Midwinter Nap
Nov. 19th, 2022 11:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigidOk, ok. It's not midwinter. It's not even winter. But I still came home from running some errands and then lay down "for just a minute" and got up four hours later. That's a little bit more than a nap.
It also meant I didn't get anything (other than those errands and that nap) done today.
Among those errands was lab work. I'm putting this behind a fold for people who don't want to hear about blood & also about pregnancy loss.
I fell down HARD about two years ago (hilariously the event has been popping up in my facebook memories these past few days as I fret about the MASSIVE swelling, pain, and discoloration as NBD when in retrospect it WAS, in fact, a VBD (very big deal) and I should have gone to the ER the day that I fell) and when the issue didn't resolve I wound up getting surgery to clean out my meniscus and then several months after that a pulmonary embolism interrupted my lifestyle of physical therapy and exercise and nearly killed me. I've been on an anticoagulant for over a year and saw a blood doctor last weekend to see if I could finally get off it as my periods are like something out of "Carrie" if I were crouched nude above Carrie as she stood on stage.
The blood doctor told me I needed blood work and also suggested I may have a clotting disorder, a very specific one that lines up with fertility issues that I've had. Now, on the one hand she's a blood doctor so it's possible every thing looks like a blood/clotting issue just like when you have a hammer you see nails lying around every where. But on the other hand my gallbladder going rogue was dismissed for over a year while the various warning signs (continually high white blood cell count, abdominal pains exactly over the gallbladder, suddenly increased blood sugar levels, exhaustion as from an infection, etc) were blaring.
I am very upfront with doctors about being tired all the time, having experienced pregnancy loss including early in the second trimester, etc. I was initially very upset at the idea that if I did have this treatable clotting disorder and I had gotten treatment that I could have had more than one kid. But having had previous kids would have meant that my current kid (aka the best kid in the entire world) wouldn't exist. And frankly, having a baby after this kid would have been hard for a lot of different reasons. So I'm at peace with it now, even not knowing if I even do have that issue, although if I do I'm going to be ultra pissed and change my general practitioner because what. the fuck.
Current blood work shows I'm pretty dang anemic which I consistently have been for years and which has shown up in blood work in the past and just been kind of ignored so that's one more reason to change my GP.
She listened to me about having fibromyalgia, though, and believed me instantly. She knows about my chronic skin condition and how to treat it (although I see a dermatologist for care). When I had my gallbladder surgery and felt very uncomfortable she palpated my abdomen and diagnosed me with a hematoma, sent me for an ultrasound. The results for that ultrasound downloaded, showing a hemotoma, as my surgeon dismissed the idea of being able to sense a hematoma while palpating someone's abdomen. So there's some stuff she's good at and other stuff that she isn't and more and more I'm realizing it's linked to being fat and just getting inadequate care.
But! On to blood work!
They took FOURTEEN VIALS OF BLOOD.
That is F O U R T E E N. That is four more than ten! That is too much blood!
I didn't eat this morning because I thought I was also getting blood work from an order from my GP but that had expired a few days previously so they didn't take another four hundred liters of blood or whatever. So they removed half of the blood from my body and put it into tiny storage jars for some vampire overlords and then I made it out to the car before suddenly getting light headed and needing a moment before opening the door. This is rare for me!
I've already got some of the lab results back and it is not a surprise that I continue to be anemic. Really anemic. "Huh, well then" levels of anemic.
So I've got that going for me.
And it's not JUST because I had a vampire party where they stole most of my blood.
It also meant I didn't get anything (other than those errands and that nap) done today.
Among those errands was lab work. I'm putting this behind a fold for people who don't want to hear about blood & also about pregnancy loss.
I fell down HARD about two years ago (hilariously the event has been popping up in my facebook memories these past few days as I fret about the MASSIVE swelling, pain, and discoloration as NBD when in retrospect it WAS, in fact, a VBD (very big deal) and I should have gone to the ER the day that I fell) and when the issue didn't resolve I wound up getting surgery to clean out my meniscus and then several months after that a pulmonary embolism interrupted my lifestyle of physical therapy and exercise and nearly killed me. I've been on an anticoagulant for over a year and saw a blood doctor last weekend to see if I could finally get off it as my periods are like something out of "Carrie" if I were crouched nude above Carrie as she stood on stage.
The blood doctor told me I needed blood work and also suggested I may have a clotting disorder, a very specific one that lines up with fertility issues that I've had. Now, on the one hand she's a blood doctor so it's possible every thing looks like a blood/clotting issue just like when you have a hammer you see nails lying around every where. But on the other hand my gallbladder going rogue was dismissed for over a year while the various warning signs (continually high white blood cell count, abdominal pains exactly over the gallbladder, suddenly increased blood sugar levels, exhaustion as from an infection, etc) were blaring.
I am very upfront with doctors about being tired all the time, having experienced pregnancy loss including early in the second trimester, etc. I was initially very upset at the idea that if I did have this treatable clotting disorder and I had gotten treatment that I could have had more than one kid. But having had previous kids would have meant that my current kid (aka the best kid in the entire world) wouldn't exist. And frankly, having a baby after this kid would have been hard for a lot of different reasons. So I'm at peace with it now, even not knowing if I even do have that issue, although if I do I'm going to be ultra pissed and change my general practitioner because what. the fuck.
Current blood work shows I'm pretty dang anemic which I consistently have been for years and which has shown up in blood work in the past and just been kind of ignored so that's one more reason to change my GP.
She listened to me about having fibromyalgia, though, and believed me instantly. She knows about my chronic skin condition and how to treat it (although I see a dermatologist for care). When I had my gallbladder surgery and felt very uncomfortable she palpated my abdomen and diagnosed me with a hematoma, sent me for an ultrasound. The results for that ultrasound downloaded, showing a hemotoma, as my surgeon dismissed the idea of being able to sense a hematoma while palpating someone's abdomen. So there's some stuff she's good at and other stuff that she isn't and more and more I'm realizing it's linked to being fat and just getting inadequate care.
But! On to blood work!
They took FOURTEEN VIALS OF BLOOD.
That is F O U R T E E N. That is four more than ten! That is too much blood!
I didn't eat this morning because I thought I was also getting blood work from an order from my GP but that had expired a few days previously so they didn't take another four hundred liters of blood or whatever. So they removed half of the blood from my body and put it into tiny storage jars for some vampire overlords and then I made it out to the car before suddenly getting light headed and needing a moment before opening the door. This is rare for me!
I've already got some of the lab results back and it is not a surprise that I continue to be anemic. Really anemic. "Huh, well then" levels of anemic.
So I've got that going for me.
And it's not JUST because I had a vampire party where they stole most of my blood.
