CT scan results

So I called the doctor's office yesterday to see if they might have gotten the results. I love how the nurse calls me back..."we got the results, everything looks fine" was her spiel. So where do we go from here was my response to her. She was totally deflated sounding. She said that she would have to talk to the doctor and get back to me. What the heck? Now going on 7 weeks with an illness and all she had to say was good test results? So I suggested that maybe he refer me to an infectious disease specialist or do another test for Lyme disease. Something, anything to figure out what is wrong with me. Right now I am fighting off the massive headache that started about 20 minutes ago. Someone told me the other day that Lyme disease doesn't always give a positive result the first time...or sometimes the second time. So maybe I got a false negative...at least Lyme disease is curable. I went in today for another round of blood work. They took four vials from my left arm since the IV was a week ago in the right one. I am starting to feel like a human pin-cushion. Yuck.


On the positive side, I celebrated my birthday this weekend. Let's just say that I am 29 with a few years of experience and chalk it up to that. We celebrated with friends on Friday night at an Indian restaurant and then we celebrated as a family on Saturday by going to the High Museum and seeing the Monet Water Lillies exhibit.

I also enjoyed the beach and water pictures exhibit as well. We ended up downstairs for a snack in the little snack shop and noticed that they had easels set up outside for kids to paint on. Grayson was all about that so we decided to go out there. Randy has this idea that we cannot go anywhere that I don't know someone. And by george, he seems to be right! Sitting outside helping was a gentleman that I spent three days with in a workshop talking about incorporating the arts into every subject of instruction. How funny it was to walk out and see him there. Plus the fact that I was totally BUSTED. I should have submitted four lesson plans on Friday...and I didn't. He said only 5 people had done it and he was going to offer an extension. Thank goodness. :-)


This is Grayson's painting. Starting from top left and going counter-clockwise: a house, then mommy, below her is grass and next to the house is a very long slide. I think it is interesting that the house looks like a stop light. :-) He is definitely the artist! He loves to draw, color, paint, write, etc.

CT Scan Today

Boy that was fun!! Not really. Unfortunately, it was one where I had to have the contrast. At first the nurse said that I was going to have to get the IV and the drink the liquid. Then she said that I might have to drink two things of the liquid. Ugh. I had a difficult time with glucose test when I was pregnant. For some reason, I just cannot drink that much liquid in such a short period of time. It just makes me gag to drink that much...let alone some nasty yuck liquid. So needless to say I was not looking forward to this at all. We get back to the room and I see the needle and just lose it. I did not come to the appointment with the idea in my head that needles would be involved, so I was not "prepared" for it. It worked out fine because I guess I cried and got it out before the nurse came in. She came and said that she was wrong and I would NOT have to drink that yucky liquid (Hooray!!!). But I still had to have the IV (Boo!). I hope you are getting the sound effects along with the narration...it just makes it so much better!

So I didn't cry when she put the IV in. Wow. I am getting better with the getting blood drawn, so I maybe I am getting better over-all? No probably not. The nurse said she was really happy that I didn't cry, because it would have made her feel bad. At least I didn't make her feel bad right? :-)

I went into the CT room and the gentleman there was really nice. He put me on the bed and told me what would happen. He hooked up the contrast to the IV. It was interesting because the "cord" was coiled like telephone cord...for those of us who remember that phones used to have cords. He told me that he was going to hook it around my fingers, to which I replied, "So it won't pull out right?" He said that not many people get that. To me it just seemed to be common sense, but I guess many people wouldn't see it that way. I don't know about anyone else, but I would rather not have iodine all over me because the IV pulled out. They had this cool gadget that could tell if the IV was working properly that taped to my arm. If the drip didn't do right, it would turn off the machine. It sort of looked like one of the store alarm inserts with the metal coils. It was pretty interesting to me anyway. He warned me that iodine would feel warm as it went up my arm and all over the place. It was especially weird feeling in my neck and throat. I asked him if anyone ever passed out before from it, because I felt like I might. He said no and that it should pass in a minute. Once it did pass, they took the pictures and I was done. Sum total it only took about 15 minutes to do it all. I got a really bright green bandage for my arm. It was either that or bright red.

I felt weird the rest of the day. Especially in my neck. My throat doesn't feel too hot either and he told me to drink plenty of water over the next few days to flush out the iodine from my system. I asked him if I would be radioactive for the rest of the day and he laughed and said no. Then I asked if I was going to pee orange or something and he said no. Man was I disappointed. I thought that would be really cool. Oh well. I hope to know something in the next few days. Meanwhile I am still having the headaches and the low-grade fever. C'est la vie.

I got to have lunch with my cousin today! It was really cool. She has lived here for a few years, but due to a misunderstanding of proximity we never got together. It is wonderful that something great came out of my granny's funeral because now we know we are not that far apart and perhaps can spend some time together. Annie is my second cousin. Her dad is my granny's brother. So technically she is my dad's cousin which makes me her second cousin...or something like that. Anyway, I got to eat a cool little place in Chamblee and meet her fabulous beau. He was really cool and he and Randy seemed to have some stuff in common. I really hope we hang out some as the year progresses. I am really am a family person.

General Surgery Consult

Wow! I really liked this doctor. He was older but sharp and very personable. He cracked jokes and was very light-hearted. If I had to see someone for general surgery I would definitely see him. So he listened to all my stuff and felt around all of my lymph node areas. He did say that my lymph system was participating in the whatever is going on with me. But, he said that he did not feel a mass together enough to get an easy biopsy. So he called my doctor and told him that there was no way he was going to go in searching for a lymph node to biopsy. So the next step is to go and get a CT-scan. Hooray. The surgeon asked me to let him know when they find something. :-) He was a riot!

So my CT-scan is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9 AM. Fun. I have never had a CT-scan before so I don't know what to expect. If it is anything like an MRI with a long tube, I am going to have some problems. If they have to give me contrast, I am going to have some problems. Between my needle phobia and my claustrophobia, I am a mess!

Meanwhile, I woke up sweating in the middle of the night. It was a weird feeling. Then I woke up with the headache already. Not a good sign when I don't normally get them until later in the day. Still just trying to take it one day at time. Sometimes I feel as thought a whole week hits me all at once. :-)