Paging Dr. Teagan

When I was leaving the ER Saturday night/Sunday morning I snagged a couple of the face masks they leave out for patients with coughs or colds to wear so they don't affect other patients. I took an adult and child size, thinking perhaps Teagan would be interested in them, as she has been very interested in my health/surgery.

Today she came to visit, bearing a box of items to cheer up her Auntie M. Enclosed inside was one of her special "Elmo" cold packs (for when she gets an owie) and a bright and very cheerful, indeed, penguin:

She is fascinated with my cane, which I've had to use since the surgery to stay steady. We shortened it to her size, but she wanted to be able to have her little stuffed monkeys use it but it was too big...major bummer!

Later, she listened intently as I talked to my GI's assistant. (He, of course, is on his way back from CA right now and will call me either tonight or tomorrow to discuss what's going on.) Teagan then quizzed me about what the doctor said. Super cute. And checked out my surgical incisions again...eeeeweee gross! When I suggested they looked like worms, she loved it! Super gross!!!

So then we got the face masks out and told her I got them at the hospital the other night and would she like to play doctor? You betcha!!! We also grabbed a whole bunch of address labels from my desk to fill in as bandages. (Thank you American Heart Association!)

We had plenty of patients!

Paging Doctors Teagan and Auntie M!!!

Look how happy our patients were!!!

Recognize my comforters from the other day?

Gramma & I also got bandages--I on my tummy and Gramma on her throat because she had a slight cough. :-)

Gramma loved the game because it meant that she only had to "play monkeys" with Teagan for a short period of time today! LOL

Having my sweet little TeaRose come to visit certainly did cheer me up~which I need as I am still having (*gag*) rectal bleeding as I have continued to have diarrhea. I have chosen to not return to the ER after spending 6 rather fruitless hours there the other night. I am hoping my GI will be in touch with me in the next 36 hours and we can make some sort of game plan.

In the meantime I'm drinking plenty of water, Gatorade, and soft foods...and my mom's home-made bread! (As these are the only things that stay in lately!)

Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Needless to say...after Teagan left, Auntie M went to Amazon and these will be arriving at our house sometime next week:

I'm so excited! I can't wait for these to come!!!

6 Hours in the ER

Well, after 6 hours in the ER tonight, I learned that I have an unremarkable bum and am only slightly full of crap.

Seriously though, Mom & I arrived at the ER at 8pm. By 10pm still hadn't met the doctor, but as all 30 beds were full, that was rather understandable.

However, in that time I did have blood & urine tests done and was in the queue for a CAT scan. When the doctor arrived, I was sad to learn that he was extremely hot--not what you want when you are being asked to provide a stool sample, if possible, and are going to talk about your bowel habits, etc.

Based on my recent history (including the issues that lead me to see a new GI who then sought an ultrasound of my gall bladder which then lead to me having surgery last week), the possibilities of what was wrong with me included (going down the line from most to least likely): an obstructed bowel (as in obstructed with p-o-o-p), a tear or rip in my bowel somewhere (thus all the blood earlier), a twisted bowel, simple bleeding hemroids, complications from the gallbladder surgery, or some unknown quantity.

In the meantime, I continued to remain parched as a wanderer in the desert ("take nothing by mouth") and nauseated until they gave me IV pain and anti-nausea meds (yay!). Then I was only parched.

Doctor Hottie spoke to the surgeon on-call from my surgeon's office, ran the aforementioned tests, and finally did a rectal exam (which he referred to as an exam of my bottom--as though I were a child or something; endearing rather than annoying, probably because he's cute!).

Findings were:

Because the CAT scan showed no gall bladder stones or problems w/the incisions, no need to worry about that any more.
Because there were no tears, or rips or twists in my bowels, no surgery needed--YAY!!!
Because there was no solid or complete obstruction (yes, there was "stuff" in there and air bubbles) I didn't need to have a tube put down my throat and have my bowels vacuumed out--double YAY!!!
Because there was no blood in my stools and the hemroids he did see were external and not bleeding, I can see my GI and have him run the colonoscopy as planned in June.

Results were as I stated in my first sentence, I have an unremarkable ass and am only partially full of shit, which I said all my friends knew anyway!

But what this means is, the spasms, and attacks of pain, and blood were most likely caused by the constipation issues I've been having and these are most likely medication related. So I am to touch base with Dr Arjul (my GI) next week to bring him up to speed and see if he needs to see me sooner than my already scheduled appointment in June.

I am to drink plenty of water (which I do anyway), consume lots of fiber (which I thought we did), exercise (he suggested just walking for now because of the surgery--I'll give him that one, 'cause I've lacked in this area), and try not to strain or push when having a BM. LOL

If I have the bleeding issue again, back to the ER I go. In the meantime, they handed me a much coveted cup of ice water and my marching papers and sent me home, where I sat down with a huge glass of water, a slice of home-made bread (thanks Mama!) and typed this a 3 in the morning prior to going to bed.

I plan on sleeping til noon at the earliest!

Thanks for all your prayers, thoughts, concern, and love!!!!

Fibromyalgia Awareness Month

Fibromyalgia Syndrome has been called the “aching-all-over disease,” but that epithet falls short of conveying the true wretchedness of the debilitating illness. An often agonizing muscle disorder in which the thin film or tissue holding muscle together becomes thickened or tightened, Fibromyalgia (or FM or FMS) is characterized by widespread musculoskeletal aches, pains and stiffness, soft tissue tenderness, mild to incapacitating fatigue, and disturbed sleep.

The pain of Fibromyalgia is typically felt in the neck, back, shoulders and hands, but it is not exclusive to those areas. Based on criteria set in 1990 by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia requires a patient to have experienced widespread pain for a minimum of three months in 11 of 18 tender muscle sites. Among those 18 sites are the hips, knees and rib cage.

Other symptoms of, or conditions that are linked with, Fibromyalgia include (but are not limited to): allergies, anxiety, carpal tunnel syndrome, celiac disease (gluten intolerance), chronic fatigue, depression, dizziness, headaches, irritable bowel symptoms, numbness, and tender skin.

A major symptom of Fibromyalgia is sensory sensitivity. Not only touch, but sound, sight, smell, taste and emotions, at times, can all become extremely (overly) sensitive. This is a real symptom, but is often discounted.

For instance, when a friend says something inoffensive in a (perceived) short tone a Fibromyalgia sufferer may burst into tears, even though she knows (logically) that she shouldn’t be offended—it is simply whatever it is that Fibromyalgia does neurologically to exacerbate sensitivity. The same can be said of five people talking to or around a FM sufferer at once making her unable to listen to any conversation at all, or music she doesn’t like playing way “too loud,” or the lights in the room that are suddenly glaringly bright, or the “fact” that her clothes have suddenly turned into sandpaper making her skin feeling raw against their roughness, or how she finds it an immediate necessity to remove her bra that she is certain is cutting and burning into her flesh. Sensory overload!

You can see why the butterfly is embraced as a symbol of Fibromyalgia awareness. Soft as breath, nearly weightless, it is an excellent allegory to the impact even the lightest touch has on a Fibromyalgia patient.

The ACR estimates that Fibromyalgia affects as many as 6 million Americans. Most sufferers of FM are women (often who are first diagnosed when they are of childbearing age), but it has also been known to strike men, children, and the elderly.

There is no cure for this condition. Patients’ pain is treated mainly through pharmaceuticals, but also through acupuncture, acupressure, massage, infrared saunas, other homeopathic methods, sleep therapy (and often use of a CPAP machine at night), water and land yoga and any other way a patient can come up with to stay relatively pain-free and able to live a relatively normal life.

In case you were unaware: I suffer from Fibromyalgia. Some days are good, some are great, some are down-right awful! I am typically in some level of pain every day and every night. Sometimes I need help just to get out of bed in the morning.

But I do it, each and every day—because while I may have Fibromyalgia, it doesn’t have me!

Q: What do Neti Pots and CPAP Machines have in Common?

A: You should always use distilled water when using these products. Never use tap water!

Those suffering from sinusitis, allergies, and colds might turn to their trusty neti pot or squeeze bottle to flush their nasal passages and relieve their chronic symptoms. Although the practice of nasal cleansing has been around for centuries, these modern-day products are not free from dangers and negative side effects.


In 2011, two people died from encephalitis caused by an infection with brain-eating amoebas after using neti pots that contained contaminated tap water. (By the way, for my dear friends from Louisian, both these people were from good ol' LA!)
The microbe, Naegleria fowleri, is common in lakes, rivers, and hot springs, and may also be found in drinking water. It's now strongly advised that people use distilled or filtered water for their nasal irrigation device and clean them thoroughly to kill potential amoebas.

While the directions that came with my CPAP machine did say to only use distilled bottled water in the humidifier devise, I do not recall my neti pot (that I purchased about 5 years ago) coming with such a warning--or at least I don't remember one. In fact, I only recall, it simply saying to use warm water.


But my memory isn't what it used to be. All I know is that all I've ever used in my neti pot was tap water! Yikes!

Frankly, I thought that the CPAP machine wanted you to use bottled water in order to avoid hard water, like we have in SoCal--that stuff could destroy the machine in no time flat. So I have faithfully used distilled water in my precious CPAP machine; even more faithfully after reading about these amoeba-related deaths!!


Because, logically speaking, if warnings are now going out about only using distilled water in one's neti pot to avoid brain-eating amoebas it only makes sense that one use distilled water in one's CPAP machine for the same reason.

As a side note, our stomachs can handled them, because of the acid, but when they are forced directly into the nasal passages, they head straight for the brain, which doesn't have all that protective acid.


Anyway, I've been meaning to pass on this information for months now (since I first heard about it in December or January), but this week's episode of House reminded me that I never did. It's either really amazing or really sad how many weird things on House that I can relate to in my real life in one way or another!


By the way, distilled water: by definition, involves boiling the water and then condensing the steam into a clean container. It's a slow process, but it not only kills any micro-organisms much like simple boiling does, but also removes any inorganic "impurities" that may be harmful like mercury as well as beneficial minerals including calcium, magnesium, and sodium. Distillation does not discriminate.

Because few people have homes where they can have a distillery set up, it is easier to buy distilled bottled water. My grandparents, however, had a home water distillery for as long as I can remember and my grandmother would only ever drink the water they carried with them where ever they went!

In case you need more proof or want to read the gruesome details for your self, visit these sites:
-NPR's Health Blog: Second Neti-Pot Death from Amoeba Prompts Tap-Water Warning

-ABC News: Louisiana Issues Neti Pot Warning After Two Fatal Infections (fun video with this one!)

-Medical News Today: Brain-Eating Amoeba Kills Two People After Using Neti Pots (doesn't this headline sound like the amoebas were using the neti pots before they then headed out and killed people???)

-Fauquier Ears Nose Throat Consultants Blog: Amoeba Deaths from Neti-Pot Use and How to Minimize Risk

Want more: there are a truckload of news and blog articles listed on Google.

If you are wondering why on earth I posted this, it's because I wrote it for my fibromyalgia support group, but some other people expressed interest as to why I was reading articles about brain-eating amoebas...and "just for fun" wouldn't satisfy them! ;-)