Crazy Fella. Sarah’s Blog. Medical Stuff.

November 13, 2015

CRAZY FELLA

Right after church on Sunday, Steve and I took off for Georgia for part 2 (of 4) of the Leadership Training  our church is providing for us. On the way, we stopped in Charlotte to spend the night with Steve’s parents.

When we woke up Monday morning, I got completely dressed and went to the kitchen for breakfast. Steve had decided to eat before dressing, so when I got to the kitchen, he was there in a t-shirt and pajama bottoms.

Steve’s dad, Ken, came in shortly after I did and stopped in the doorway and just laughed. It really struck his funny bone to see the dramatic difference between his ready-for-the-day daughter-in-law and his unready-for-the-day son.  He had to get a picture and of course, Steve immediately started hamming it up, pulling his pajama bottoms way up and effecting his goofiest, unhinged grin.

IMG_9090

IMG_9106

And once we got started, well, we just couldn’t stop. (Have I ever mentioned that our family is easily entertained?)

IMG_9095

After that cheery send off, we resumed our trip to Georgia and fifteen hours of leadership training on music and preaching.  Each of the four sessions we are attending (in the space of about 7 months) is on different aspects of church leadership.

On Tuesday night, we got to eat dinner again with our old friends, Max and Nina Myers, who live about 30 minutes from our seminar site. It’s such a treat to get to hang out with people who have known us a long time.  They were remodeling their kitchen (the fridge was in the living room) and Nina had to get up at 3 a.m. the next day to catch a flight, but she still prepared us a delicious, home cooked dinner.

  IMG_9169

After the final training session Wednesday morning, we hit the road for Manteo and were home by 10 p.m.  After driving through several large cities on our journey, I was indescribably happy to see signs for Manteo start to show up. I am truly a small town girl. 

Sarah and Summer held the fort for us while we were gone and greeted us with great enthusiasm when we made our weary way in the door. So happy to be home. 

Sarah’s Blog

And speaking of Sarah, I just wanted to let you know she has a new blog post up.  She doesn’t post real often so I like to be sure you know when there’s something new.  And you know how we bloggers love comments so be sure to let her know you stopped by–maybe it will encourage her to post more often! 🙂

Medical Update

I appreciate all of you who have asked how I’ve been feeling after the past few weeks of unsettling symptoms and tests.

I promise I will not make a habit of boring you with every small detail of my medical life, but since I’ve recently written about a whole bunch of symptoms, I wanted to let you know where things stand now:

  1. Liver Function  The liver function tests (which were ten times higher than normal) are back to where they should be.  My rheumatologist took me off Methotrexate for a month and that seemed to do the trick.  He is putting me back on it but is carefully monitoring liver function and will take me right back off if there is a problem. He said what most likely happened is that my body just needed a break.
  2. Platelets  My platelets are still low but as long as they don’t dip past a certain point, my doctors are just going to continue to monitor them.
  3. Back Pain  The mysterious back pain I was having (at the same time as the other worrisome symptoms) seems to be RA related because when I took a steroid for a week, it basically cleared up.  It still comes and goes but at least I know it’s not related to anything serious, so that makes me happy.
  4. Diarrhea  The diarrhea seems to have finally resolved itself, after about 10 weeks of it.  (Unfortunately, it decided to do so just a couple days after we spent $450 doing “poop tests.”  Happy day.)
  5. Bloating/Weight Gain  During the course of the diarrhea, I did begin to lose weight and since that’s pretty normal when having ongoing diarrhea, I didn’t think a lot about it.  Once the diarrhea cleared up, that “lost weight” came back quickly and since it happened right about the same time as all the other symptoms started showing up, it was a bit of a worry. 
  6. Fatigue/shortness of breath   It occurred to me (after the fact) that when a person has had diarrhea almost 3 months, fatigue would be a pretty natural side effect. And as a rule, when I feel tired and worn out, my COPD flares up more.

The issue with all of these symptoms (and a couple of others which haven’t even mentioned) is that they all hit around the same time which is what caused the alarm bells to go off and why my doctor recommended the tests to to rule out ovarian and cervical cancer.

I am happy to report that I am feeling much better these days and am happy to have these last few worrisome weeks behind me!

El Salvador

Nathan called us Wednesday morning in our hotel room to tell us that he was (unexpectedly) leaving for El Salvador the next day!  There had been a 9-day  missions trip he had been really wanting to go on but the cost was too much for his and Meagan’s budget. The day before the trip, someone had to cancel and he got to step into their place, all expenses paid. We are so excited for this opportunity in his life and proud of a son who has a heart for reaching out and helping people in need.

12227034_972477022806109_2912761153140365568_n

That’s it for now. I’m working on another Style Post for Monday.

See you then!

 

Share:
24 comments so far.

24 responses to “Crazy Fella. Sarah’s Blog. Medical Stuff.”

  1. Anonymous says:

    Look into http://www.identifyepi.com/‎ for your weird medical symptoms. Heard it on the radio and thought of you

  2. Michelle says:

    It sounds like you may have Lyme disease! Lyme is only diagnosed in less than 30% of the people that have it. The tests are very inaccurate. You definitely have the symptoms. Lyme is most often diagnosed as RA, Lupus, fibromyalgia and MS. Dr. Jemsek, who used to be in NC, is now and DC and actually has several youtube videos about Lyme in NC. I hope you start feeling better quickly.

    • Becky says:

      Michelle,

      I actually did have Lyme Disease back around 1996 and went through some pretty intense treatment for it. You’re right–it is a very difficult disease to diagnose.

      • Michelle says:

        I would bet that it is Lyme disease that is still giving you the issues! I also had Lyme in 1996 and was treated and thought that was it. My daughter was born in 2000 and little did I know that I had passed it to her and she is not 15 and going through Lyme treatment. Many years after having Lyme I also started developing weird symptoms (including many that you have) and I also have a problem with chronic hives. It wasn’t until my daughters diagnosis that it all came together and I found out that I also still had Lyme. This is because in 1996 they did not treat for co-infections (babesia, bartonella, ehrlichia, just to name a few) and the lyme was never really killed. They have also discovered that Lyme forms a biofilm around itself so that antibiotics do not work unless the biofilm is broken. My daughter has been in treatment for 2 years and is finally improving. When you have a minute, google Jemsek Speciality Clinic- I consider him our life saver- he is from NC. He is also in the documentary Under Our Skin about Lyme (which can be found on YouTube). I only pass all of this on because I know how frustrating it can be with all of the mystery symptoms and all of the tests come back normal…..it has chronic Lyme written all over it.

        • Becky says:

          Michelle,

          How interesting! I will definitely look into the information about the doctor you mentioned. I know that Lyme is notoriously hard to treat effectively and permanently so who knows what part that might be playing in my current condition.

          Thank you for your concern and for sharing the info you have. I’m glad your daughter is doing better. That’s a tough thing to deal with as a teen!

  3. Jenna Hoff says:

    I’m really really really really really glad to hear that your symptoms are resolving and that you are feeling better. Evem so your body has been through the wringer having experienced this variety of symptoms for so many weeks. Be very gentle with yourself and hopefully you can get extra rest.

    The photos of Steve really made me smile. A sense of humor is a wonderful thing.

  4. Ann Martin says:

    Glad you are doing better. So thankful for Nathan’s opportunity to go on the mission trip. As for Steve’s pictures, no words.

  5. Steve says:

    I don’t recall releasing certain pictures for public consumption. My lawyers will be in touch. Tee. Hee.

  6. Mrs. Pam says:

    happy you are feeling so much better. I was feeling really good this morning when I went for my PT app’t…… then I got to wondering if had doubled my pain medication by mistake…. guess I’ll never know, but it was nice to be able to walk w/o too much pain.

    happy, too,for Nathan!

    • Becky says:

      Mrs. Pam,

      Walking without pain is a wonderful thing and only appreciated by those who often DO walk with pain. Whatever the reason for your pain-free morning, I’m glad you had it!

  7. Lesley says:

    Safe travels for Nathan! How wonderful that it worked out so he could take the trip. Sarah is very much like you, noticing all the details and moving them into a positive, learning experience. It would be nice to hear from her more often 🙂 And finally, so glad that all the medical hullabaloo has simmered down, right in time to enjoy the holidays!

    • Becky says:

      Lesley,

      Yes, Sarah is very much a notice-er, one of the many things I love about her. And I’d love for her to post her notice-ings more often, too!

  8. Men or boys, the all are born with the Urkel side! Kind of hoping Jesus doesn’t make us continue to endure that (lol) in heaven! So glad to hear the good medical news, Becky, and that you’re rebounding. Clusters of symptoms that don’t make sense can be frustrating and draining. Sarah’s post was insightful and wise. She always amazes me. I have to say, each time I see a picture of Nathan (for a long time now), the words “compassionate strength” come straight into my mind. No doubt he will bless many on his trip as he does in everyday life.

    • Becky says:

      Guerrina,

      I love that description of Nathan. Very insightful and very true.

      And yes, maybe there will be a corner of heaven reserved for all those crazy fellas and they can just entertain each other while we ladies sit quietly and chat over a cup of tea. 🙂

  9. Lesley says:

    OK, that first picture of Steve gave me an out loud laugh, which was sorely needed this morning. Thank you! Now I will go back and read what you wrote. Ought to be interesting!!

  10. LeeAnne says:

    What is it about guys anyway?!? My hubby and/or son do the exact same thing! And it’s always funny. Every time. 🙂 So glad that the various symptoms are straightening out so that the worry can be put away for good.
    I’ll check out Sarah’s blog. I look for posts now and then and it has been quite a long time since the last one, so eager to see what she has to say.
    Happy Friday!

    • Becky says:

      LeeAnne,

      Well, with husbands and sons like that, at least you and I have plenty of chuckles in our lives. I think that’s one thing that’s so great about men like that; they always have a tinge of that “little boy personna” that they never grow out of.

  11. dmantik says:

    so thankful your assorted symptoms seem to be sorting themselves out–yay! 🙂 the pix at Ken and Vernie’s were so funny–love all you nutty people! 🙂

Thanks for making Smithellaneous so much better through your comments.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Twenty years.

It's hard to believe I've been blogging that long. Many of you have been following since the first word was written all those years ago. Thanks to both old-timers and newcomers for being part of our story.

My goal is for Smithellaneous is to be a place where strangers become friends.

You are welcome here.

Subscribe Here. (Please!)

Receive notifications when a new blog is posted. Other than that, I won't bug you. :-)

Join 312 other subscribers

Search Past Posts by Month/Year

Archives