Tag Archives: doctor

Seeing My Heart Rate Spike (or What It’s Like Working Out On The New Medication)

Posted on March 16, 2015 | Comments Off on Seeing My Heart Rate Spike (or What It’s Like Working Out On The New Medication)

This past week, I got 4 workouts in (finally!). Two of those workouts were before I started the new medication and two of them were after. And those workouts were like night and day!

I was finally back to my normal schedule for workouts, so that made me happy. Monday was fine but Wednesday was a bit tough. My hips were killing me after being positioned so strangely for my x-rays. I don’t remember having so much pain after my last set of x-rays, but I just tried to not focus on the pain and to listen to my body when I might need to take breaks.

Even though on my post on Friday, I didn’t know exactly when I would start the new medication, I actually was able to start on Friday morning (I take the medicine once a day and in the morning only). I’ll go more into how my first week on the new medicine goes towards the end of this week, but it really did change my workouts.

I have no idea if it was a smart thing to do a workout on the first day of a new medication, but I did it and I can’t change that. My heart was racing like crazy all day, even if I was just sitting at my desk. With my heart racing so much, it was almost causing a panic attack as well! But I just tried to take deep breaths and remind myself that an increased heart rate is a very common (and almost expected) side effect of the medication.

I warned my coach on Friday that my heart rate was racing and that I wasn’t sure how I would do in the workout. He told me to just listen to my body and to take any extra breaks that I might need. And I really needed those extra breaks!

I have been struggling a lot lately to get my heart rate up into the orange zone. But when you compare a workout from the beginning of the week to one at the end of the week, you can see how much higher my heart rate was the entire time.

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The top one is from the beginning of the week and the bottom is from the end of the week. And the zones that the app has is different from the zones at Orangetheory, so it doesn’t really show how much time I spent in the orange and red zone (I was there for 33 minutes of a 55 minute workout).

There were a couple of scary moments where my heart was racing so hard that I was getting dizzy and nauseous. That pretty much only happened on the treadmill so when I felt like that I just stepped onto the side rails and caught my breath. I had that feeling once doing floor work, and when that happened I just held onto the wall until the feeling went away (it was gone in about 30 seconds).

The other thing I noticed is that my heart rate is not dropping back to a “normal” rate as quickly as it used to. I expected my normal to be higher, but I thought that all the cardio work that I have done would continue to show (the stronger you are in cardio, the quicker your heart rate goes from a high zone to a regular rate). But I was staying high much longer than before.

I have no idea if the heart rate thing will be a forever thing while I’m on this medication or if it will get better as my body gets used to taking it. I’m taking notes and will be bringing all of these things up with my doctor next month when we discuss how I’m doing on the medicine as well as if I need to increase the dosage.

But while I’m doing all this adjusting to the heart rate changes, I’m more grateful than ever that I have to wear a heart rate monitor at Orangetheory. Even though I would wear a heart rate monitor at SoulCycle, I never looked at what my heart rate was during the class. I mainly used it to track my calorie burn. But now, I’m really paying attention to what my heart rate is doing and trying to make sure that I stay safe in my workouts.

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I Am Stronger (or How A Tweet Was An Ah-Ha Moment)

Posted on March 13, 2015 | 3 comments

A twitter friend of mine mentioned that they were going to be overhauling their diet and starting to try to get back on track this week. I tweeted my support and told her that if she needed a sounding board or anything, I am here for her. Then she mentioned that she has had issues with food in the past, and then I tweeted something that sounded silly to me at first.

To quote myself: “Eating disorders are a bitch. I just want to prove that I am stronger than it.”

I said it as almost a joke at first. But when I re-read what I wrote, I realized how much that it summed up my feelings about my eating disorder.

This will be a forever battle for me. I know, understand, and accept that. But I’d like to sometimes win that battle.

I know that slip-ups and setbacks are going to happen for the rest of my life. But I’d rather those be rare and “normal” eating be the norm versus the other way around.

I just want to have some wins in my battle. And sadly, those seem to be few and far between.

But I’m working on it. I just got approval from a doctor to take the new medication that is approved for binge eating disorders. I have no idea if this will help me, but the plan is to try the medication for a month and then reevaluate things. There are some side effects that worry me, but I have to try this. If it helps, that would be awesome. If it doesn’t, at least I know I tried it. Any help that I can get in my battle the better.

I wish that motivation could be enough to help me, but sadly it isn’t. And with this new hip surgery dependent on me losing weight, I know I have to do this more than ever. I went through this same thing with my first hip surgery and that is what brought me to doing the UCLA RFO program. While I know that that can get the weight off me, it doesn’t help keep the weight off me (if anything, it makes it worse). So while I’m in the same circumstance as before, I want to do this the right way this time. And since the surgery is not nearly as urgent as the first surgery, I’m allowing myself the time to lose my weight.

I will keep you all updated on how I do on this new medication. Depending on when I have time to pick it up, I might not be able to start taking it until this weekend or possibly even next week (sadly, I cannot pick this up at the 24 hour pharmacy). And even though I will be starting it, the doctor has no idea if the dosage will be correct so even if it works it might take months to start seeing results. I’ve gone through this with my panic meds before, so I know that I need to be patient and maybe this will not be the right medication for me.

But at least I will be finding out if I have a new “weapon” on my side in this battle.

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I Might Have Found My New Hip Surgeon (or Studying My X-Rays Like Crazy)

Posted on March 12, 2015 | 1 comment

This week I finally had my appointment with the new hip specialist at my hospital. While I’m still sad that my first hip surgeon is gone, I was interested to hear what another doctor might say about my issues.

When I found my first hip surgeon, I did get a second opinion. But my second opinion didn’t feel like there was anything seriously wrong with me and that my hip pain was really just muscle pain that wasn’t going away (by that point, I had been in very bad pain for 6 months). So since my original hip surgeon was the one who believed that there was something wrong with me that could be fixed, I trusted his opinion completely. And when he told me that I would still need 3 more surgeries on my hips, I accepted that as what had to be done.

So going in to meet a new surgeon is a little scary. He did have my medical records and was able to review my old surgeon’s notes on my condition and surgery. But as I expected, I needed to get another set of x-rays so this doctor could see how things look today.

So right before my appointment, I visited the orthopedic x-ray room.

Kaiser

I had 2 different types of x-rays done. The standing up ones are pretty easy (and almost totally painless for me). The laying down ones are tough. The way I have to lay with my feet on a chair and my knees out cause me a lot of pain. And when it was time to sit up after the x-rays, my hips locked up and got stuck. I was able to stand up after a minute or so, but all of this just reminded me of how much I needed to meet with the new surgeon and get a game plan going.

The new surgeon was very nice. He had me tell him about my history and my understanding of my past diagnosis and treatment plans. He also asked me about specific pain issues that I’m having. I was able to discuss some of the issues that I have in Orangetheory and how I’d like to be able to gain flexibility and movement again so my workouts might get a bit easier for me.

Then came the surprise to me. The surgeon brought my up x-rays on the screen and pointed out some abnormalities that were never discussed with me by my old surgeon.

My Bones

It’s hard to explain the issues, but the short story of it is that he added a diagnosis of bilateral hip dysplasia with short hip sockets. Basically, my hip sockets are too small for my legs and that because of this I’m putting extra pressure on the outside of my hips. This, along with the bone spurs that were previously discovered, are the reason I needed my first surgery.

The good news about this is that it looks like I might only have one more surgery in my future. All the issues I’m currently dealing with in my right hip (the one that was operated on in 2006) are caused by scar tissue. This cannot really be fixed and sadly I will have to just accept this pain for the rest of my life. I could have another corrective surgery, but that would most likely cause additional scar tissue and make my right hip even worse. But my left hip should only need one surgery and that isn’t going to be a hip replacement!

There are still several steps to go before I have my left hip fixed. First of all, I have to lose more weight. My surgeon gave me a weight that he wants me to be at before he operates on me. Then, once I am close to that weight, I will have to do an MRI to see which of the 2 surgeries that can correct this issue I am eligible for. One of the surgeries has a recovery time of about a month, but it only has a 50/50 success rate. The other surgery has a recovery time of about 6 months, but it has a significantly higher success rate.

It’s a lot of me to think about. I’m been studying my x-rays against x-rays I’m finding online to see if I can understand my diagnosis more. And I’m doing lots of research online as well (but only on more research based websites). It’s a little overwhelming, but knowing that the surgery would be at least a year away makes me feel a lot better.

I have no idea how having this new diagnosis will affect my workouts. Obviously the pain that I’ve been feeling for forever isn’t going to change. But perhaps my coaches will have some ideas of modifications for some exercises that will be better for me. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

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Binge Eating In The Media (or More Help Might Be On The Way)

Posted on February 5, 2015 | 6 comments

Binge eating has been talked about in the media quite a bit lately. Most of it is surrounding Monica Seles and her story. I’m so impressed that she went public with her story. Binge eating is such a secretive thing and even though there are many people who suffer from it, rarely do people speak out. So more often than not, people think that they are the only one with this problem.

I remember when I posted my post about my binge eating. I think that was probably the hardest post for me to write. I was so scared that people would judge me, hate me, and think I was disgusting after I wrote about it.

But instead, I found more support than I ever could have imagined.

Being “out” with my eating disorder really has been the best thing for me. I think that once I lose more weight, it will be a bit easier for me to be open about it with new people. Right now, I’m still scared that people will judge me and my eating disorder because of my weight (because obviously my eating disorder is what got me to this weight). But besides the fear of being judged, everything else about being open and honest about my eating disorder has been positive.

After reading the story about Monica Seles, I noticed that she was a spokesperson for a pharmaceutical company. I looked more into it and it turns out that the FDA has approved the first medication to treat binge eating disorders. It is currently a medication for ADHD that has expanded what disorders that it can treat.

I’ve been told in the past that going on a medication for ADHD might help me, but my insurance wouldn’t cover it since it was not an approved use of the medication. But now that this medication has FDA approval for use for treating binge eating, there’s a chance that I could take it and have it covered by my insurance.

Yes, there are side effects to this medication and losing weight is not one effects that taking this medication might cause, but it has been proven to bring down the number of binge eating episodes significantly.

While right now, I’m in a great place with food, once I remove some of the restrictions that this cleanse has, I’m scared that I will go back to my old habits. That happened twice after the UCLA RFO diet. And it’s not realistic for me to maintain the restrictions I have on the cleanse long-term.

I’m thinking of trying to get an appointment with my primary care doctor and seeing if they can prescribe this medication for me (or if I’m even eligible, which I feel pretty sure that I am). I don’t want to have to rely on a medication to help me, but any help that I can get would be amazing.

It’s weird to think that when I started to try to get treatment for my eating disorder, they didn’t even properly diagnose me. Even in my medical record right now, it says “eating disorder unspecified”. There wasn’t an option to put binge eating as my diagnosis. And the help that they were trying to give me was for bulimics (because according to the doctors, bulimia was the closest eating disorder to what I have).

But now, not only is it a recognized eating disorder and more people are speaking out about it, there is finally medication that might help. So much has changed since my diagnosis and hopefully all this change means that in the future, nobody will have to wait as long as I did to get a proper diagnosis or the help that they really need.

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Getting A Mammogram (or I Guess This Was A Rite Of Passage)

Posted on September 24, 2014 | 2 comments

When my mom tested negative for the breast cancer gene mutation, I figured that I didn’t have to do anything. My only concern was if she tested positive to get myself tested to see if I had the mutation.

But my mom’s geneticist did say that I needed to still be monitored a bit more carefully throughout my life. While my mom’s cancer is most likely a post-menopause cancer, the extra monitoring started this past weekend.

Earlier this month, I had my annual appointment with my gynecologist. She was actually one of my dad’s residents (have I ever mentioned that my dad used to be an OB/GYN and he was in charge of training all the residents in his department?) so she’s known my family for a long time. And when I saw her last year, it was right after my mom’s surgery but before too much else was done. So she knew that I would be coming in to this appointment with a lot more information.

I relayed all the important information to my doctor and then told her how my mom’s geneticist wanted me to get a mammogram this year. Even though my mom’s cancer is post-menopausal, my parents thought (and I kind of agree) that this mammogram was kind of to cover the doctors’ butts and so they could say that they did extra monitoring of me. But my doctor was more than willing to write in the order for the test and I went home that day with the phone number to set up my appointment.

I managed to get an appointment for this past Sunday (who knew they did mammograms 7 days a week?!?), and I was so nervous. I searched the internet for how to prepare for a mammogram and I bugged my mom about how much it was going to hurt. I know that she tried to prepare me the best she could.

When I go to the hospital on Sunday, the first thing I got was my hospital bracelet.

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I didn’t understand why I needed a bracelet, but later my mom said that it was because the person who checks you in for the appointment is not in the same area as the technician who does the mammogram. This way, nobody can pretend to be you.

I waited about 10 minutes and tried to read my book, but again, my nerves were getting the best of me. Finally it was my turn to head back to the room and I faced the mammogram machine.

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I swear that it looked scarier in person.

I then had to undress from the waist up (note to anyone who hasn’t gone for a mammogram yet: don’t wear a dress to your appointment) and then it was time to get squished.

And I’m not going to lie.

It hurt.

I was warned that because I’m young and have bigger breasts, I have more tissue and not only might it hurt more, I might have to go in for a repeat mammogram another time to make sure they get a clear picture.

The pain was not where I expected it. The squishing part actually wasn’t too horrible. But because of how you have to fit into the machine, the skin near my collarbone hurt so badly that my eyes teared up!

The mammogram was 4 different views (2 on each side). And I had to do 3 of them a second time right then and there because they didn’t get a good picture (I still don’t know if I have to go in for an entirely new appointment yet). But after about 10 minutes I was done.

While getting dressed again I noticed that I was starting to get bruises all over my chest (I bruise pretty easily to begin with). They only got uglier looking throughout the day. I’d put a picture of my bruises on here but I really don’t feel the need to post a topless photo on a public blog. Fortunately, the bruises are all almost gone now.

If I have to go in again for a repeat mammogram, I’m supposed to find out in the next week or so. If everything looks good, I’ll get a letter within a month.

I don’t know if I get the letter saying that everything is good if that means I don’t have to get another mammogram for another 9 years. Nobody really seemed to know the answer to that, but I’ll see what comes up as a health reminder on my profile on the Kaiser website.

If I have to go back next year, I’ll do it. It’s so important to be checked out and to make sure everything is ok (even if you don’t have a family history of breast cancer).

But the next time I go, I’m totally taking a painkiller before I go so it doesn’t hurt so much.

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An Evening At Urgent Care (or Why Being Polite Is Always Best)

Posted on September 3, 2014 | 1 comment

Yesterday, I had to go to urgent care. Since Friday, I’ve had a sore throat and my ear was hurting. I tried to just wait it out, but since I’ll be seeing my mom and grandparents this weekend, I wanted to get checked out (none of them can afford to get sick right now).

First of all, I’ll let you all know that I’m fine. It’s a virus that caused a little sore on my throat. I just have to wait it out (like I thought). But at least I know now that I won’t get anyone sick this weekend.

I tried to schedule an appointment with my doctor first, but there were no times that wouldn’t cause me to miss work. And since it’s only my second week, I didn’t want to have to ask for time off.

So I took the chance with urgent care. You never know how long it will take, so I went in prepared to be there for several hours and had my Kindle with me.

When I checked it, I had a smile on my face and was polite to the receptionist. I know that she has to deal with sick and annoyed people all day and I figured by being nice I would at least make a little part of her day easier. I did the same thing with the second check in receptionist (who takes the payment for the appointment).

They told me that it might be an hour or so and I was fine with that. I said thank you and went to take a seat in the waiting area.

But before I could get my Kindle out and open, my name was called to go back! I was shocked that they were ready to see me so quickly!

The nurse that I met with was also very nice and friendly. She was happy that I was prepared for my appointment with all my vital information that they need (allergies, prescriptions, general stats). And she also thought it was very nice of me to let her know that my blood pressure has to be taken on the lower portion of my arm (I’m not sure why, but when it’s on my upper arm I either have very high or very low blood pressure).

I was brought back to the room and the nurse let me know that she was going to make sure that I was the next patient that the doctor would see. And no joke, a minute later the doctor walked in!

After the quick exam where the doctor determined that this was a virus and that I didn’t need a prescription, she sent me on my way. My mom had guessed that this was exactly what was wrong with me, so I was happy to have a quick diagnosis (and not needing to wait for a prescription).

As I headed to the parking garage to get my car, I realized that I only arrived there 30 minutes before! I was in and out so quickly!

I know that it wasn’t because urgent care was empty (there were lots of people in line to check in and waiting in the waiting area). And I probably wasn’t the most urgent person for them to see. The only idea that I have is because I was polite and pleasant to deal with. So everyone I encountered at the hospital wanted to help me out and make sure that I didn’t have to be there that long.

I’m happy to be polite around other people. I know how bad it feels when a customer is angry and rude to you (I’ve dealt with that at plenty of jobs). And when you are rude, things only seem to take longer. So I try to go in with a positive mindset and keep calm.

If everyone could work on being a bit more positive and polite when dealing with people, the world would seriously be such a better place.

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An Interesting Start To My Unemployment (or Trying To Always Look At The Positives)

Posted on January 28, 2014 | Comments Off on An Interesting Start To My Unemployment (or Trying To Always Look At The Positives)

My first official day of unemployment was pretty weird. But this required a bit of going back to say what’s been going on the past few days.

On Thursday this past week, we all found out at work that there is a chance that we will not be returning for the next season. While it wasn’t completely unexpected news, it was still surprising. On Friday, I started to feel a bit off. I joked to my boss that my body was rejecting the idea of the job ending forever. I didn’t feel sick, but I didn’t feel right. Saturday I was doing worse. My stomach was killing me. I took some painkillers but it wasn’t helping. Saturday evening I made a stop to a drugstore to get some medicine my dad recommended before working a show shift. I still felt pretty off, but I made it through the 2 hour shift.

Sunday, I was miserable. I had told my parents all my symptoms (I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but my mom is a retired pediatric nurse and my dad is a retired OB/GYN), and they said if I didn’t get better by the next day, I should call the advice nurse at my hospital and see if I could get a prescription for some antibiotics. Monday was just as bad as Sunday. I called the advice nurse at the hospital and unfortunately they couldn’t give me a prescription over the phone. I ended up going to urgent care and spending about 3 hours at the hospital.

I’m feeling almost completely better now (antibiotics really are the best!). But all through yesterday I kept on thinking that even though I was in pretty bad pain and not really able to do anything, at least I didn’t have to work.

At the hospital, the doctor who saw me offered to write me a note to turn into work (I guess some jobs require doctor’s notes?). I said I didn’t need one since I was out of work. The doctor felt so bad that I lost my job and had to deal with urgent care all within the same day. I told her that it was ok since I would rather be sick at home than at work. She couldn’t believe I was being positive and having a good attitude about it.

I wasn’t going to have a bad attitude about getting sick. This is so minor compared to what many people have to deal with. In the waiting room at urgent care, I was pretty much the healthiest one there (I wore a face mask because so many people had colds or flu-like symptoms). And while I’m not entirely grateful that I’m out of work, I know it could be worse. I do still have some work at my old job and there’s a small chance that they will need us back next season (I’m not depending on that).

I know that I’ve been working hard on focusing on positivity in the past, and I think this weekend proved that it’s starting to pay off and I’m becoming a much more positive person in general in life.

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One Of My Most Hated Things (or At Least I Didn’t Faint)

Posted on October 1, 2013 | Comments Off on One Of My Most Hated Things (or At Least I Didn’t Faint)

Yesterday, I had to get some blood work done. When I went in for my annual doctor visit in August, my doctor realized that it had been a few years since I had a comprehensive blood workup done. So she placed an order for everything to be checked out.

I’ve mentioned my issue with needles before, and getting blood work done is one of the things that worries me the most. At least shots are quick. Blood draws take time. And for this blood draw, they had to take 9 vials of blood! That’s a lot (at least to me).

I knew I needed to get this done, but it didn’t make it any easier in the morning. My original plan was to go first thing in the morning to get it done, but I chickened out. I remembered that you should drink a bunch of water before having blood drawn so I told myself I needed to stay home and do that.

I finally left my house around noon and when I got to the hospital, there was a long line. You have to take a number and wait your turn, and when I arrived they were on 31 and I had 64. So I spent about an hour trying to read my book.

When it was finally my turn, I explained to the guy drawing my blood that I’m a faint risk. They reclined the chair so I wouldn’t fall off (it’s happened before). As soon as I put my arm out I started crying pretty hard. I wasn’t scared of the needle as much as I was scared of fainting. But somehow, I made it through the entire thing without passing out!

I was having trouble staying conscious. My vision was getting fuzzy and dark and I know that’s how it gets before I faint. But I was able to stay awake. I have to say that the lab guys there were extremely nice to me as well. The guy who was taking my blood kept counting down the vials (that was so helpful!) and there was another guy talking to me the whole time and fanning my face (I don’t know if that helped but it was a distraction).

After I was done, they actually told me that I did well for a person who has issues with needles. A lot of the time with people like me, they have to hold down their arm because they want to move it. At least I kept still.

I’ve gotten the results back already from 6 of the vials and everything is good! I know that with my weight there are concerns about diabetes but my blood sugar was on the low side of normal. I’m still waiting on my cholesterol but that has historically been low (and if it isn’t this time, I just will have to work on adjusting my diet).

While I’m proud of myself for not fainting, I’m still a little embarrassed that I have such a tough time with needles. While I was getting blood work done in LA, my badass mom had to get blood work done in Northern CA (they had to make sure she was ok for her next chemo treatment and she is). I talked with my mom after we both were done and I know that she didn’t even flinch at the needle. She’s always been tough like that. I wish some of that would have been passed down to me.

But for now, I’m just glad that I didn’t have to tell you all about how I fainted at the blood lab (or how I fell off the chair like I did the last time).

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Fearing The Worst (or Trying To Hope For The Best)

Posted on March 5, 2013 | Comments Off on Fearing The Worst (or Trying To Hope For The Best)

I’ve previously mentioned my hip issues on here. Also, my hip defect is pretty popular now since Lady Gaga has had surgery to correct the same issue that I have. This is something I’ve been dealing with since 2005. My right hip surgery was July 7, 2006 and my surgeon was sure I’d need my left hip done within 5 years.

And until recently, I’ve been doing pretty great! I have the occasional pains, but nothing like what I was having with my right hip prior to surgery.

But last week, I started to feel more pain more often. My left hip was having a catching sensation about 60% of the time. That’s not good. I was in a little pain, but it was more of a dull pain, and I am used to feeling a sharp almost electrical shock sort of pain.

So I decided to make an appointment with my hip surgeon to get checked out. My appointment isn’t until next month, but I’m already starting to freak out a little.

Maybe it’s because I’m starting to realize that my next surgery might end up happening within the next year or two. I don’t want to have surgery soon, because it will affect my brother’s wedding. I know that when I have surgery I will be on crutches for 2 weeks prior (due to not being able to take pain meds) and for about 6 weeks after. I don’t want to be on crutches in Maui, nor do I want to be in the first few months of recovery (it’s not the most fun time of my life).

Freaking out like this about my hip is all new to me. The way my right hip started to hurt was pretty sudden. I was walking in the Portland airport and I collapsed. I was barely able to walk after it, and the pain was so intense that I was scared that I did some serious damage. When I got back to LA, I went to the ER (I had pretty awesome health insurance then), and ended up being misdiagnosed. 6 months later (and after having to be on constant pain medications), I found out what was wrong with me and made plans to have surgery.

This time, I’m aware that I have a problem and have to wait for it to get bad. I was warned that this time, I might not have a sudden tear in my cartilage. It could be a slow process. I’m scared that the pain and catching sensations I’ve been having are the start of it.

But I’m really trying to stay positive. I have about a month to go before my appointment so there’s no use worrying yet. And after my appointment and x-rays next month, my surgeon might tell me I still should wait to have surgery.

All this freaking out might be for nothing, but since I know my left hip is a ticking time bomb, I’d rather freak out more than I should than neglect a problem that might be starting.

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Comments Off on Fearing The Worst (or Trying To Hope For The Best)

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