Yet another health update

I apologize I haven't had much fun stuff to post about lately, but I guess that's pretty indicative of where I'm at right now - but I promise that should change soon.  I'm actually doing ok emotionally, I promise - just fighting to stay positive and push through all of this, remain hopeful and mindful, etc.  Wanted to update you on my rheumatology appointment and injections really quick, and then onward to happier topics later this week, I swear.

Rheumatology was super interesting, to say the least.  I was amazed by the doctor - he was incredibly thorough!  We were there for 2.5 hours for my intake and he asked EVERY question under the sun.  The intake paperwork I filled out in advance took an entire hour, and not only did he review it before coming in the examination room (gasp!) he went down paths that other doctors have either ignored or dismissed as insignificant.  I was so impressed and encouraged.  Even though we were there because of my vertigo and in hopes that the low IGg (immunoglobulin) levels somehow related, and could then be treated, thus healing the vertigo, he went down completely different paths to address other concerns.  He picked up on the fact I've had back pain since I was a teenager, had years of plantar fascitis that didn't resolve until I had surgery, have had lots of incidents of join inflammation over the years, etc.  He is a firm believer that I do in fact have an autoimmune disease, which of course was pretty emotionally difficult to hear.  While Rob and I were trying to adjust to that - and in fact my sweet Rob was feeling pretty frustrated that while we're there for vertigo, we might be heading down a whole OTHER path that may or may not even be related - in a way, it's nice to have a doctor connect the dots.  And ultimately, if there's something going wrong in my body, we have to solve it - related to vertigo or not.  And, if there's even the most remote chance that it can help my inner ear heal - then that is a HUGE bonus.  I have to proceed with faith.  Speaking of, love this quote I stole from facebook.

The Rheumatologist ordered a grip of blood work to do gene testing to rule out a bunch of autoimmune diseases including Spondyloarthritis and Sjogrens Syndrome, and we're testing for other stuff too.  I'll also get a back Xray and MRI (to further look for joint inflammation), an eye test to look for eye dryness (which is apparently a big indicator of Sjogrens), a liver ultrasound and a dance off.  haha!  Not really on the dance off, but pretty much feels like I should have something fun at the end of all of this.  I see the doc in a month to review all this testing and we'll go from there, but in the meantime he put me on a strong anti-inflammatory hoping that'll help at least with the pain.  Though, frankly, that was the least of my concern - would rather he had a magic pill for the vertigo but you can't win 'em all.

Speaking of, we started the 3 steroid injections on Monday and holy Moses was it gnarly.  They put a numbing cream on my ear drum and then waited 45 minutes before the actual injection through the ear drum - and let me tell you, I shouldn't have peaked at that stupidly long needle, but I did.  I am proud of myself for holding still like a champ because it hurt.  But weirdly enough what hurt worse was AFTERWARDS - the whole rest of the day I was in agony, it felt just like it did during my ear infection with pressure, soreness, etc and I couldn't even chew.  I had to lay on my left side all day (even in the car) so leave the steroids in as long as possible so it didn't drain down my eustacean tube and I watched a ton of bad TV and movies.  Tuesday was better, I was just sore/tender there - but at least the agony part was gone.

Needless to say I was pretty nervous heading into the 2nd injection yesterday but the ENT was so perplexed that I was in so much pain after the first injection, since apparently that "shouldn't" happen, and I do have a good pain tolerance.  He thinks he might have accidentally scraped my inner/middle ear, inflaming it with the steroid.  Um, super.  Well, the great news is this 2nd injection was a piece of cake!  I was stoked, other than the annoyance of laying on my left all day and being sore/inconvenienced, it was easy peasy.  Plus, I have a great hubbs who is so lovely and took care of everything, even brought me soup with a straw and peanut butter and chocolate chips when I needed to eat my feelings.  Yup.  He's mine and you can't have him.  I even had my own physical therapy assistant who laid on his side with me in sympathy.  

 

 And now, I always have to end with something funny and this made Rob laugh so damn hard.  A few weeks back, I had some dental work to put some resin on some of my sensitive teeth, but they had to numb me since they have to push back the gums in order to cover the nerves (yah, ew, whatever).  But, we were cracking up because I had this total Elvis thing going on one side of my face and I couldn't help it...it just made us laugh harder and harder and before you know it, we were both crying and couldn't even look at each other without dying laughing.

 If anybody ever used to watch Mad TV, we thought I looked just like Antonia.  Fifi!

Doc update

So, had the ENT appointment yesterday to consult about the inner-ear steroid injections, and it really went well.  He had his own goggles to check my eye movements while maneuvering me on his table and it was nice to have a second opinion - he also was able to confirm that I had eye movement on both sides which proves I not only have BPPV (Benign Positional Paroxysmal Vertigo), but I also have loose crystals in both the right and left ear canals.  I've only been seeing the one doctor group, albeit different PA's within that group, but it was actually nice to have another doctor entirely to take my history and come to the same conclusion. It was sweet, after he saw my eye movements, he launched right into Rob, advocating for me saying things like "this is so hard on a marriage, she looks like herself but this has such a devastating impact, her symptoms like brain fog and disequilibrium cannot even be described and loved ones often don't understand"...I had to quickly cut him off to let him know Rob was my biggest advocate and totally gets it...but I thought that was cool he was such a big patient advocate because I would imagine not everyone is as lucky as I am to have such a loving, supportive and PATIENT partner throughout this incredibly frustrating process.

The ENT was very concerned that I have crystals rolling loose everywhere and is frustrated as we are that it has taken so long and we've yielded zero results from the chair maneuvers, so he is in agreement that we move forward with the steroid injections.  He was very clear, however, that this is fairly experimental, and  is largely based on his good experience doing these injections with patients with Meniere's Disease - he just recently started doing them with patients with BPPV.  He's hopeful, however, and since the risks are low (and treatment as usual isn't working), we're planning to move forward starting next week - I'll do them Monday, Wednesday, Friday.  He will numb the area, then apparently after the injection through the ear drum I lay down on my side for 30 minutes in the office, then at home the rest of the day in order for it to fully "soak in" as much as possible.  We're going to start on the right ear (which has the most eye movement), then will go chair movements in 2 weeks or so, then will see if it worked.  If so -- we'll move on to the left ear to do the same thing.

I meet with the Rheumatologist on Friday and am really eager for his opinion and the direction that consultation takes as well.  A lot up in the air, a lot to be nervous about but also a lot to be hopeful about so I appreciate all good thoughts and prayers. 

Speaking of good thoughts/prayers, my sweet friend Sarah shared two Bible verses with me that brought me peace and I really appreciated her heart:
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.  (Phil 4: 6-7)
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jer 29:11)

I also read a really powerful part in a good fiction book the other day that spoke to me - it is called The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker (I loved it and recommend it) but so neat, there was a part about a wise monk in Burma that felt like he was speaking to me:
"...that life is interwoven with suffering.  That in every life, without exception, illnesses are unavoidable.  That we will age, and that we cannot elude death.  These are the laws and conditions of human existence, U May had explained to her...life is a gift that none might disdain.  Life, U May told her, is a gift full of riddles in which suffering and happiness are inextricably intertwined.  Any attempt to have one without the other was simply bound to fail".  Hmmm.  Simply beautiful.  Obviously, I'd rather cruise into my elderly years unscathed, and this was definitely unexpected and oh-so humbling, but the fact is, it IS happening and fighting it is too exhausting.  Rolling with the reality and coping with it, and finding happiness throughout is a much better option, I think.

That's it for me.  And now, for my random happiness of the week, a video of an adorable red panda.  Please to enjoy:

http://www.wimp.com/redpanda/ 
 

Brunch in the 'sac!

Last weekend, we had another neighborhood block party and it was so much fun.  We decided to have a brunch this time so the kids could play for longer (and, I'll be honest, the opportunity to have bloody mary's certainly played a role as well) and the funny thing is, that made it go late into the night!  I was amazed, we started at 10 in the morning, and we winded down by hitting the hot tub at 9 pm.  Even though I was stone cold sober and literally sat on my butt all day and just ate and talked, I was sooo freakin' exhausted the next day and felt hungover.  It was like a fun hangover, we had such a great time.

Here's some highlights from the day:

 Megan shows off her awesome tattoo parlor skills.

 

The pools and water balloons were a huge hit:

 

Busted!

 It was pointed out to me that after I took this shot, little Ale (bottom right, grey/yellow shorts) is peeing!!  hahahaha!!

It was so special, but right before sunset, the hot air balloons started landing around the hood (which is a normal event) but, they were WAY closer than normal and one even landed in the field right before our house!  It was lots of fun, we ended up all tromping over there in a big neighborhood field trip, and it was really special.

 At night, our neighbor busted out some glow sticks and we had a mini "rave", too funny.

Carson shows off his mad skillz.

And here's the rest of the pics:

A doggy friendly Valentine's Day Getaway!

Unfortunately I felt like poop on Valentine's Day and had vertigo, so our actual Vday was a dud.  But, we ended up celebrating the next weekend in style and had such a blast.  My Uncle Olie had given us a voucher for a free night at the Loews Coronado (thanks Olie!!!) and since it's a dog friendly hotel, we decided to bring G with us and make it a family getaway. 

It was so cute checking in, the wrote his name on a board and gave him a treat, bowls, and even a Loews dog tag - making him feel all welcome.

Little guy was all excited checking in and had to show the luggage cart guy where to go.  Way to guard our baggage.

Then we got settled in our room, G loved it and had to experience all the furniture right away, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

It was fun to bring G to lunch with us, it felt like we were smuggling our little fluff ball illegally, but the waitress actually brought him his own water bowl and even offered him his own doggy menu.  I mean, really!!

 After lunch, we hit up Coronado's dog beach and G was in heaven!  Poor dude, we haven't taken him to the beach in a while since his ACL repair.  He was super stoked, but you could definitely see his age - he'd play with other doggies and have little spurts of energy and then crash out and take a break.  haha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I love this shot - G looks so tiny in such a big world!

 

 That night we left G in the room and tiptoed down the hallway hoping he'd be good (he didn't disappoint) and went to dinner at the hotel's fancy restaurant Mistral - it was delicious!!!

 The next day we had a lovely breakfast then walked around town, wearing our little old guy out.
 Driving home, our little guy was sooo pooped!  It was precious.  Usually he's all vigilant in the car, checking out everything like he's on patrol.  I mean, after all, dog is our copilot.  But, this time, home boy was crashed out within minutes of getting in the car.