1. I may have Hepatitis. In fact, due to the massive amounts of bilirubin in my urine sample, she seems to KNOW that I have Hepatitis, we just don’t know which one yet. The fact that I was in Florida a few weeks ago eating raw oysters seems to me a pretty good indication that it’s Hepatitis A (Hepatitis A is the one that isn’t chronic, and thus the one I’m hoping for), but we won’t know for sure until the blood results get back. What made me go to the doctor’s office? The fact that the whites of my eyes have turned yellow. In fact, they looked yellow before I left for Maine one night, but then the next morning they didn’t look yellow, so it was a matter of waiting and seeing. When I was in Maine, Debbie noticed my eyes looked yellow, but suggested that it could be due to dye in the vitamin supplements I take (hey, the multivitamin is orange flavored; kinda makes sense, right?). Last night I looked at my eyes and they were very clearly yellow, so I decided to make an appointment this morning, and Fred hounded me into actually making the appointment.
She kept asking me if I was itchy, and I had to tell her that I was itchy, but since I have eczema I wasn’t any itchier than usual, at least as far as I knew.
For you newer readers, you might not know that Fred had Hep A a few years ago, and at the time he craved very, very, very bland foods. In fact, I think he ate a lot of cream of mushroom soup with saltines. What am I craving like mad right now? Vegetables. Raw vegetables, with ranch dressing to dip them in. Which is going to be a big part of my lunch this afternoon, I’ll tell you that.
Here’s a pic of the yellow Fred, compared to the non-yellow me. Perhaps we need to take another comparison picture, though I’ll say that I don’t think my skin is yellow. I did notice that I look like I have a nice tan on my shoulders the other day, but thought that was probably because of the lovely dusky pink shirt I was wearing. I’ll take a pic of the two of us and y’all can decide, though.
For now I need to rest (I’ve been feeling fine until yesterday, when I was so wiped out that I ended up napping for a good part of the afternoon), drink plenty of liquids, and avoid Tylenol. I should hear Friday or Monday what kind of Hepatitis it is, and y’all know I’ll let you know when I know.
I don’t know – they don’t look that yellow to me at the moment.
2. I have arthritis in my back. I complained about the fact that my back hurts around my shoulder blades, and she suggested that I go for physical therapy (she said that due to the rapid weight loss, my body might be off-balance. Considering the fact that many times while I was in Maine I’d just be standing in one place, and then suddenly half fall over, I think she might be right.). She just wanted to do an x-ray to rule out arthritis (they did the x-ray there at the office and it came back that I DO have arthritis – between the vertebrae, she said). As soon as she said “Rule out arthritis”, I knew what the result was going to be.
3. I have a patch of ringworm on my left arm, no doubt caught from those ringwormy tiger cubs (yes, we treated ourselves with hand sanitizer both before and after our visits with the cubs) OR from one of the cats at the pet store. Who the hell knows? Anyway, while I was in Maine a raised spot on my left arm itched like hell, so I scratched it like mad, and then it turned into the usual round scabby spot. So far I only see the one spot, but who the hell knows what’ll happen in the end?
4. My thyroid appears to be enlarged and I need to have an ultrasound next Tuesday. She doesn’t think it’s anything problematic, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
After spending almost two hours at the doctor’s office (thankyajeezus that I took a book with me) I did come away with a bit of good news, though – they’ll be removing that annoying skin tag from the back of my neck on August 9th.
7/26/06
Well, gee, “Welcome Home” sounds a bit optimistic, doesn’t it?? Glad you’re back just the same.
Oh! You poor baby! You have been through the mill and then some haven’t you? I hope everything turns out good and you don’t have the dreaded Hepatitis A or arthritis. My children got ringworm one time when they played with a stray dog. Nasty stuff. You are very brave IMO!! Sending good “vibes” your way! Nanamama
I take Celebrex.
Jesus woman, you are a mess! You take good care of yourself!! And of course, you must blame your mom for all of it, all that crap seems to be handed down you know. We have 4 generations of women who still get together, and we still blame my Gran for all the stuff we have in common that is less than desirable, that is the tradition. BTW, I used to work at a pharmacy years ago, and I had a stray cat, and I got ringworm. Cheapest cure is to use a combo of iodine and vaseline. Keep it covered with that and it will go away. And on a different note, I LOVED Fred’s tiger pictures and all the other sweeties at that place. I continue to be very jealous that you are close enough to go that many times!!!
Celebrex is one of those medications that could go either way. Celebrex is an NSAID, although as far as NSAIDs go, it’s one of the gentler ones. It is a cousin of Vioxx and reportedly has the same effect on your heart, so it’s usually prescribed after other medications have failed to help arthritis pain, although I can see why your doctor went there first, due to the fact that it’s gentler than most NSAIDs, and an NSAID is one of the best ways to treat arthritis.
My biggest concern is that Celebrex is basically time-released, which is why you only have to take two pills a day instead of one every few hours. I’m not sure the efficacy will be all that great.
Lisa
Oh yes ma’am, your eyeballs are indeed yellow. Hope you get everything fixed up and you’re good as new as quick as possible.
Totally off topic but a good book to help you deal with your mother etc is “Living successfully with screwed-up people” by Elizabeth B. Brown.
I know its helping me alot. 🙂
Best wishes for your recovery of your various ills! :o)
I haven’t had WLS,BUT I have taken Celebrex for three years. I take a mega dose of four-hundred mgs. a day.
One two-hundred mg. pill each morning and night.It’s really no biggie to remember to take it. One when you get up,one at bedtime. It hasn’t messed with my stomach at all. I take it on an empty stomach quite often.
I lost my month’s supply of Tylenol 3 w/ codiene(240 tablets)which I use for my knee pain and general overall arthritis. Since they can’t reissue the script,I turned to Aleve for the month. Just one tab each,morn and eve and it has done a fairly decent job of handling my osteoarthritis pain. My doc says Aleve is THE med to take for period pain.Those little blue pills are worth their weight in gold.I buy the generic store brand of Aleve and you save about fifty percent.
As far as the danger associated with Vioxx/Celebrex,my doc says the studies were flawed.That woman who sued didn’t deserve a settlement from the Vioxx makers.
Think about it,most patients who are on Vioxx and Celebrex for their arthritis are older and are already in the much “higher risk of heart attack” group.
Anyway,that’s my opinion…
Welcome back,I miss reading your journal when you are gone. You were always my first website visit.
Well, daaaaamn! I think that some days, you just need to crawl back into bed, and try again tomorrow!
Welcome back, and I hope you feel better! 🙂
See?? That’s why I hate going to doctors! They find too damn much wrong at once. Hope you don’t have Hep A or arthritis. 🙁 Oh, a cheap and easy cure for ringworm (although you probably already know this one) is jock itch cream. Um, I know. Yuck. I guess ringworm is a type of fungus?
Are you contagious? *cyber hug*… oops too close, now. 🙂 Heh.
Poor Robyno 🙁 Sorry girl.
My Mom swears by Celebrex! 🙂
I am so sorry you are having problems, glad everything is “fixable” though just sorry you had to get everything at all much less at once :(!
DAYUM Robyn. You know how to make an entrance! Um, welcome home? Holy moly. I’m sorry for the buttload of troubling health news.
Oh – Celebrex – that’s an antiinflammatory, right? I think it’s one of many I was prescribed for back pain before I had WLS. My WLS surgeon said the only anti-inflammatory he would ever consider recommending was MOBIC, and then at half the usual adult dose. Something about potential to cause ulceration in the stomach? The whole NSAID thing? NSAIDS are tough on the liver. For WLS reasons my surgeon said no Ibuprofen, just Tylenol, then the GI doc doing the liver follow up said no Tylenol so…gee this is real helpful huh? Sorry to be so confused and confusing.
I’ve had pretty good luck with glucosamine/chondroitin before WLS and my surgeon recommended I try that for joint pain.
Gosh. Well I’ll look forward to the vacation entries, and beautiful Maine! Take care & I’ll be checking back for your follow-up on all this stuff.
I’m so jealous. I can only see my doctor for one reason each visit, and can only have one appointment at a time. The worst is that it takes 2 weeks sometimes to schedule the appointment, so I either end up at urgent care, or my symptoms are completely gone by the time I see the doc.
Awww…{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Robyn}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
You’ll be okay! Take care of yourself!
Robyn, Did you get the box I sent you?
It never rains but it pours. Man, I feel for you. I hope you feel better soon.
Robin,
You may want to check this, as you’re having a few health problems at the moment:http://www.adrugrecall.com/news/celebrex-heart-attack.html
I just got back from visiting Fred’s site. Robyn, you know how you say you hate pictures of yourself? Well (with the exception of the eyes pic), the last few pictures I’ve seen of you have been gorgeous. You look happy, at ease with yourself and the camera, and no fake smiles!
Are you happier now that you’ve gained control over your weight, and you’re exercising regularly? You sure look happy!
Hey Robyn! Sorry to hear that you are having some issues…
Just thought I would drop some info, although I am sure you have googled everything.
Well–the good news is that if it is Hep A (and it sounds like it from your symptoms–# days you were in Florida and the appearance of symptoms), your immune system will usually take care of it and then you will never have to go through this again. Yay immunity!
Unless you were poked by a contiminated needle and/or if Fred has Hep B, you probably don’t have that one. This one is transmitted by blood/sex.
Hep C takes years to manifest–people get infected when they are younger (needles from drug use that were contaminated, for example) and it incubates a while–people are usually asymptomatic and then bam! in your late 40s, you will experience signs and symptoms–usually serious liver damage.
There are other types but the are rare…
So, try not to worry about the Hep…your body will take care of itself.
Do you still have your gallbladder??? Because if you are experiencing belly pain along with this, cholecystitis (gallbladder or billiary disease ) can also cause jaundice. If your tests come back negative, please have them rule that out since you had your surgery…want to make sure nothing is going wrong there either.
~~~
Sorry about the arthritis…I have a bad, bad, bad back and the ‘standing there and then falling over’ happens a lot. Mine is sciatica and I had MONTHS of PT. I hope that you will get the chance to do some PT because they helped me undo a lot of bad posture things that were aggravating the pain.
Wash your sheets after you treat your ringworm–just to make sure it’s not being passed to cats/Fred/Spud causing reinfection/infection of everyone in the household.
Thinking positive thoughts about your thyroid and other tests! Hang in there!
My gawd Robyn you are falling apart my dear… Take good care of yourself and rest ok?
Holy cow, all of a sudden I feel positively healthy!!
I have nothing of substance to add, other than best wishes and good vibes, but I wanted to say that I’ve never noticed in any other pictures until today – your eyes (the iris/colored part at least) are amazingly large! It’s like anime eyes or something! I’m very jealous. Just of your beautiful eyes, though, not of the hep, arthritis, ringworm, or thyroid.
///Robyn – hope you get to feeling better soon!
^those are comradely pats on the back. I don’t really know you well enough for a hug. (c:
It sounds like you have a great doctor. Very thorough(sp?). To spend that much time with you for one office visit. I thought those days were gone. Try an HMO, where you are flitted from one person to the next (all inept and clueless!)
Good luck. Hope all turns out well for you, and you can get this all behind you.
Damn girl have you been busy – falling apart. So glad you’re back. Time to get well!
Damn, Robyn! I have arthritis in my back too, but it’s managable. Anyway, I’ll keep you in my thoughts. xo
When it rains it POURS! Grab an umbrella and go dance in the rain.
We are not supposed to take anything with an NSAID in it and absolutely nothing time released and the reason for that one is that it will not work correctly. I used to take Ambien, worked great (well, I did have the crazy sleep incident, but thats another story) but, when I tried to take the controlled release form, NADA. Asked my surgeon and he said… and I quote… “DO NOT TAKE A CONTROLLED RELEASED MEDICATION AGAIN. For one, they don’t work the same way on you and for two, if it is the wrong kind of medication… say Oxycotin, it could OD you”
Now, I do not take Oxycotin, don’t ever plan to, but I got the point. LOL
But, one thing I have learned with this surgery. Every surgeon has different opinions on how to live after the surgery, so ask your surgeon. 🙂
Man, what a bunch of stuff all at once. I had Hep A as a child. You are right about the bland food. I remember having no appatite at all for quite a while, but then craving white bead and nothing else. Actually i think that’s when my weight problem started, so I hope you keep craving stuff that is good for you.