Family Updates

I know it has been a long time since I posted a real update, well over two months. There has been a lot going on and rarely time to breathe.

Aunt Sharon has been doing well in the assisted living. She was a bit upset at first, but my parents visit her daily. And she is involved with a lot of activities and outings. She always has something to do! Of course, there is no change with her medical condition, and it is doubtful she will ever be back to what she was. But, it is good to see her happy and enjoying life.

Pop Pop has had a long road. He was released from the hospital and sent to a rehab to gain his strength before going home. Brian checked him out for a day to go for the PET scan, finally. Because of the PET scan, he was sent for yet another biopsy. Unfortunately, the PET scan was consistent with it being a tumor.  He was sent in to the hospital, in what was supposed to be an in and out procedure, for the biopsy. (And he should have been transferred back to the rehab after.) His lung collapsed, however, during the biopsy, and bought him almost a week in the hospital. He was released, eventually, and went back to his apartment. Shortly after, the biopsy results came back, and it was positive for lung cancer. His life became a flurry of appointments to various doctors. He had to see a cardiologist to see if he could even be declared fit to have the cancer surgery, and thankfully he was. He had to see his PCP, and finally the cancer specialist. His surgery just took place this last Wednesday, and he is recovering in the hospital. All went well. They removed the cancerous section of his lung, as well as lymph nodes. We are awaiting the pathology to determine the full extent of the cancer.

As for me I have not gotten any better. I saw my pain specialist, and have remained steady on most of my meds, and need to continue the Naproxen (for anti-inflammatory in the chest.) I have had lots of strange symptoms since July, namely the extreme dry mouth, as well as other symptoms. The pain specialist suggested she might know the answer. She brought up a really obscure illness called Sjögren’s Syndrome. But considering I have most of the symptoms, it made sense. (Dry mouth, dry eyes, rashy dry skin, excessive joint pain, memory loss, and the extreme insomnia that cannot be controlled by sleep meds.) It was something to consider, and she told me to bring it up with the primary doctor. At least it could explain a lot of the more recent stuff since July. Not all, of course, but most. The kicker? It usually hits post-menopausal women with arthritis, BOTH of which apply to me now. (Osteo-arthritis in the knees and elbow, and the hysterectomy put me into instant menopause when I was 30.) But, it would only be an answer, as there is no cure.

After the endoscopy I talked about in my last update, I went to the ENT specialist. I have to say it was one of the weirdest visits ever to a doctor. He proceeded to tell me I’m drinking TOO MUCH WATER! He want on this convoluted tirade on lab rats with dry food pellets, and said since our food is not dry like lab rats, we only need 2-3 glasses of water a day, and any more drowns us. And I can buy that you CAN drown yourself in water, but the problem is I’m dehydrated. He informed me I have acid reflux, despite the fact that the GI doctor (who actually specializes in that) said I did NOT have reflux! And my primary doctor said I did not have reflux. And let’s not forget the fact that ENT doctors are not the specialists for reflux. So, he demanded that I cut down my water intake. And of course gave me meds for reflux after the GI took me off of them a few weeks earlier. And then he started dissecting all my current medications and told me that I did not need this or that. He declared one particular one was the “root of all my problems”. I tried to tell him I only got put on it 2 DAYS EARLIER, and I don’t see how it could possibly be the problems from July. He just cut me off and continued dissecting my meds. When he proceeded to tell me that my ovarian cancer was “all in my head” and that I probably never had it to begin with, I was steamed. My husband went with me to the appointment and was pissed off during this whole thing.

The next day Brian called the primary care doctor and conferenced me in. When i started telling her for starters that despite her constant warnings to drink a lot of water, this doctor told me to reduce to 2-3 glasses a day, TOPS, she answered back “Yeah, let’s not go with that  and stick with at least 8.” When I told her about this doctor’s reflux diagnosis, she asked me “didn’t we get an endoscopy and rule that out?” I laughed and said yes. So, she advised me that I should not go back to him, especially after he tried to tell me I needed to discontinue half of my prescriptions. At this point, I brought up the Sjögren’s Syndrome…and she got really quiet. Finally she said, that she hadn’t thought of that because it’s so obscure, but it was a very good idea to check for it. So she told me to get an appointment with a rheumatologist to get diagnosed. So I have an appointment to get it checked on soon.

Tomorrow, I see the primary doctor to go over my brain MRI. I have head headaches that are not controlled with medication, either the preventative or the rescue meds. The suspicion is spread of one of my cancers, because ovarian likes to spread to the brain. I am praying that I can at least get off the cancer hook for once. Hopefully it will be something easily fixable.

Ah well, I guess that’s enough for now. 🙂 More updates soon.