Category: Medical stuff

A Very Bad Week

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Last Sunday I woke up not feeling well. I was having really bad back and lower abdomen cramps. I had had them on and off the week before but just thought they were gas pains. This day though, my whole body felt “off”. I went to bed early and Monday I was sure I had a UTI. I had all of the symptoms so I started AZO. For some reason it just wasn’t working, but I thought I could just power through.

Tuesday and there was still no relief and I started getting extremely nauseated. I decided to go the the grocery and pick up some cranberry juice. I was basically living on AZO, aspirin and cranberry juice by this point. The UTI was not letting up. I would have called to make a doctor’s appointment, but I already had my 6 month thyroid one scheduled for Friday morning.

Wednesday and nothing had changed, only gotten worse. I drank a half gallon of juice. I couldn’t eat because I felt so sick. My lower abdomen, side and lower back were killing me. That night I contemplated going the the ER but decided I could stick it out until Friday.

Thursday morning I woke up still hurting. I was having the worse UTI I have ever had in my life with not relief from anything. I went to the bathroom to pee and immediately felt better. I look in the toilet and lo and behold there was a kidney stone.

I still wasn’t feeling super great so I was ready for my appointment on Friday. They tested my urine and found blood in it. By this time though, my UTI symptoms had basically vanished. (kidney stones can cause UTI symptoms) The doctor (if you read here you know we don’t have a great relationship) stepped out of the room to make a referral for me to get an x-ray and call in an antibiotic for me.

My phone was on 1% when I got the text from Walgreens that my prescription was accepted. I clicked on the Rx site to see what he had prescribed. I am so thankful that I did because he had prescribed Cipro. About a year ago I saw a TikTok video about how dangerous Cipro is. Sixteen years ago the FDA warned doctors about the very bad side effects that this drug can cause. It’s a Black Box Warning antibiotic.

screenshot_20251121-173822~22087885330640511791.

It’s also not just a run of the mill antibiotic that you would prescribe for something that is on the mend but you just want to make sure it gets cleared up. It’s BAD!!!!

His assistant popped in to tell me it would just be a few more minutes and I told her that I was not going to accept the Cipro and could he please prescribe me something not as dangerous such as Bactrim. I expected a fight from him, but he did it. I cannot express enough to advocate for your health. If you feel something is wrong or you are not getting the care you feel you need SPEAK OUT. Don’t just blindly accept what a health care worker tells you.

I got my kidney x-ray done so I guess I’ll find out later this week if everything is okay. I actually feel better today than I have in about a week and a half.

I did make my detox salad and it was so good!

Hangry Cat

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

I’ve mentioned the stray cat that found us who we named O’Malley. Well, O’Malley had really wanted to come in the house all the time. That was great, except that unless you watched him like a hawk, he would spray. I felt bad having to keep him outside so I made an appointment to get him neutered.

We kept him in the house the night before the appointment. Now the funny thing about this cat is that he stress eats. Whenever you pet him or even just talk to him, he has to run to the food bowl and eat. It’s like his comfort thing. We were told by the vet to take his food up at midnight. The morning of the surgery he came into the kitchen and I was petting him. He will always roll over on his back to have you scratch his belly. This particular morning, while I was doing just that, he identified as a gator and chomped down on my hand. I felt his teeth sink into my skin and blood started pouring out of the wounds. He, realizing what he had done, jumped up and ran to the now non existent food bowl.

I immediately washed the bites and sprayed hydrogen peroxide on them. My whole right hand was throbbing, but I couldn’t miss the appointment, so into the makeshift crate he went. I do actually have a cat carrier somewhere I just can’t find it. It had poured the day before and I had only a bit of time to search the stacked up with totes to the ceiling shed. I had to just make due with what I had which was two laundry baskets, a Bungie cord and hair clips.

It was a little embarrassing walking into the vet with so many people in line staring at my “carrier”, but you do what you have to do. Six and a half hours later Jackson and I went to pick him up. He was supposed to be crated for 2 days, but that wasn’t working. Milo was very curious about his friend.

After about 8 hours he seemed fine so I let him out. He ate and used the litter box. We did keep him in for about 2 days and he was fine with that. It seems like he has taken to house life because he now is in more than out. This was him today and now he’s curled up on the bed with me.

I, on the other hand, was not fine. I didn’t want to tell Donny about the bite, but my hand started swelling, getting red and was still oozing. There was no way in hell that I was going back to the bougie ER and luckily I had a doctor’s appointment the next day. It was just the twice a year appointment to go over my labs, but I was definitely going to ask for antibiotics.

The bite was Wednesday, the appointment was Thursday. He did give me a prescription for antibiotics, but by Friday I was so sick that I stayed in bed all day. I couldn’t eat anything, but Donny got me a vanilla shake so I could take my medicine.

img_20250509_1008567148974922406325212251

I felt lousy. We don’t know if it’s cat scratch fever or if I developed cellulitis but whatever it is it is taking its own sweet time healing. It’s not as swollen, but still has a hard area around both wounds. The antibiotics make me nauseous and give me zero appetite. Next pic is gross, but it was taken this morning.

I guess we’ll just take it one day at a time. Geesh, the things we go through for our pets.

Holey Hell

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Monday started off great. I got the front yard mowed. We had grabbed some honeysuckle off our trail 2 years ago and this year it has finally vined.

Some of the plants are growing back from where the neighbor butchered it bald. We still have plans for our cozy corner, but rain is heading our way for the next few days so all of that will have to wait.

Then, while I was mowing the backyard, my foot slid into the infamous hole. I had marked it with a faucet cover the last time I mowed, but apparently it had fallen in. This is what the hole looked like.

img_20250428_1014029838685406934514349133

I KNEW it was there, but in the heat of mowing, I completely forgot about it. It’s about 14″ deep and my foot slid down pointed and I jammed my whole foot.

After falling to the ground and yelling some not so nice words, I kept mowing. It hurt. Bad. That, however, didn’t stop me from going on to my next project which is our shed. That poor thing was chipping and the wood needs tending too. I got our some wood screws and tightened the panels.

Next I sanded and scraped the loose paint off. Everything looks better with a tan so I used the brown storm coat paint I already had.

By this time my foot was killing me so I only got the front done. I have more plans for it but had to stop for the day. My foot was swelling and bruising. I iced it that night but it couldn’t sleep well because of the pressure the covers put on it. The next morning we were concerned that I might have fractured it so off I went AGAIN to the bougie ER.

After the x-ray it was determined that it was just a really bad sprain so they sent me home with this beauty.

It actually does help stabilize my foot, but I am so ready to be fully functional again. Rain is supposed to let up by Saturday so I’m planning on at least finishing the paint on the shed. Fingers crossed.

ER Visit

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Thursday Donny and I decided to take a walk on one of the trails in our town. The forecast said there was supposed to be rain in the late afternoon so we decided to get an early start.

We ended up only walking a little over a mile and a half because Donny’s ankle and knee are getting better but we didn’t want to overdo.

When we got home I wasn’t feeling great. I’d noticed that for the past couple of days my stomach had been bloated, especially at the top. I noticed that it would go down when I woke up in the mornings, but if I had any food at all it would start sticking out like Jiffy Pop. By Friday I was feeling awful. It felt like a baseball was in my stomach. I hadn’t eaten dinner on Thursday and didn’t eat anything on Friday. I decided that I really needed to go to the bougie ER and see what was going on with my body. I got in very quickly and they did blood, urine, x-ray and cat scan with and without contrast. The only thing they could tell me was that I was constipated at the top part of my large intestine that just happens to run between your lower ribs and navel.

The thing is I poop every single day. So, even though I saw the cat scan and can confirm that I was constipated, it still didn’t make sense to me. I started looking online to see if I could find any answers. I started following nutritionists that specialize in Hashimoto’s and SIBO. I have every symptom of SIBO, which stands for Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth. I think I could be in a kill off stage which would make my symptoms worse until everything is killed off and then you get better.

I recently have gone gluten free. Doing this has gotten rid of my joint pain that I was having on a regular basis. I have also been following the Low Fodmap diet. If I am in the kill off phase of SIBO I want to do everything I can to finish it. I went to Vitamins Plus today and Dave, the amazing nutritionist there helped me pick out what will help.

He told me to take a dropper full of oil of oregano in the mornings and at bedtime take the probiotic. We will see if this works. He also asked if he could pray over me and of course I said yes because I will take all the help I can get. I look at feel pregnant every time I have any food. I am so frustrated. I actually have a doctor’s appt on the 5th to go over my quarterly blood work.

I’m including a picture I took after the ER visit so I will be able to check my progress. Wish me luck because this is not easy.

Oh, I need to add that the ER docs recommended me taking Miralax when I got home. I ended up taking 6 capfuls because I didn’t think it was working. Oh, it did work. It worked all night. I woke up with a normal belly until I ate a small breakfast. My SIBO baby came back.

In Sickness & In Health

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Today is my birthday. It has hovered around 22 degrees all day. Donny had his quarterly meeting in Dallas. Needless to say, we put off celebrating until later this next week. Those aren’t the only reasons though. Starting about 17 years ago Donny would have flare ups in his ankles and sometimes knees. It always seemed to happen around Halloween or Thanksgiving. Whichever joint it decided to hit it would cause redness, swelling and intense pain. It would last a few weeks and then just go away until the next time.

He started going to doctors. He had x-rays, blood work, you name it he probably had it. We were referred to an orthopedic doctor. He was told he had gout, but gout medication only made it worse. The weird pain would always just stay in his lower extremities and only occur once, maybe twice, a year. About a week ago his shoulder started to hurt. It then moved to his left hand. It was so swollen he couldn’t even bend it. When his hand started to get a little better it moved to his right knee. It swelled up the size of a cantaloupe and he could barely walk. The pain was intense. We were trying everything. I have googled his symptoms for years trying to find an answer. For a while I thought that it might be lupus. He had some symptoms, but not all of them and not the ones that were major markers for the disease.

I gave it one more try and did the exact Google search I have always done and this time the first 5 answers was something I’ve never even heard of. I clicked on one of them and started reading. I would bet everything I own that this is what he has. It’s called Palindromic Rheumatism. He checks off every single box. I also found a blog that a women writes about her battle with PR. Turns out it’s not very common and can be hard to diagnose. It’s different from RA because it hits hard with extreme pain and then basically goes into remission until it decides to strike again. There a few prescription drugs that help, but some have horrible side effects and getting the dose right can be tricky.

Last Saturday was particularly bad pain wise. I told him that I was going to make him a doctors appointment first thing Monday morning because we needed a referral to a rheumatologist. He was able to get an appointment on Monday. When we went in they pulled up his last blood work and told us that because his blood work didn’t warrant a referral they didn’t think they could give up one. One thing I have learned along the way is that if you don’t advocate for yourself nothing will happen and I was not going to let him leave the doctor without a referral. I KNOW doctors hate when a patient comes in and basically says, this is what I have and we need to treat it, but that’s exactly what I said. Luckily this doctor had heard of PR and agreed with me that this is presenting as exactly that. So now we are just waiting for the Rheumatologist to call us.

Here are some of the remedies we have tried because basically when Donny is in so much pain we will try anything. I chopped up avocado seeds and mixed them with alcohol and let them sit. It does work, but not for him. He takes supplements that take the edge off a little bit. He takes NSAIDS, but those can wreck your gallbladder so we have to be careful. He has started on a high dose of Vitamin D. There is an arthritis cream that my friend’s mother uses for her RA that I picked up for him tonight. My landlord has a friend whose son had very similar symptoms and the hospital told him to take Claratin everyday so I went out and got that today. I normally don’t talk to my landlord about stuff like this but I got locked out of the house today and had to have her come bring me their key. There are many other things we have tried throughout the years. These are just the most recent. Thank goodness we kept the crutches from one of his really bad flares because he’s back on them.

From more that I’ve read they don’t know the exact cause of why this happens. One of the theories is that it could be something in his diet that triggers the attacks. I found this book that we’ve been looking through. The hardest part it the trial and error because it just seems like it takes so long.

I’m hoping that something works soon. It’s so hard to see someone you love going through this.

I did end of having a perfectly good birthday though. I didn’t do anything and took a nap which was heavenly and the perfect weather for it.

Bougie ER

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Last week Donny somehow hurt his shoulder. Like HURT it. We aren’t really sure how he did it, but we suspect he slept on it wrong and then wrenched it when he was pushing up to get out of bed. Night before last it was so bad that I suggested we go to the ER to see if they could give us any answers.

We decided on Hospitality ER because why go to a uncomfortable, wait forever, corporate owned ER when you can go to a patient centered family owned one. They have valet service. When you walk in this is what you see.

All of their seating is so comfortable.

They called Donny back within 10 minutes of us being there. I sat with him in the first room where they started his IV pain medicine. They then took him to Xray and a CAT scan. I went back out into the waiting room for that, but Donny said his next room had a pull out couch, snacks and a drink fridge.

I was getting hungry so I made myself a Dove hot chocolate with this amazing machine that you but a Dove pouch in and the richest, hottest hot chocolate comes out. I chose a rice krispie treat and sat back to read my book while I waiting for him to be released.

After only 2 1/2 hours the doctor said that there was something going on with his shoulder but they really needed to do an MRI to get a better image. They scheduled one for the following morning, but Donny ended up cancelling it because his shoulder was feeling a little bit better and he had a physical therapy appointment today. I’m glad that we did go to the ER just to rule out anything being super seriously wrong. We also got a goody bag to take home with us.

I wish that all hospitals cared about their patients as much as Hospitality does.

Surgery Day

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Today I had to check-in at 1030. Last night I was looking up recovery time for a conization of the cervix. I didn’t realize that I wouldn’t be able to lift anything over 10 pounds and no vacuuming or anything strenuous for over a week.

Hannah was sick today so while Donny took Jack to school I made tea and chocolate chip brownie bars so they could have a treat later on. I couldn’t have anything to eat or drink past midnight so I was nursing an I’m addicted to caffeine and can’t have any headache. Also, I couldn’t even have water so I was parched.

Let’s add to the fact that our water heater had a small fire on the electrical panel yesterday, but we have the BEST landlords and a new one went in last night. Yay hot showers, especially because I had to wash, from the neck down, with this medical soap.

When they called me back to get ready for the surgery my doctor came to talk to me about what he was going to do. Ok, we’d already had this conversation in his office, complete with a diagram he drew. I don’t get nervous because I know I’m going to be asleep and I have already put out of my mind what is actually going to happen. Then when I’m laying there all calm he starts using words like burning the edges, hemorrhaging, you get the idea. Thank God the anesthesiologist came in right after and I was out.

When I woke up they said everything went well. I was rushing trying to get out of there because it was 1:15 and Hannah had a doctor’s appointment at 2:30 and Jack had to be picked up at 2:15. Donny rushed me back home and I laid on the couch resting, cramping, feeling not great. I did have the best Apple juice in the world at the hospital, but the coffee they gave me was not very good. It was however caffeinated so I was grateful.

Now I’m taking my pain pills that aren’t doing their job very well. We watched Bad Santa and I realized laughing hurts so now it’s horror movies.

I’m going to brag on my husband a little bit. Yesterday I did the orange peel challenge. That’s when you ask your significant other to peel your orange. They can either stop what they’re doing and get after it or tell you that you are capable of doing it yourself.

I was in the kitchen. Donny was putting on his socks and shoes getting ready for work. I said, hey will you peel my orange for me? He dropped everything, puts his hands out and said sure, throw it here.

I said, no, that’s all I needed. Y’all, find someone who will peel your orange. Today, he did everything. No complaining, just what can I do for you mentality. He’s a keeper.

Good Doctor, Crappy Results

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Two weeks ago I had a biopsy done on my cervix because my pap smear came back abnormal. My gyno doctor said he wasn’t going to release the results to my patient portal because he wanted to meet face to face.

Well, I got a call from the billing office telling me that I needed to pay what my insurance didn’t cover so they could make the appointment for my procedure. I asked them what procedure. She said, didn’t the nurse call you?. Nope. She then told me she didn’t know what the procedure was because she only had the code.

She transferred me to the patient coordinator who explained I needed to have a cold knife conization. I paid my portion, but still really had no clue what was going on.

Fast forward to today. I have cim-3 cells. That is not good so I will have surgery to take out a portion of my cervix so they can see how big the area is. It’s very good that we caught this early. My doctor said he would also “tug on my uterus” and if it seems loose he will remove it. That sounds fun!

Now we just wait to see when they can schedule me in.

So after that fun filled afternoon, I decided I wanted to cook. I pulled out my favorite cookbook and made beef enchiladas, beans and rice. It takes forever to make the gravy, but well worth it. Making beans in the insta pot is the only way to go. No soaking overnight.

So much better than the enchiladas I had at Sombreros. Hand grating the cheese makes all the difference.

It turned out to be a pretty good day after all. Cooking does that for me.

Hashimoto’s

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

A year ago August I went to the doctor because of a stopped up ear. As we were finishing up the appointment, I randomly asked if I could have a blood panel done. For some reason or another, I hadn’t had one since in years.

The next day I get a call telling me they need to see me in the morning to go over my blood work. I was a little worried because it had taken me almost 2 weeks to get an appointment for my ear and now they wanted to see me the next morning.

When I went in, I was told I had Hashimoto’s disease, which is basically hypothyroidism. Your thyroid controls so much in your body. Because mine was so low it had also caused a high cholesterol level and pre diabetes.

Let me explain why I didn’t realize something was going on in my body that was much worse than what I thought it was. The symptoms of hypothyroidism mimic being perimenopausal.

i was experiencing hot flashes that were out of control. In fact, at Hannah’s first scout meeting almost 4 years ago, in August, in an unairconditioned 100 year old cabin, I had one so bad the other parents thought I was having a stroke. They were nice enough to plaster me with wet paper towels and cold water bottles. Great first impression.

My skin was dry. Desert dry. My eyes were puffy and I noticed I was losing hair, not only on my head, but my eyebrows were non existent.

i was gaining weight, especially in my mid section. I was eating healthy and exercising, but it was a huge struggle to lose any weight.

i was tired. It was weird because it came in cycles. I knew that once I felt that tiredness it was going to hang on for at least 2 weeks. The first time I really noticed it was when we moved here, to Longview. I thought it was just the stress of selling our home in Baton Rouge and the job of having to unpack and get settled, but it kept happening. I’d be okay for about a month and then, BAM, it would hit me again.

And I would get moody and crabby. I also had memory fog.

All of these symptoms are menopausal. When I had my hormone blood work done at my gynecologist, everything came back completely normal. This was after my Hashi’s diagnosis.

it’s been over a year. I started off on 25mg of thyroid medicine, then 50, then 75, then 88, then 100. I have to do blood work every 3 months. I just had my doctor’s appointment yesterday and my blood sugar and cholesterol are fine, but my thyroid isn’t. I’m now on 112 mg. I can tell that I was having a Hashi flare up because I didn’t feel like myself. I was moody and experiencing the thyroid fog. This is something I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life, but hopefully the new dosage will be that magic number. We’ll see in 6 weeks.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Yesterday started off really good. Donny had seen an estate sale on estatesales.net and mentioned that he wanted to stop by before I had to start my colonoscopy prep. It was in a gorgeous neighborhood that we had never driven through before. Besides that house that was having the sale, the house across the street was also for sale. Yes please.

It was the second day of the sale, but I managed to find this antique frame with hand drawn flowers and a piece of vintage Mexican pottery. Donny found some saw horse things for the greenhouse that is actually going up today.

Since I’d been on a clear liquid diet since 6:00 the night before my stomach was growling. Loudly. The only thing I’d had that morning was black coffee. My prep started at 10 that morning so when we got home I had some jello and took the first 4 Dulcolax. I was fine until about an hour after and then the nausea hit.

I tried to drink some peach flavored water, but my stomach was not having it. I thought, well it’s not TOO bad. Boy was I going to find out just how wrong I was.

At 2:30 I took my second dose of 4 Dulcolax. I was still feeling nauseated so I did some comfort reading by one of my favorite authors. Easy, mindless reading to keep my mind off how I was feeling.

And then at 3:00 the fun started and by fun I mean sheer hell. Like I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.

This is a WHOLE bottle of Miralax mixed with 64oz of Gatorade. You have to drink 8 oz every 10 minutes. Just looking at the picture makes my stomach sick. And as luck would have it, I hate Gatorade. I’m not going to sugar coat anything. This was awful. I couldn’t leave the bathroom and after a few hours I was throwing up and had a massive headache. I was feeling so bad that I was seriously considering canceling the whole thing, but I had come this far and just told myself that I could push through.

I could feel myself becoming dehydrated, but I just couldn’t drink anything. Donny ran to Sonic and got me an extra large cup of ice. That was the best ice I’ve ever had. About 9:30 I went to bed but was up every hour to run the to bathroom.

I made it through the night. We left for the hospital at 5:40 with me still having to use the bathroom every 20 minutes. I was so relieved to be called back and get my saline IV. It made me feel so much better.

To anyone who is afraid of the actually colonoscopy, don’t be. You are completely asleep with the most wonderful drug. They woke me up afterward and I had no idea where I was. Everything went well and just like that they were discharging me. My discharge notes said the procedure took 8 minutes and also my prep was excellent. It damn well had better been.

Here are some suggestions to make the prep easier.

Don’t take 8 Dulcolax even if that’s on the instructions. Trust me on this. 2-4 is fine. Eight is overkill and I think that’s what caused so many of my issues.

Get some depends or something like that. You will need them. I didn’t have any so I stuck a puppy pee pad into my underwear like a saddle. My husband was laughing so hard and begged me to let him take a picture. That was a no.

You may have to make a bed in the bathtub. It’s just practical. You can thank me later. This only works if you don’t have to sit on the toilet and puke into the bathtub.

If you like Gatorade, pick the flavor you dislike the most because you won’t want to drink it ever again.

You will be starving when you’re released, so don’t worry about calories and eat what makes you happy.

And here’s a happy picture of my welcome home

P.S. – this post is not to put anyone off on getting a colonoscopy. If I had to I would do it again, I would, but I’d use my tips and do a little more research into the prep