July 18th.. a typical Thursday? Not in our lives. Today I had an ultrasound scheduled at the hospital for 9:00am and then a 10:00am appointment with the nephrologist (that is the coolest sounding word.. it should be a different doctor though..more fun than kidney). I arrive at the hospital on time and decide I can get all my blood work as well since I will have time and I am already there. I check in at the outpatient kiosk. It was a pretty cool experience however, I am a bit salty because I really think we are taking people's jobs away and it takes away the customer service.
After checking in on time, they made me report to registration and hand in all my insurance information again where they detain me for 25 minutes. Finally at 9:25am, they send me to my ultrasound where the check in lady is upset that I am arriving late. I am flabbergasted because I was on time but detained! I go back for my ultrasound and she can only complete half of the test because I have to get to the nephrologist appointment at 10am. Luckily I do squeeze in my blood draw. I think its a partial win at this point.
I dash from the hospital to the nephrologist (still think the word is fun)! Dr. Karen is amazing, she is a fluffy older woman of color and she is blunt and honest and so much like me. I just wanted to hug her and love her for her honesty. She looked right at me and said you know your diagnosis, right? I said no. She said matter of factly, "you have stage three kidney disease." She allowed me to tear up and then we moved on. She told me that I am anemic and this is most likely caused by the kidney disease. She told me that we have to have my parathyroids checked. I will either have to get put on medication or have the last three removed and leave a piece. My blood pressure is high and she would like it to remain below 130/80. I cannot take any NSAID or COX 2 Inhibitors, I cannot take anything but Tylenol, I need to stop taking the Prilosec but I can take Zantac. I need to cut way back on caffeine, sodium, no canned anything but fruit, processed food, no fast food, ham and bacon, 250mg or less of sodium per serving, and no smoking at all. While we talked about some very concerning and scary things, this was the first time in awhile that I didn't go to the car and cry after the visit. I felt educated and empowered about my health.
I went to an appointment for work and after the appointment went to Panera for lunch before another appointment. While eating lunch I received an email from the doctor's office that my blood work was back and there was an abnormality and that I had to go see the doctor for the results. I remember texting my co-worker with the words, "I am not okay." I just started crying in Panera and it felt like I was broken. I was broken physically, emotionally and now mentally. How much more did they expect me to take? I made an appointment for 4pm that day and cancelled my late afternoon appointment. My co-worker and I went to the early afternoon appointment and she was my rock. She got me through until I could get home to Steve and process it all.
I attended the appointment at 4pm with a different primary care physician because my doctor was booked and apparently they thought it was important to get in right away. The doctor explained that I had high blood sugar but it didn't seem like it was that high to him. He wanted me to monitor what I was eating and we would discuss it again on August 1st at my blood pressure recheck. All of that stress and drama for a conversation about "watch what your eating but it's not that big of a deal."
I went home that night and contemplated what happened all day.. change my diet, possible parathyroid removal, high blood pressure, kidney disease with possible dialysis in the future, possible high blood sugar. It was a lot to take in.
I got dizzy. I mean dizzy like I have never been before even when I was 19 and on one of the worst drunks I was ever on. My heart started racing, my face started twitching, my fingers and toes went tingling and numb, my arms started tingling, chest pains, was I dying? I was so afraid that I was dying that I was afraid to go to sleep. I just curled up in bed next to Steve until I finally fell asleep.
On July 19th I took my medications as normal and we began ripping apart our home office. We had bought beautiful matching desks and office furniture and today was the day to put it all together and make our space beautiful. However, dizziness came and went, along with the facial twitching, the fingers and toes tingling, the chest pain, the everything. We did the best we could to power through but I was not feeling good at all. On Saturday the 20th in my wise wisdom, I decided that it was my blood pressure medicine causing all these issues. I stopped taking it. On Sunday I felt like 60% better and then on Monday morning I felt 100% better.. I was ready to hit the ground running or so I thought..
After checking in on time, they made me report to registration and hand in all my insurance information again where they detain me for 25 minutes. Finally at 9:25am, they send me to my ultrasound where the check in lady is upset that I am arriving late. I am flabbergasted because I was on time but detained! I go back for my ultrasound and she can only complete half of the test because I have to get to the nephrologist appointment at 10am. Luckily I do squeeze in my blood draw. I think its a partial win at this point.
I dash from the hospital to the nephrologist (still think the word is fun)! Dr. Karen is amazing, she is a fluffy older woman of color and she is blunt and honest and so much like me. I just wanted to hug her and love her for her honesty. She looked right at me and said you know your diagnosis, right? I said no. She said matter of factly, "you have stage three kidney disease." She allowed me to tear up and then we moved on. She told me that I am anemic and this is most likely caused by the kidney disease. She told me that we have to have my parathyroids checked. I will either have to get put on medication or have the last three removed and leave a piece. My blood pressure is high and she would like it to remain below 130/80. I cannot take any NSAID or COX 2 Inhibitors, I cannot take anything but Tylenol, I need to stop taking the Prilosec but I can take Zantac. I need to cut way back on caffeine, sodium, no canned anything but fruit, processed food, no fast food, ham and bacon, 250mg or less of sodium per serving, and no smoking at all. While we talked about some very concerning and scary things, this was the first time in awhile that I didn't go to the car and cry after the visit. I felt educated and empowered about my health.
I went to an appointment for work and after the appointment went to Panera for lunch before another appointment. While eating lunch I received an email from the doctor's office that my blood work was back and there was an abnormality and that I had to go see the doctor for the results. I remember texting my co-worker with the words, "I am not okay." I just started crying in Panera and it felt like I was broken. I was broken physically, emotionally and now mentally. How much more did they expect me to take? I made an appointment for 4pm that day and cancelled my late afternoon appointment. My co-worker and I went to the early afternoon appointment and she was my rock. She got me through until I could get home to Steve and process it all.
I attended the appointment at 4pm with a different primary care physician because my doctor was booked and apparently they thought it was important to get in right away. The doctor explained that I had high blood sugar but it didn't seem like it was that high to him. He wanted me to monitor what I was eating and we would discuss it again on August 1st at my blood pressure recheck. All of that stress and drama for a conversation about "watch what your eating but it's not that big of a deal."
I went home that night and contemplated what happened all day.. change my diet, possible parathyroid removal, high blood pressure, kidney disease with possible dialysis in the future, possible high blood sugar. It was a lot to take in.
I got dizzy. I mean dizzy like I have never been before even when I was 19 and on one of the worst drunks I was ever on. My heart started racing, my face started twitching, my fingers and toes went tingling and numb, my arms started tingling, chest pains, was I dying? I was so afraid that I was dying that I was afraid to go to sleep. I just curled up in bed next to Steve until I finally fell asleep.
On July 19th I took my medications as normal and we began ripping apart our home office. We had bought beautiful matching desks and office furniture and today was the day to put it all together and make our space beautiful. However, dizziness came and went, along with the facial twitching, the fingers and toes tingling, the chest pain, the everything. We did the best we could to power through but I was not feeling good at all. On Saturday the 20th in my wise wisdom, I decided that it was my blood pressure medicine causing all these issues. I stopped taking it. On Sunday I felt like 60% better and then on Monday morning I felt 100% better.. I was ready to hit the ground running or so I thought..
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