I’m sorry I haven’t done such a great job of posting much lately. It’s been a tough week. It was a tough week because of all the HPS’ers that were running into troubles, but also I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather too.
Having HPS can make you feel like a hypochondriac most of the time. Remember the cartoons when we were kids? When a character had to make a decision about how to respond to a given situation there’d be a little devil sitting on one shoulder, and an angel on the other shoulder. The devil and the angel would argue back and forth until one finally won.
That’s sort of like the little mental battles that go on in my brain sometimes, except instead of a devil and an angel, there’s Kevin, the voice of medical reason on one shoulder, and there’s the rest of my life on the other shoulder. Should I go to a doctor? Should I stay home from work – the debate constantly rages.
Right before conference I started having some on and off diarrhea. I also had some sores in my mouth, and that weird sore that came up right by my stoma. None of this is terribly serious, but it’s the grouping of symptoms that starts to make you wonder if something HPS related is afoot in your body.
Kevin wanted more follow up on the kidney front, but as it was two weeks before conference and my doctors here didn’t seem overly concerned, I sort of put it off until after I got home. Upon my return, I dutifully made a follow-up appointment for the kidneys (which is Monday actually.) It was a hoop I was jumping through for the sake of the protocol.
At conference the diarrhea disappeared and everything seemed great. Upon my return home, however, the diarrhea returned, but sort of on and off, until Wednesday this past week. Now, it seems like everything I eat is going straight through me. And, if it doesn’t go through me, it tries to make an escape out of my body the other direction. I feel overwhelmingly tired. I’ve got sores coming and going in my mouth and that lower back pain where my kidneys are is back. My joints, mainly my toes, ankles, wrists and fingers all ache. Thursday I went to work because the rest of the staff at work was on the road and I had to put the newsletter out, but I felt horrible. I felt so uncomfortable and tired. It was a real struggle to focus at all.
So, today I stayed home. I slept most of the day, and haggled with my insurance company the rest of the day. I’ve been having all of these diagnostic tests done and suddenly all of my claims are being denied. I think it was a clerical error on their part. They were using the wrong claim I.D. number.
I don’t have any medical secrets. It’s all here for the entire world to read. But, if you’re here reading about my medical troubles, then for what ever reason you must actually be interested. My co-workers, however, sitting in their cubes working away probably don’t wish to overhear conversations about my bleeding, periods, or poop.
It’s hard to stay on top of the insurance company because I work in a cube farm and I have no privacy at work. Even if I step out into the parking lot with my cell phone, I can’t read the forms and see the numbers I need to discuss with the insurance company. So, today was rest-up-and-sort-out-the-insurance day. I hope we’ve got it worked out – otherwise, I owe a lot of money!
But taking a sick day makes me feel panicky too. I need those days for NIH. I can’t afford to be sick.
I really hope this is just some little stomach virus I’m battling. It makes me feel so tired. When I was in college battling the bowel issues of HPS, it was really hard, but at least I could come home from class and take a nap. My schedule had flexibility. Now, on deadline, I can’t exactly say – wait folks – hold the presses – I need to go to the bathroom eight times during the day and take a few naps.
Having HPS can make you feel like a hypochondriac most of the time. Remember the cartoons when we were kids? When a character had to make a decision about how to respond to a given situation there’d be a little devil sitting on one shoulder, and an angel on the other shoulder. The devil and the angel would argue back and forth until one finally won.
That’s sort of like the little mental battles that go on in my brain sometimes, except instead of a devil and an angel, there’s Kevin, the voice of medical reason on one shoulder, and there’s the rest of my life on the other shoulder. Should I go to a doctor? Should I stay home from work – the debate constantly rages.
Right before conference I started having some on and off diarrhea. I also had some sores in my mouth, and that weird sore that came up right by my stoma. None of this is terribly serious, but it’s the grouping of symptoms that starts to make you wonder if something HPS related is afoot in your body.
Kevin wanted more follow up on the kidney front, but as it was two weeks before conference and my doctors here didn’t seem overly concerned, I sort of put it off until after I got home. Upon my return, I dutifully made a follow-up appointment for the kidneys (which is Monday actually.) It was a hoop I was jumping through for the sake of the protocol.
At conference the diarrhea disappeared and everything seemed great. Upon my return home, however, the diarrhea returned, but sort of on and off, until Wednesday this past week. Now, it seems like everything I eat is going straight through me. And, if it doesn’t go through me, it tries to make an escape out of my body the other direction. I feel overwhelmingly tired. I’ve got sores coming and going in my mouth and that lower back pain where my kidneys are is back. My joints, mainly my toes, ankles, wrists and fingers all ache. Thursday I went to work because the rest of the staff at work was on the road and I had to put the newsletter out, but I felt horrible. I felt so uncomfortable and tired. It was a real struggle to focus at all.
So, today I stayed home. I slept most of the day, and haggled with my insurance company the rest of the day. I’ve been having all of these diagnostic tests done and suddenly all of my claims are being denied. I think it was a clerical error on their part. They were using the wrong claim I.D. number.
I don’t have any medical secrets. It’s all here for the entire world to read. But, if you’re here reading about my medical troubles, then for what ever reason you must actually be interested. My co-workers, however, sitting in their cubes working away probably don’t wish to overhear conversations about my bleeding, periods, or poop.
It’s hard to stay on top of the insurance company because I work in a cube farm and I have no privacy at work. Even if I step out into the parking lot with my cell phone, I can’t read the forms and see the numbers I need to discuss with the insurance company. So, today was rest-up-and-sort-out-the-insurance day. I hope we’ve got it worked out – otherwise, I owe a lot of money!
But taking a sick day makes me feel panicky too. I need those days for NIH. I can’t afford to be sick.
I really hope this is just some little stomach virus I’m battling. It makes me feel so tired. When I was in college battling the bowel issues of HPS, it was really hard, but at least I could come home from class and take a nap. My schedule had flexibility. Now, on deadline, I can’t exactly say – wait folks – hold the presses – I need to go to the bathroom eight times during the day and take a few naps.
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