Now What??

>> Tuesday, August 14, 2007

What is a day in the Ginn house without some sort of crisis?? The crisis this week is that I ended up in the ER last weekend for what seems like the 100th time in the last year. Surprised? But this time for a very new and unusual symptom. Last week I was thinking that I was having a bad reaction to my migraine medication and blogged about it. I had some very weird symptoms but also a horrible, horrible headache for over 5 days. The doc put me on a round of steroids to break up the headache due to "inflammation" in the brain. By day 6 my heart was racing, my chest hurt and I was short of breath. I thought for sure it was the effect of the steroids but I called the doc and he said to go to the ER right away. They did an EKG, blood work, etc. and to my surprise diagnosed me with...pleurisy. WHAT??? Where in the world did that come from? Pleurisy is an "inflammation" in the lining of the lungs. How did my lungs decide to get involved? Now, I've had a LOT of strange and unusual symptoms over the last 2 years but now we're starting to move into a whole other system of the body. What is going on???

Needless to say, I couldn't come home fast enough to start researching pleurisy (that is, of course after the pain killers wore off!). If it is not the result of infection (which it isn't in my case) then a lot of times it is the result of an autoimmune disease such as lupus. LUPUS??? Now, I've been to the Mayo Clinic and I've been to many specialists in town but this is the first time lupus came up. It has never been considered before. But in light of recent symptoms it makes me suspicious. But what's most interesting is that within ONE WEEK I've had TWO different inflammatory problems within TWO different parts of my body...brain and lungs. Maybe God is giving me another piece to a bigger puzzle than I originally pictured.

So how fast do you think I picked up the phone to call my neurologist on Monday morning? He agreed that it is indeed very suspicious of lupus and ordered blood work immediately. I don't think getting a diagnosis is as easy as a blood test. I think it involves many different tests/ specialists but the ball is rolling now. And finally the ball is rolling in a different direction. I should hear the preliminary results on Wednesday.

I'm certainly not anxious for a diagnosis of lupus by any means!! Frankly, I'm terrified of that diagnosis. But I am anxious for some closure. I would like a definitive answer as to what is going on in my body. After my trip to the Mayo last year I've never been 100% satisfied with their conclusions..everything didn't fit. And I've always kind of been waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'd really like to get on with life, you know? Maybe God is ready to reveal more information. Or maybe not. One thing is for certain...God is enough no matter what. His grace is sufficient for me. I need His grace more than I need to know test results. More than I need pain relief. More than I need answers. And if He chooses to reveal lupus to me then I trust Him to give me the courage and the strength to face the journey ahead.

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