Thursday, July 22, 2010

Another day, another test

Abdominal ultrasound. If a CAT scan and an MRI hasn't told me what the heck is going on, I don't have much hope that an ultrasound will either. But then I have had my hopes up too many times only to realize that nope, that's not it either.

Frankly, I have been surprised how being ill and trying to find out what is causing it just takes over one's life. For one thing it is time consuming to go to multiple doctor's offices, find a parking place & go in, wait in the interminable waiting rooms and exam rooms, then drive home again or back to work. Then there is the time spent on the phone trying to get something scheduled or talk to the doctor's nurse or waiting for a call back.

And finally, there is the emotional toll. I have never been so depressed in all my life. I think I could deal with most anything if I just knew what it was.

I am extremely fortunate that I have excellent health insurance and access to medical care. I flat don't know how on earth people deal with serious illness and a financial nightmare of poor or no insurance at the same time.

4 comments:

Nicole said...

Hang in there.

We've actually had two friends have mysterious GI problems. One of them was fixed up with surgery to get rid of bile and stones, like you mention in your earlier post.

The other one went on a no-gluten diet and that fixed everything up. She didn't test positive for gluten-allergy and there's no way to test for gluten-intolerance, but her specialist doctor suggested she try going gluten free because several of his patients with mysterious ailments had tried it as a home remedy and it worked for them. That didn't work for friend #1 with the gall bladder (?) problems but it was like a miracle for this friend.

Good luck and I hope they figure things out for you.

Florence said...

Thank you Nicole for you kind words. I am hanging in there but patience has never been my strong point!!

Grace. said...

I hear ya!

A friend of mine finally (after two years) got a diagnosis of a while constellation of 'small' issues. The prognosis isn't particularly good, but she was thrilled to have a name for it, something to look up on the internet, and listservs to go to where other folks know what she is experiencing. It was also a relief to know that she will have more issues in the future, but it's not life-threatening.

The waiting for the diagnosis was definitely the hardest part.

Take care.

Florence said...

Thanks Grace, Eventually, we'll get this sorted out and I can stop talking about it--When I was a kid, I swore I'd never spend my time talking about my latest infirmity but here I am yaking about my GI tract...sheesh...