Well, this is a good news/bad news night.
The "good" news makes me laugh ... and I'll share that second - since the "bad" news isn't really "bad" - it's just annoying and the good news made me happy ... (that ol' "save the best for last" idea!) :-)
Here goes: I haven't been feeling up to par since last Saturday evening ... we went to Applebee's for dinner just for fun. I ordered a grilled boneless skineless chicken with some new potatoes and some vegetables. The chicken had these really delicious mushrooms on top (YUM) and the new potatoes were more tender than the ones I prepare ... which means they were really tender. I removed the skin from off the potatoes, mashed them a LOT -- kind of "wiped" the chicken down (it had some sort of dijon sauce on it) ... and ate just a little bit. Before we even left the restaurant I wasn't feeling super hot. Not bad really - just not at my best. That was the start.
By Sunday morning I felt really lousy ... and it wasn't a feeling I had experienced before. I had a temperature and a really bad pain on the left side of my middle back -- not down low but right in the middle. Chuck said maybe kidneys ... I didn't know. I just told him I didn't feel up to par -- maybe a slight touch of the flu but it felt like the only muscles affected were the ones mid back. It was that kind of ache.
Anyway - I attributed my feelings to one of two things: 1) Either the chicken was not setting well and my body was working to eliminate it but was having trouble or 2) I had a slight touch of the flu. Either way I figured it would pass within 24 hours.
Fast forward to this week ... the flu like feeling and temperature have gone but I have chills and feel quite tired. I actually called in sick to work yesterday because the mid back pain was really severe. I felt guilty not going in to the office but I ended up sleeping on the sofa all morning until my son called me from college saying he was ready for a ride to be picked up. I felt exhausted.
Later in the day I finally felt like I could go to the bathroom (I have been practically unable to urinate or ... well ... you know ... for about a week. In fact, because of part of this problem I started to take a stool softener to see if that would help. But ENOUGH on that yuckiness.) When I did finally go to the bathroom there was blood ... a lot of blood. It kind of unnerved me but then I got to thinking about what was "new" or "different" about the last few days or week, etc. The one thing I was questioning was the adding of those stool softeners. I had taken one per day since Monday and the box had said you could take up to three so I wasn't concerned about the amount but ... I decided to check the label and sure enough - one ingredient was red dye. I figured that had to be what was going on. I checked the internet and that confirmed that stool softeners can change the color of your urine - making it anywhere from pinkish, reddish, or darker brown looking. So - I sloughed the blood color off and moved on with the day. BUT - I still was not feeling super great.
Today on my way to work I had what felt like an excruciating pain in my right shoulder. That was weird ... I was driving so I readjusted the way I sat. The other pain I've been having is on my left side in the middle back so I don't necessarily relate the two "aches" but - I was getting annoyed with this continuing on. Anyway - to make an already too long story a bit shorter - by mid-morning I decided to call my doctor. I still could hardly go #1 and, even though I'd be TOTALLY embarrassed if this was red dye, I figured it'd be best for her to make the determination since this feeling had been going on since last Saturday night.
I told her assistant my symptoms and even mentioned that I thought maybe a stool softener was to blame for the off color but she said not to be embarrassed if that was all that it was - let's hope it's all that is, etc.
I went in at 10:15 a.m., and she weighed me [that will be the "good" news in this post - but more in a bit! ;-) ] She then told me to go into the bathroom and leave a urine sample which I did. She checked my blood pressure and my pulse which I'm assuming were good because she didn't say a word and usually she says, "Ummm - the pressure's up a little - were you rushing to get here or have you had a stressful morning?" To which I reply, "Nope - all is well."
Today - no comment after taking my "vitals". :-) About 5-10 minutes later (give or take a few minutes) the doctor came in and she said, "So, Rebecca - what's going on ... what are your symptoms?" I told her what I'd been feeling and she proceeded to stand up and come over to where I was seated on their table - then push in the mid back area ... EXACTLY where my ache/pain has been. Wow - I was impressed ... but kinda pissed. (ha - well ... it hurt!) ;-) I told her also that I was going to be realllllllllllly embarrassed if I was wasting her time because of a color dye in a stool softener and she immediately interrupted me with, "No - no - okay ... I'll stop you right there. You are not dealing with red dye discoloration. Rebecca, listen up (and she leans forward now) -- there is a lot ... a LOT ... A LOTTTT of blood in your urine. Color dyes in medications do not show up as massive amounts of red blood cells in urine. Do not apologize for being here - you need to be here. This is real. There is a real problem going here and you never need to apologize for taking care of your body and paying attention to real symptoms. There should not be blood in your urine."
Silly as it sounds - I immediately felt better. I mean, my back still hurt but my pride was in tact. She continued, "I am sending you over for a CT scan ... best case scenario is this is a kidney stone or some kidney stones. They can be very painful but they are treatable. If it's little - you will pass it - if it's larger you may not be able to but we can talk about that. First let's determine why blood is somewhere it should not be."
So -- I sit here tonight having had a CT scan and feeling pain in both shoulder blades in back and in my mid left back. Probably kidney stone I guess - she said that's the "best case scenario" so - that's what I'm figuring I'll hear tomorrow.
Off to the good news ... when I stood on the scale the doctor's assistant put the scale @ 250 pounds and adjusted the scroll thing on the scale down to 230 pounds ... and that was off so - she started moving the thing to the left ... the direction I LIKE to see it go! (ha) She kept moving it and moving it and then said, "Is everything okay, Rebecca?" I said that it was - but reminded her that I had gastric bypass about 9 weeks ago. She then remembered and readjusted the bar to 200 pounds. It was still too high (woo hoo) and she moved it down until it landed on 188 pounds - which - considering I was dressed, etc., - was good for me. Okay, so it wasn't 125 pounds but ... it wasn't 227 pounds! :-) She said she was very impressed with my success and that made me happy.
The good news definitely outweighed the bad ... the glass is, once again, half full! :-)
So yes - I'm smiling.
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