Symptomatic

A lot of people have asked me what my symptoms were leading up to my diagnosis, at least my initial diagnosis of a gall stone.

Back in 1994 I had some God awful stomach pains that bent me over something fierce. My first thought was my appendix, but where these pains were (just below the sternum, under the ribs, middle of torso) did not follow the normal location of an inflamed appendix. I went to emergency room where I got to experience the euphoria of Morphine. I now know why people become addicted to that drug. The pain went away and I drifted off to sleep. Although, when I woke back up a couple of hours later, I was still in immense pain. Doctors figured maybe I had an ulcer. So I got to drink some barium sulfate which, back then tasted like dog shit. They gave me an ultrasound, sure to find a perforation in my intestine. Nothing. My white blood cell count was high indicating infection, but they couldn't locate any infection to speak of. I spent the night in the hospital, not knowing what was going on. The following day I was discharged with instructions to exercise and stop drinking coffee. Nice. Modern medicine at its finest.

For the next 15 years, once or twice a year, I would have these pains and would just take the next 4-6 hours and deal with it. I would usually just lay down in the fetal position, or rock back and forth (ala Rainman), sweat, and it would pass. I wasn't about ready to go to the hospital again and find out there was nothing wrong. Remember, this began in 1994.

Fast forward to December of 2007. After I moved here in August of the same year, my parents told me that I needed to go to the doctor if for nothing else to get a base line on my medical life. I dreaded that having gained a ton of weight (figuratively speaking) and basically dreading doctors. I didn't want to know the truth. I didn't want to know I was most likely pre-diabetic, or my blood pressure was skewed, that I could not get on a normal scale...I didn't want to know any of it. I had fought bouts of depression over my declining condition for years. I knew I was in bad shape, but I figured I didn't want to know how bad. When my Dad told me that he feared I would die before him, it opened my eyes a bit to how people really saw me. So I went, kicking and screaming.

December of 2007, my blood glucose level was 101. Two tests over 121 indicate diabetes. At this point I was pre-diabetic, or what they call having "metabolic syndrome." I was prescribed Metformin (turns off liver production of glucose) and told to eat more fish, chicken and vegetables. My blood pressure was 150/90 which is hypertensive. I was prescribed Lisinopril which is a diuretic, meant to rid the blood of excess fluid to "thin" it out. Lose weight and eat better and all of this should go away. I hired Mrs. B (my Mom) to do some cooking for me. prepackaged vacuum sealed meals that were part of what the doctor required. I got a membership at CBRC. I worked out, I ate better. I lost a few pounds. Still, not much was changing.

May of 2008, I went back. Glucose was at 111, liver enzymes were slightly elevated indicating the liver was stressed about something. White blood cell count was slightly elevated, indicating infection. My blood pressure was better 130/80-ish. But something was screwing with my body's ability to metabolize glucose. No other changes were made other than to keep exercising.

I was laid off in September of 2008 and no insurance. I would not go back in to see my doctor until I had found gainful employment. I was hired at the Tri-City Herald in November, benefits effective January 1, 2009. I planned on going back to see him again ASAP after that date.

In February, I started feeling incredibly thirsty. I was drinking copious amounts of water. I couldn't get enough of it. I noticed I was losing weight rapidly, no matter what I ate. I would lose sometimes up to 4 pounds a day. I figured it had to do with walking 2-3 miles a day and eating better. I was up all might, every hour, going to the bathroom. I would have to go ALL THE TIME. My vision started getting blurry. My wife told me I probably needed to go see the doc. So I did. My glucose was at 365. My A1C test (measures blood glucose over a 3 month period) was at 15% (384). Normal is 7% or less. My liver enzymes were again elevated to an ungodly level. This was more serious. Kidneys were slightly damaged due to spilling the excess glucose through my urinary tract. Vision was bad due to the body's fight to flush the excess glucose from the capillaries in my eyes. I was getting a little nervous.

The gall stone they found had been growing since 1994. Every time I had pain, the stone had traveled from the gall bladder down to the bile duct. When the pain was gone, it had floated from the bile duct back to the gall bladder. Every time it traveled, it got bigger. Finally, it occluded my bile duct completely, causing the bilirubin to accumulate and turn me yellow. That was when the story that most of you have read, began.

I didn't have a whole lot of symptoms until they found the stone, other than the diabetes. My liver, not able to function properly, was producing glucose 24/7. The food I ate was creating more glucose. My pancreas could not excrete insulin fast enough. Part of me thinks that the liver has not been functioning properly for years. Maybe this will go away with time. I am prepared for it not to, however. To me, the diabetes and jaundice were a blessing in disguise. They found other things in there, mainly the spot on my spleen and the swollen lymph nodes. I pray, as you all do, that this is something that can be treated. A lot of things can be treated these days. I am more impressed with medicine now that I was 15 years ago. I now know how important it is to simply get checked out, at least annually if nothing odd appears on the blood tests. SEE YOU DOCTOR! It is easier to do than I have ever made it out to myself. I always thought they simply want to make a buck like anyone else and will diagnose you with Scarlet Fever so they can prescribe something. Not true. I cannot stress it enough. Especially if you have insurance. $20 and you know, at least know that nothing is wrong.

One of these days, the humor in my posts will return. I promise you that. I can talk about hospital gowns someday. Those are as flattering as Speedo.