'd never realized just how long a minute could really last. Seriously. I had to called them back later that day and apologize and I still don't really remember what all I said to them.. and I had to go through that three times though I still had the meds from the first time (dropping the dose from 60mg to 40mg) so the second two times (drop to 20mg and then stop entirely) were more manageable).
Er, I'm rambling again. Anyways, point being, no clue when I'll update. It's not officially a hiatus since, if my foot behaves, I will be writing, but it could conceivably be as late as the end of winter before I have an update finished.