Getting Sick

It's weird to know that I had to get sick to find out that I am sick. June 2011 was the start of the Crazy Roller Coaster Ride. I was doing some "summer cleaning" of my in closed back porch. The plan was to remove EVERYTHING & start fresh to make a nice place to sit & hang out with family & friends. Things were progressing nicely. Then the coughing started. Being that I have Asthma & bad allergies to dust, I didn't think much out it since it had been YEARS since the back porch had been cleaned out. That night the coughing got worse. It turned in to the wonderful "bronchitis bark". The next morning when I woke up it felt like my lungs were on fire. It hurt so much to breathe. I called my dad & said I NEED to go to the doctor. Off to Urgent Care we go.
As the doctor is looking me over he notices the 'rash' on my face & ears I've had for the past 5 years. He asked if I knew what it was. I said No, but it seems to looks like Eczema to me. He said some of it does but the one across the bridge of your nose concerns me. It looks to be the start of Lupus.
That's about the time I started to freak out! I had heard of Lupus before but didn't really know anything about it. I was scared. Being as I have no health insurance the doctor referred me to a local low income clinic to start the process of being tested to see if I had Lupus.
So I head home & go online to find out what Lupus was & what I was in store for.... Lots of blood work test, special doctors, etc etc. Then I looked at the list of symptoms. I had almost every one that was listed!!! I had always had a different answer for each of the symptoms. But if you mush all of them together, Lupus seemed to be the right answer.
I walked into my appointment at the Clinic very informed. (I was the kind of patient all doctors fear!) A full blood work up was ordered. (Knew that was coming) Then I was sent on my merry little way without very many answers. The waiting started for the blood work to come back.
I would freak out a little more each day. I was scared to find out what fate was about to hand me. I was already pretty stressed out at the time, helping plan my dad's upcoming wedding. Finally the results come in. They asked for e to come in for a urine test to check to see if  I may have a bladder infection because my White Blood Cell count was pretty high. I reminded the nurse that when the blood work was done that I was taking Prednisone for the Bronchitis I was still trying to get over. Well that would explain the high White count. DUH!!! Then I was told they would rerun the blood work in a month when all the Presnisone was out of my body. Okay sounded good to me. Then I asked about the "rash" on my face. The nurse had no answer for me, but would talk to the doctor & get back to me.
After a week of waiting a nurse gets back to me. The doctor wants you to see a Dermatologist. (Knew that would be coming) She goes on to tell me that the Clinic office manager will set up the appointment & let me know when and where it will be since there isn't a Dermatologist on staff at the Clinic. It takes almost a month to hear from the office manager! But I had a August appointment set. (That was great news to me since dad's wedding was at the end of July. I knew that I would have to have a biopsy done & didn't want to look bad in his wedding pictures.)
The big day of going to the Dermatologist came. I was sooooo nervous! But she turned out to be the most wonderfully caring doctor! Of course she did a biopsy of the Molar "Butterfly" Rash on my nose. I walked out of her office with 2 sexy stitches & my head held high with my Dermmy's support of getting this all figured out for me. That was the first of the 3 biopsies that I had done over the next 2 months. Each visit with her was a new experience. She was fighting hard to get the Clinic to send me to a Rhumatologist because of all the joint pain I was in & also so that she could give me medication to actually treat my DLE (skin lupus) without messing up any of the blood test that the Rheumy would need to run.
I finally go back to the Clinic to get something to help with the joint pain & all the anixixty that I was having. The doctor still wasn't seeing the need to send me to a Rheumy & wanted to treat my pain "in house". I wasn't  happy with his choice to treat me in this manner, but he's the doctor. I was just happy to have something a little more powerful then just regular Tylonal to kill the pain.
Things were going alright... Then the stomach pains started. I thought I was going to DIE!!! Sadly the pains had gotten worse the night that I had biopsies of my cervix done that morning. (I had Stage 3 Pre-Cancer Cells removed from my cervix 5 years ago) I couldn't sleep with all the pain I was in. So off to the ER I went. The good news was I got GREAT pain meds! The bad news was I might have an ulcer. ER doctor said that it was from all the stress of finding out about having Lupus. I could agree to that answer. So 2 new pills to take to help fix my stomach.
Back to the Clinic for a check up for my stomach & to see how the anxiety meds are working. Now let me remind you that I'm still in a lot of joint & muscle pain. Doctor isn't to concerned over the stomach pain. But does finally agree to send me to a Rheumy. That was the good news. The bad news was they don't have a Rheumy on staff at the Clinic. So I need to go to Loyola Medical Center in Chicago. (That's over 50 miles away!)
On Halloween I make the journey to Loyola. I was excited!!! This was the 1 doctor who was going to help me the most. After answering a lot of questions & having a exam of my joints I was told that I have Fibromyalgia. Plus she wanted to rerun all my blood work to get a new ANA count. So after giving up 7 viles of blood I head home to wait for the tests to come back.
2 weeks of waiting & the nurse calls with all the results. My ANA test still is negative. But some of my other tests came back out of range. But the good news was I had a new disorder, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease (MCTD).
So I had yet again had something new to accept that Lupus tossed my way. Okay, fine, it's all good. A few weeks go by & the pain in my stomach becomes worse then the last time. Plus this time I'm so nauseated that I can't eat so that I can take my meds to feel better. Off to Urgent Care I go... The doctor was very concerned with amount of pain I was in & how I was able to hold it all together so well. She recommended that I see a GI Specialist. That I may need to have a Upper GI test done to see the actual cause of the pain & to rule out if I may have a hernia.
So go home & call the Clinic to see about being referred to a GI Specialist. Of course they don't have one on staff. Yet I'm referred to another Clinic that just opened up in the area that might be able to help me. Every time I have to call the normal Clinic my stress level goes through the roof!
I call the New Clinic to see if they can help me. As my luck would have it, they have someone that they can refer me to. But I need to see one of their doctors first. That's fine & they were able to give me a appointment the very next day!
The New Clinic was so helpful & understanding!!! They gave me all the information that I needed to call & make the appointment with the GI Specialist.I went home made the appointment.
I was able to get in the following week.