My Off Week

Friday I started feeling bad. Worse than normal. Saturday I had to come into “town” to run a few errands, and as soon as I got back I went straight into chilling mode. I was exhausted. Sunday, I was on my way to meet my parents, but went to a walk in clinic instead. Apparently these places vary, and mine is the “treat your exact complaint, but do no further tests or investigation” type, so I got an anti-viral to stop the spread of the sores (you can’t cure them) and that was that. I spent 3 days in bed.

Wednesday morning I finally got in with my regular doctor. She is awesome and knows my deal, so A) she does her job and B) she takes me seriously. They did a pee test which they said came back fine and a CBC blood test that they also said (much later that day) came back fine.

I spent Wednesday at my parents’ house because it is closer to the doctor and closer to my parents (even when they are at work) in case stuff got worse. Plus they have way fewer stairs than me and that was kicking my sick butt. Wednesday evening I made my mom take me to the ER so I could get a full set of tests done and make sure there wasn’t anything seriously wrong with my insides.

The ER did blood tests, the CBC and also stuff that measures how active the Crohn’s is. The doctor sent off for a West Nile Virus test, just in case, since I’d been bitten to death in Maryland recently where there were some cases reported. They told me that there are new guidelines to limit radiation exposure, and as a result they didn’t want to do a CT scan unless they had to, so we did an ultrasound first.

Which I hate. I’ve debated going into details, and if you ever go out drinking with me maybe I’ll tell you, but for now let’s just say I hate this test for a lot of good reasons. If you’ve had the same then you know what I mean and if not then you can remain as blissfully ignorant as I was when I walked into my first one. I got a super nice tech though and that really does help. It’s also cool because she explained things to me as she was taking the pictures, why she kept going back to the same spot, hoping the picture would change…

The picture never changed the way she wanted it to, because it seems like I have inflammation in both the right and left sides of my reproductive system. I’ve had trouble with the left for several years now, but (because my insides have been so hacked up already) my surgeon basically forbade surgery unless it was an actually emergency. So the right side is a new thing. And they mentioned infertility.

[I’m 30. I’m not dating. When I was dating the guy I thought I would marry, we both admitted to not wanting kids. I still don’t want kids. I like kids. I don’t want my own. It’s probably not a great idea to pass on my wonderful genes and by the time I’m in a kid-having situation, it’d be sorta silly to have babies. However, if I ever have a midlife crisis and need kids, I don’t have any hangups about adoption.]

They did find a bladder infection which doesn’t feel like any UTI I’ve ever had. And you’ll remember my doctor said that test came out clean. So I’m on antibiotics now too.

My ultrasound pictures were mailed to my gynecologist and I’m hoping she can call me back and let me know if we need to do something. Or if there is anything that can be done. While I’m not worried about fertility, I do not want to have to be on hormone replacement the rest of my life. I also don’t want stuff left in to get infected and cause me additional pain.

I’m hoping she calls soon and that everything gets figured out.