Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Good news ... and bad news

A beautiful mind?
Picked up the MRI results today (report and pics).

Goods news!

"No acute intracranial abnormality. Normal study for the patient's age."

Now I KNOW that is a 'weasel-y' statement.  Nothing 'acute' but no mention of anything 'subtle', and I'm getting tired of hearing 'for the patient's age.'  I mean, if they saw these pics for a forty-year-old would they equally non-committal?  How much of an older person's maladies are brushed off as 'age related'.  Sure, something like hair loss maybe.  But we're talking about my brain here.  Could you be a little more specific please?  (Trust me, these questions will be banked for that mythical follow-up appt with the neurologist-- in mid April!)  Grrr

Bad news.

Seems the good news had plenty of left-handed news, huh?  *heh*  Bottom line, apparently I've just been knocked back to square one regarding my daily headaches, light-headedness, and persistent random body numbness & tingling.  And will someone finally listen to me about that sudden weight loss 18 months ago that I cannot for the life of me get back?  No matter how much I eat, if I slack up on the calories I lose more weight.  Why is that of no concern to the medical profession? Has our society become so focused, so obsessed, so neurotic about obesity and over-weight, that not being able to GAIN weight doesn't even REGISTER with them?  Heck, one medico even said how LUCKY I was to lose weight so easily.  Can you believe that?

Maybe my brain is too big for for my head?
Yes, I'm venting. Sorry.  But it is my blog and I have to vent SOMEwhere! See - the VENT part of my brain must be lit up here.  *snark*

Yes, yes, I hear you out there.  And, YES, I AM TERRIFICALLY PLEASED that there isn't anything broken, burst, or growing in my brain.   I'm truly blessed.  Really, I am.

So, according to our beloved medical profession, no stroke, no heart attack, no heart problems, no abdominal aortic anurism, no plaque in carotids, equal blood pressure in arms and legs, good glucose test, all requested blood tests are normal, thyroid panel is good, left arm/leg nerve function is fine, no heavy metals (lead, mercury, arsenic), and no bacterial infections found.  And, when I question about MS, it's dismissed out-of-hand with "...you're too old."  Yet my sensation symptoms seem to indicate otherwise, though no one will pursue it.  To them - I'm healthy as a horse.

Except that for the past 18 mos I cannot gain weight and that for the past 6 months parts of me go numb at any time coupled with my ever-present headache, vision changes, and frequent light-headedness.  Yeah, sure.  Other than that - fit as a fiddle.  Not.

Since I won't see the neurologist until 4 weeks from now (April 12), it looks like I'm left twisting in the wind by myself - again.  Strange though, the bills keep coming in regularly. 

Paging Dr. House.....  Dr. House?  Where are you?


8 comments:

  1. I wish I could do more than type what amounts to nothing more than a platitude ... great that there is nothing 'nasty' visible, great that you're as healthy as a horse and absolutely not great that something's not right and no-one can work out what that is.

    So in the absence of any useful suggestions I am left having to make the obvious comment - "oh, so there is something in there?"

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    1. I feel like I'm IN a Doctor House episode ... one of the later ones when more things go wrong than right before the closing credits. Stopping by and commenting is much appreciated. Don't you love the pretty pictures? And - yes - there IS something holding my ears apart. :-P

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  2. Kris - good news is Good news - thanks for letting us know.

    It so happens that our GP and family friend, Dr A, is Dr House II - absolutely brilliant diagnostician. I'm going to try and run your symptoms by him and see what he comes up with. Please write to me with ALL your symptoms and tests which have been carried out.

    Seriously Dr A is Dr Houses' twin brother - even down to the outrageous comments to patients...

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    1. Why, Dani, what a darling dear you are. You have a Dr. House - on call! LOL You've been holding out on me! :-)

      I'll write up a timeline of symptoms - tests/results - and my own conjectures at this point. Truly, SOMEthing (or thingS) IS going wrong! Look for an email in the next day or two.

      Thank you for offering to do this. And thank your Dr. A. for taking a look-see. Over here I've not found anyone who looks at the whole me - only my parts. The more doctors I start to include, the less of ME they see...

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  3. Ok,let's count our blessing here! However, something is causing these symptoms! Did you ask for a referral to another specialist?
    Don't let them put you off.

    I have another blogger friend whose husband fell suddenly ill with weird symptoms, even passed out;lost lots of weight; has stomach issues and I don't know what other symptoms. After many tests,they began looking for food allergic and have decided he is allergic to almost everything.

    Has your weight loss stabilized or is it continuing? Have you considered Mayo's? I am grasping here but I want you to get well.

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    1. Oh yes, Glenda, I'm certainly counting my blessings here. Over the last couple of days I've been reviewing my 18 mos of blood test and am looking at trends. Doctors don't do this I guess. They only see what the last results are like. No one seems to care when things CHANGE. I'm seeing some puzzling results on a year's worth of thyroid levels. As for Mayo - nope. We've got the Cleveland Clinic just up north if it comes to that sort of thing.

      Thanks for being concerned. It's heartening to know folks care. :-D

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  4. I'm glad you're ok but I'll feel better when a neurologist can give you more information. I have MRI's every 6 mos and am always happy when the results come in. :o)

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    1. I'm glad these particular tests seem (to my very untrained eye) okay. But my symptoms are getting worse and the neurologist is leaving me suffer with no followup. I'm glad your Dr. is more involved than mine.

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