OneFatBitchypoo, if you’re interested.
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Yeah, still working on those Maine recap entries. Good god in heaven, I take a LOT of damn pictures.
Hopefully they’ll be up starting later this week. We’ll see.
I heard from my doctor’s office about an hour ago. Apparently the hepatitis tests came back clean. In other words, I don’t have hepatitis. But something’s obviously going on, with the elevated bilirubin, so they’re referring me to a GI. I have an appointment for Wednesday, late morning, in Huntsville. My doctor’s office is faxing over my test results for the nurses to look at, to see whether they need to get me in sooner.
That gives me a warm and cozy feeling, that they’d think Wednesday might not be soon enough.
Dr. Fred And3rson thinks, after much Googling about, that I have either
pernicious or
hemolytic anemia. He’s leaning toward the latter, since I’m cold all the damn time.
Wikipedia, on the other hand, offers up a bunch of
lovely, scary suggestions ranging from tumors to cirrhosis (and wouldn’t it be the ultimate in irony if I, who drinks once in a blue moon, had cirrhosis of the liver?).
Y’all get your livers ready. I might need a piece of it.
(No, I’m not serious. I’m sure Dr. Fred is quite right and all I’ll need is a B12 shot once a month or so.)
Anyway, tomorrow I have an early morning appointment with the physical therapist (think I can convince her to put me in the whirlpool tub, then give me a back massage and call it good enough? Probably not.), a late morning appointment at my doctor’s office to have an ultrasound of my enlarged thyroid, and then Wednesday I have the appointment with the GI.
Also, the spud starts school on Friday (yes, is that not the MOST ridiculous thing? To be starting school on August 4th? RIDICULOUS! UTTERLY!) and at some point during the week I need to get E’gar in for an oil change and tire rotation and balance, and I need to run out to the farm stand I like the most to buy tomatoes to have on our hamburgers tomorrow night, and ugh.
I am completely wiped out. I swear to god when I saw the doctor last week, I was feeling fine, and then she uttered the words “You have hepatitis*” and the next morning I could NOT get my ass out of bed for love or money. I keep trying to tell myself that it’s all in my head, that I’m NOT really that damn tired, that just because I have hepatitis (or, as it turns out, don’t), I can still get up every morning and walk.
But I haven’t walked since last Wednesday, and I would kick my ass for that, except I am just too damn tired. I’m ready for the fatigue to go away, and the yellow eyes (though the yellow skin could kind of stay for a while, because I really do look kinda tan, don’t I?) and for my life to get back to normal.
Have I mentioned that I sent out three resumes this morning, applying for part-time positions? Right now, I’m kind of all over the place and I’m driving myself crazy. Probably driving Fred crazy, too, but he hides it well.
He just
writes false and slanderous things about me.
(Alright, YES, I stole a couple of handy wipes from the doctor’s office. I like to have a couple in my purse, just in case, all right? I stole a pen, too, but not before I asked the front desk lady if it was okay. And she said “Sure, take as many as you want!” So they don’t care if I steal shit from them. They get it for free anyway!)
*Is it wrong that when she told me I had hepatitis, I kind of hoped that one of the symptoms of hepatitis might end up being gas, so I could call it hepaTOOTis? I know. I need a life. But I’ve been secretly calling it hepatootis to myself. And now you know the full extent of my dorkiness.
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Know how I’m always cold, except when Fred’s at work, because when Fred leaves for work, I turn the air conditioning OFF, and it gets up to 80 in the house and I LOVE it? Except that annoyingly enough, Fred has to come HOME, and when he calls to tell me that he’s coming home, I turn the air conditioning back on, because if I don’t he’ll turn it on himself, and then he’ll turn it down to 70, and JESUS CHRIST I DON’T WANT THAT. As it is, he lolls about in his shorts (while I’m wearing sweatpants, slippers, a t-shirt and sweatshirt) and bitches about how hot he is.
While my fingers turn blue.
So the other night I was shivering on the couch under two blankets (and the aforementioned sweatshirt, t-shirt, sweatpants and slippers, and don’t THINK I wasn’t seriously considering putting a wool hat on my head as well) and he suggested that I try using the heating pad to add some warmth to my ice-cold hands. And he called the spud on her cell phone (she was up in her bedroom with a couple of friends who were spending the night) and asked her where, oh spud, where might the heating pad that I TOLD you to put back where it belongs, WHERE might it be?
And she “like”d and “whatever”d and brought the heating pad down, and Fred plugged it in, and I used it for the rest of the evening, and it helped, but not as much as I had hoped.
Then Fred had the best! idea! ever! See, he has an electric blanket in his room that he only uses in the winter, and only long enough to warm up his bed before bedtime. In the summer he doesn’t use it (see above re: the lolling about whining about how hot he is) and folds it up and puts it in a corner of his bedroom. So he brought it downstairs for me the next night and we plugged it in, and I’ll tell you what – the man deserves a medal for THAT idea. Because it is sheer perfection. I can turn it on and crank it up on high and remain toasty warm for the entire evening.
I actually ended up ordering a twin-size electric blanket on eBay, because Fred’s is queen or king size, and I don’t need one that big for hanging out on the couch.
But for now, it’s working just fine. Give that man a medal!
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“What? WHAAAAT?”
“Is it time for a snacky-snack? Please?”
“I’m fading away to nothin’, Dad. I think it’s time for a snacky-snack.”
All of today’s uploaded pictures are
here.
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Previously
2005: No entry.
2004: Hawaii recap.
2003: No entry.
2002: Around the neighborhood.
2001: “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!” I yelled.
2000: All hail Dumbass Bitchypoo.]]>
I am so glad you don’t have Hepatitis
You look great in your pictures too!
Well. Glad you didn’t have hep. Kinda… but now I’m concerned it is something else. I’m not going to read your journal anymore until you find out you are OK. So wave the white flag at that point, alrighty? Good, then. Carry on.
Something to consider. A co-worker just had a liver transplant at 45 years of age. She has been overweight all of her life and NOT a drinker. She was told that her liver was destroyed by the toxic environment which was supplied by her poor diet and overweightedness. They said that we will be seeing more and more of this in the near future. One good way to tell is your liver enzyme numbers. And also if you are retaining fluid anywhere.
Robyn, you look fantastic in your pictures. You should be really happy with and proud of your weigh-loss. I hope the docs figure out what’s going on with your liver 🙁 Although it does give you a glow. I think I looked like that when I came back from a trip to St. Lucia a long time ago…the only time in my life I actually had a “tan.”
I hope Wednesday tells the tale and takes care of the problem….
You and Fred just keep me in stitches……
You look fabulous!!!!
And glad to read that you don’t have hepatitis.
Fred’s whole butt wipe story CRACKED ME UP!!! Is a butt wipe better or worse than a weiner wipe, I am just not sure. Hmmmmm. 🙂
and also, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF! I think Fred’s idea of needing B12 shots is an excellent one! That makes lots of sense.
They have lap electric blankets just for use on the couch. Walmart carries them and they are the size of an old fashioned afgan grandma would make you. They are wonderful! Just smaller than a twin bed. Esp if you have a leather couch that is too cold to sit on in winter or when the a/c is on full blast! lol
Oh, Robyn. You are my hero. You make me happy when skies are gray. I wish I could be cold in the summer. As it is, I’m back on Lexapro, a side effect of which is excessive sweating, and you’d think I’d know about that since I was on it for two years, but whatever. Thinking of you snuggled up in an electric blanket in the heat of the summer makes me need to take a cold shower, and not in a good way. Hee hee hee….
Robyn!
Judging from your posts and history with your surgery, I would guess you DON’T have cancer! I would guess bile issues possibly due to your surgery.
Any re-directing of bile can cause a build up of bilirubin, causing jaundice–even if you don’t have a gallbladder.
I hope things go well, and try (and I know it’s difficult) not to freak out and read every horrific thing that you could potentially have! (As someone who does the same thing when the diagnosis is unknown, I sympathize!)
May Wednesday come quickly!
Thinking positive things for you!
You are SKINNY, girl!! Lookin’ good! I’m sending good thoughts for you about your “yellow” problem. Hope it’s nothing serious.
You look MAH-velous, dahlink.
My niece and nephew start school TOMORROW (August 1) and my son goes back August 14 (we live in a different county). And we’re talking Metro ATL here – horrible air quality as it is and now they ad belching school buses to the mix while it’s still 100 fucking degrees outside. Ugh. The braintrusts we have in power.
I’ll think happy liver thoughts for you. 🙂
I was cold a lot during the months following my surgery. My surgeon said that part of it was that my body wasn’t processing as much food as it used to, and wasn’t generating as much heat.
I’m not sure if that was BS or not.
I take the B12 shot and an iron supplement every day. There are some lovely side effects with taking a bunch of iron. (It’s poop-related; nothing dangerous but inconvenient.)
I’ll spare the details.
Robyn
21 years ago when I was in my first year of nursing school I developed auto-immune hemolytic anemia. At the same time I had elevated cerebral pressure which did damage to my optic nerve, I have permanent vision loss to this day. My anemia was PROFOUND, I was soooo tired, so weak and weight fell off me. My hemoglobin bottomed out at 4! Normal is 12-16. I had chest pain and shortness of breath. My urine looked like Coca-cola, it was so dark from eliminating all the dead red blood cells. I was not however, jaundiced. I was dead white. I was transferred to a major med. center where oodles of tests, a bone marrow biopsy and two spinal taps later they never did know the cause. The spinal tap relieved the cerebral pressure to stop the headache and prevent further vision loss and I had four units of blood. I was 19 years old, I recovered and apart from the vision loss I’ve been perfectly healthy ever since.
My guess would be a common bile duct obstruction secondary to your surgery.
I wish you the best of luck, and anxiously await the outcome.
Oh, and by the way, your progress pictures…WOW!
Teresa
You look Marvelous!!!!!
Marry me!! Dump that Fred of yours, move up to Idaho and marry me, We can live in my mother’s basement and you can have the big closet all to yourself (once I move my STAR Trek collectibles out of the way). Yes sounds like a plan, but my grandma is allergic to cats, so you would have to leave them all behind. So tell me your address so I can swing by and whisk you off to Idaho..
Kidding of course, congrats on your 6 months.
Richard in Idaho
I’m thinking bile duct issues too. I had my gall bladder out a couple of years ago, and a few months later bloomed into lovely orangeness. It turned out that when you have changes down there, little things that would have previously passed through the bile duct normally get stuck. I ended up having an endoscopy, which sounds way worse than it is, and it solved the problem nicely. And yes, tiredness was there, it took me a couple weeks to feel back to normal.
You look amazing Robyn.
You must feel SO great.
Lookin’ great, Robyn!! Way to go!!
kat
Robyn, you do look amazing!
I stay cold all the time (natural low blood pressure, I’m told) and I can’t afford to heat my house to the 80 degrees I prefer. I don’t have air so summer is fine but winter? Sucked big time until I found rice bags. My (19yo) daughter totes hers around like a baby doll year round.
Anyway, they are easy to make…I’m sure you could find instructions online. Essentially a small pillow filled with regular rice (and smell good stuff, if you want) that you put in the microwave for a couple of minutes for an hour or so worth of heat. It’s better than any heating pad I’ve found and is more portable than an electric blanket.
Just rest. Your body must need it. I hope you’re feeling better soon and I am glad that you are visiting a doctor.