It's been a while and some things have happened that I should update those that follow. I have had good luck with treatments and my scans have been clear (up to this point!) The major problems have been with my sinus'.
I had surgery on my nose to correct a deviated septum (which I also had corrected when I was 16) and to clear out my sinus' so I could breath. I was breathing at night like I had sleep apnea but I did not have sleep apnea. I was having problems sleeping at night which was corrected after the surgery. I then started to have problems that I thought were related to allergies. The problem was that my nose would plug up but nothing I took (allergy pill-wise) would clear up my nose. I could not sleep at night and it was very unpleasant and gross! The nose doctor ( Dr. Riddle) said he could clear it up pretty quick by simply giving me a topical steroid to put in my nose. The problem with the steroid was that I can not take those while on my clinical trial. Dr. Riddle decided that the best thing was to go back in and clear out the nose. Dr. Riddle also said I had several "polyps" that were also causing problems when I nose would "plug up". After surgery, I was much better and could breath a lot better. I rinse my nose with a saline solution twice a day and that seems to keep me breathing much better.
I have been playing basketball twice a week for a while now with a bunch of great guys from church. We have a lot of fun and it is great exercise for me and keeps me active. I play because it lets me know that this "disease" is not getting the best of me. I am not letting it slow me down and by playing each week, I feel like it is not limiting me in my abilities. A couple of weeks ago, I played basketball on Tuesday, took my physical fitness test for work on Wednesday, and played basketball again on Thursday. Normally, after playing basketball and sitting down at work, I stiffen up a bit and it's pretty normal. On Thursday, I noticed that my left side & abdomen were really sore. It was noticeable on Thursday and got worse on Friday. I told Nicole who initially reminded me that treatment was coming up in a couple of weeks and that is normally when I had "issues". Friday was really bad and I thought I was going to end up going to the ER. One of the side effects with the drug I am getting for treatment is colitis. The left side of my abdomen was really sore over the weekend so on Monday, Nicole called Dr. Grossman's office at Huntsman and told them what was going on. I went up to the doctor on Tuesday to have the doctor look at me. Dr. Grossman was worried that I had colitis and decided the best treatment was to admit me to the hospital and have a colonoscopy done immediately to see if it was colitis. The issue with colitis is that if the colon ulcerates and then perforates, you could die! I did not want that to happen.
Here is what I learned about colonoscopies. The procedure itself is no big deal! You are asleep well before it and don't feel anything during or notice anything different after. The bad part is the "cleanse" before the procedure. I have decided that it is how they get war prisoners to talk, not waterboarding! I had to drink a gallon of the cleanse fluid (Go Lytely) to "affect" the cleanse. I started drinking the fluid at 8 pm and had to drink the entire gallon by midnight. The amount to drink in that short of time is hard enough. To make it worse, once the "fluid" takes effect, you can't really get that far away from the toilet and you are running back and forth. I would go to the bathroom, come out and drink a glass of fluid, then run back to the bathroom. It definitely works quickly and does it's job! I finally was able to get some rest about 1 am but woke up at 4 am to use the bathroom again. The other bad part was I did not even get the procedure until 3 pm the next day! I developed a really bad headache because I got dehydrated and was getting very hungry.
The colonoscopy showed my colon was fine so they were not sure what was causing all the pain in my abdomen. Dr. Grossman decided that because I was coming back the next Tuesday for scans, he would send me home and wait for the scans to see if they showed anything. It was another time I went to the doctor to find out what wasn't wrong with me not to find out what was wrong with me!
Since I had missed three days of work and really didn't feel that great, I decided to take the rest of the week off. Saturday I woke up and my left side hurt and the pain was higher in my abdomen. I woke up that morning because I had a dream that my stomach was hurting worse and in my dream, it hurt bad enough I was falling to the ground. It was funny to me that when I work up my stomach actually hurt worse. It hurt really bad all day Saturday. It would get worse when I did any type of activity. As I sit here today writing this, it hurts really bad. The pain is much higher than when it started to bother me and I really hope on Tuesday that the scans show something causing it or that we find out soon what is causing the issue.
I appreciate everyone's concern and prayers! Hopefully this gives you a quick update as to where I am and how I am doing!
I had surgery on my nose to correct a deviated septum (which I also had corrected when I was 16) and to clear out my sinus' so I could breath. I was breathing at night like I had sleep apnea but I did not have sleep apnea. I was having problems sleeping at night which was corrected after the surgery. I then started to have problems that I thought were related to allergies. The problem was that my nose would plug up but nothing I took (allergy pill-wise) would clear up my nose. I could not sleep at night and it was very unpleasant and gross! The nose doctor ( Dr. Riddle) said he could clear it up pretty quick by simply giving me a topical steroid to put in my nose. The problem with the steroid was that I can not take those while on my clinical trial. Dr. Riddle decided that the best thing was to go back in and clear out the nose. Dr. Riddle also said I had several "polyps" that were also causing problems when I nose would "plug up". After surgery, I was much better and could breath a lot better. I rinse my nose with a saline solution twice a day and that seems to keep me breathing much better.
I have been playing basketball twice a week for a while now with a bunch of great guys from church. We have a lot of fun and it is great exercise for me and keeps me active. I play because it lets me know that this "disease" is not getting the best of me. I am not letting it slow me down and by playing each week, I feel like it is not limiting me in my abilities. A couple of weeks ago, I played basketball on Tuesday, took my physical fitness test for work on Wednesday, and played basketball again on Thursday. Normally, after playing basketball and sitting down at work, I stiffen up a bit and it's pretty normal. On Thursday, I noticed that my left side & abdomen were really sore. It was noticeable on Thursday and got worse on Friday. I told Nicole who initially reminded me that treatment was coming up in a couple of weeks and that is normally when I had "issues". Friday was really bad and I thought I was going to end up going to the ER. One of the side effects with the drug I am getting for treatment is colitis. The left side of my abdomen was really sore over the weekend so on Monday, Nicole called Dr. Grossman's office at Huntsman and told them what was going on. I went up to the doctor on Tuesday to have the doctor look at me. Dr. Grossman was worried that I had colitis and decided the best treatment was to admit me to the hospital and have a colonoscopy done immediately to see if it was colitis. The issue with colitis is that if the colon ulcerates and then perforates, you could die! I did not want that to happen.
Here is what I learned about colonoscopies. The procedure itself is no big deal! You are asleep well before it and don't feel anything during or notice anything different after. The bad part is the "cleanse" before the procedure. I have decided that it is how they get war prisoners to talk, not waterboarding! I had to drink a gallon of the cleanse fluid (Go Lytely) to "affect" the cleanse. I started drinking the fluid at 8 pm and had to drink the entire gallon by midnight. The amount to drink in that short of time is hard enough. To make it worse, once the "fluid" takes effect, you can't really get that far away from the toilet and you are running back and forth. I would go to the bathroom, come out and drink a glass of fluid, then run back to the bathroom. It definitely works quickly and does it's job! I finally was able to get some rest about 1 am but woke up at 4 am to use the bathroom again. The other bad part was I did not even get the procedure until 3 pm the next day! I developed a really bad headache because I got dehydrated and was getting very hungry.
The colonoscopy showed my colon was fine so they were not sure what was causing all the pain in my abdomen. Dr. Grossman decided that because I was coming back the next Tuesday for scans, he would send me home and wait for the scans to see if they showed anything. It was another time I went to the doctor to find out what wasn't wrong with me not to find out what was wrong with me!
Since I had missed three days of work and really didn't feel that great, I decided to take the rest of the week off. Saturday I woke up and my left side hurt and the pain was higher in my abdomen. I woke up that morning because I had a dream that my stomach was hurting worse and in my dream, it hurt bad enough I was falling to the ground. It was funny to me that when I work up my stomach actually hurt worse. It hurt really bad all day Saturday. It would get worse when I did any type of activity. As I sit here today writing this, it hurts really bad. The pain is much higher than when it started to bother me and I really hope on Tuesday that the scans show something causing it or that we find out soon what is causing the issue.
I need to send a quick thanks out to Yolanda for giving me some tickets to go to Las Vegas and see the IRL race. Nicole was able to get me an autograph from Danica Patrick! Nicole also got several photos of her as well! This was on Friday during qualifying and Sunday was the race with the bad wreck where Dan Wheldon died! We had tickets but did not go because I wanted to leave to go back home sooner than the race would be over.
I appreciate everyone's concern and prayers! Hopefully this gives you a quick update as to where I am and how I am doing!
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