Health

As some of you know, I've been dealing with some health issues since the birth of my son. It is as if I left the hospital with a different body...I left the hospital with abnormal bowel function (chronic diarrhea) and awake with severe pain and stiffness in my hands and feet each morning.
I have tingling, muscle twitches and pin prick sensations in my left leg when horizontal. My feet get so cold they burn (more so on the left) and I have to wear socks to bed (Grover socks because Satch likes him) and cover my legs with a blanket. That's in the summer, in the winter it's 3 pairs of socks and a blanket. These are all new sensations to me...I came home from the hospital with a beautiful baby boy and a new wonky body.

I've been through a battery of tests with more on the way. Stool studies came back normal as did my blood work. We had one scare with an abnormal lab pointing to a hideous and rare form of vasculitis, but repeat studies thankfully proved it a false positive.

Yesterday I had a colonoscopy. The prep was hard for me to tolerate and I awoke the next morning severely dehydrated, with extreme nausea and a violent headache. When I walked into the office at 10 AM for the colonoscopy, the nurse took one look at me and went to go find a stretcher. The procedure itself was a breeze. The last thing I remember was the nurse asking me if the cute boy in the waiting room was my son...I smiled and said, "Yes and he's ammmaaaaazzzziiiiing", and I fell asleep. The rest was a blur. I don't remember the trip to the car or the ride home or asking my husband the same questions over and over again. The colonoscopy was normal, but they took a biopsy to rule out "microscopic colitis" which can cause both the diarrhea and the arthralgia.

I'm trying to find the humor in it all. After the "pump & dump" to rid my breast milk of the wacky narcotic, I asked my husband, "how much do you think this demerol-milk would be worth on the street?" and then, "do you want to make some chocolate milk with this and trip out tonight?"

All in all, if it weren't for the fact that the prep made me so ill, I would be willing to give it another go because it was the best dang sleep I've had in at least 15 months. (I slept ALL day)

The next step is a nerve conduction test to look for possible nerve damage.

In spite of all this wonkiness, there remains an abundance of beauty and love in my life. My husband took such good care of Satch and kept him entertained so I could rest. When I was finally awake, Satch came to the sofa. I picked him up and he cuddled on top of me, his head resting on my chest and our bodies fitting together so perfectly in a moment so tender and sweet, I wish I had a photo of it. AND the above card was presented to me by Julie's son Payton for giving him a gigantic dead cicada. It took all of my strength to pick that big, ugly insect up and put it in a clear top tin. (It's practice for Satch, I told myself) AND if that isn't wonderful enough, I received another card from my beloved Pixie containing tea and her healing words. Pixie, I adore you. You are so magic!!!