To my mom so she could bring it to her doctor and to a well known Rheumatologist in my island. To my cousin who is a Rheumatologist that lives in Spain.
Mom took the test to our family doctor down there and he agrees that there is enough evidence on the blood tests and my symptoms to establish a connection that leads towards an Immune Disorder, to what extent? more tests are required. The doctor believes that even though my symptoms are serious and I am in pain, it all leads to a mild case that could be easily resolved by bringing the immune system back to functional and controlling the pain, that if no organs have been compromised. From what I have read, it takes years for organs like lungs, kidneys and heart to be touched by the Immune disorder and it usually happens when the disorder is left unattended. The fact that I am in awesome shape, that I am an "athlete" and that I beat my body up through exercise easily misleads anyone, it helps my case a lot too but if you see me wearing a bikini, under the sun of Margarita Island, you would never think I'm sick. Just imagine it, I come to you looking like the picture below and tell you how much my joints hurt and how sick I feel, what would you say? yeah right!
Sometimes what you see in me doesn't reflect how I feel, and I can't blame anyone for not knowing or understanding, at the end is my responsibility to let whoever I care about know how I feel and what I am going through, we are clear there!
Back to the blood tests, My cousin replied to my email this morning, she is a Rheumatologist (how many times have I said that already?). Her email very clear, she would like me to call her, she has questions and she sent a list of test that should be done to confirm the nature and extent of my disorder. She points out the good, the bad and the ugly.
1st The Rash has to be checked by a Dermatologist, that has been done, she doesn't know yet. If the dermatologist doesn't resolve the issue then it could be the famous "malar rash" and she can "take care" of that.
2nd She suggests that the joint pain I am experience could be Polyarthralgia (multiple joints pain) since inflammation is not present, but to confirm she needs more blood tests.
3rd The dry eyes are an important sign... ??? I read that some autoimmune disorders can attack the tear glands... Let me add here that I've suffering from dry itchy eyes for quiet a while now and my eyes are very sensitive to light, I wear sunglasses everywhere! I thought it could be allergies, something to do with the environment, never linked my dry eyes with anything else. I started using drops for allergies and the burning sensation was worse and actually didn't help, I then switched to eye drops to help soothe my eyes, did I ask the doctor? Of course not, didn't feel like being dismissed again with something so small like itchy eyes :-(
4th She advises that I certainly have "something" and it should checked carefully, it might nothing serious, but it has to be checked by a specialist.
This morning (Wednesday June 8th) I visited my family doctor to discuss a couple of things. He is sending me to see two specialists, he suggests that I calm down and relax a bit (seriously people, if someone else tells me to relax, I will loose it and chop a few heads, you are advised!) It gets me when people say: "Just relax" aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggggg I get it though, Stress doesn't help my case and it makes thing worse, I am working on controlling that, so please, people back up with the "relax" OK?
Why am I so stressed? My husbands gets to the point nicely: "she has reduced her physical activities to 10% of what she is used to due to all her problems and she has lost faith that there is someone in the system ready to listen and help". Exactly!
With the help of my doctor we got two referrals to get two more opinions from Rheumatologists here in Montreal and order more tests. The closest appointment, second week of July, thank goodness is not an emergency, so in the meantime I will focus on being an active participant towards my recovery process. I will eat better and make sure that I ingest all the nutrients my body needs, lately I am not hungry, all I want to eat is fruits, juices, nuts, small snacks and let's face it, that's not food, and with that anemia and low calcium in the game, I have to bring it up a notch and bring on the meat, green leafy veggies, all the yummy fruits and veggies I love, all wimpiness aside, Steaks hide! because I will be on the look out for you and I know where you are! In fact in my grocery bag today: A whole chicken, beef, sausages, broccoli, rappini, zucchini and other Innis that are very good for my health :-)
OK, I don't look like Barney Rubble (Pablo Marmol) and my doggie looks nothing like Dino but I found it funny, this is how I see meat sometimes LOL
Doctor suggested also that while we wait for the other Doctors to see me and rule out any crazy thing going on, I should rest and a lot, avoid forcing my joints and muscles in any way, avoid getting "tired", that means not abusing my body, example: If I do yoga in the morning, I can wait until the next day to do my running, I don't have to do Yoga, BJJ, Running, Budokon and Kickboxing in one day (really?), protect myself from the environment, example: don't play under the rain and don't stay under the sun for extended periods, wear a jacket if it's chilly and windy, control my stress levels, and rel... you know that word, I'll choose to pass it for now! My doctor sounded like he was on our side today and that felt good, still I have my doubts about western medicine. All I desire now is to find out what it is and to what extent I have been touched and from there work with Traditional Chinese Medicine, Therapeutic Yoga and Herbs to deal with this thing! In fact, I already started, I met with my dear friend Antonella for a session of Therapeutic Yoga, it was awesome, it was soothing, we used props, lots of relaxing and restoratives postures, visualization exercises, and she gave me lots of love, how sweet, I felt so good after our session! We also spoke about other important things that I am still thinking about... Thanks Anto, you are amazing! And if you are in Montreal and would like to experience Yoga with Antonella, find her here: http://www.yogasanteplus.com/
The Chinese Herbs are still part of my everyday life, despite the taste but I hope they are working. Ethan is getting a nice long lists of all the news and updates that came out while he was gone, so I am sure that as of next week we will be working on it all, and I will be showing my face at Qi Gong to replenishing healthy energy.Today I had a full day, doctor's appointment, lunch with hubby (sweet), grocery shopping, vacuuming the house (I'm becoming more of a housewife and hubby likes that) and Zumba, yes! I went to Zumba to shake my booty and dance my heart away to the sounds of Latin Drums, on the menu: Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia, Samba and more... I love dancing and now more than ever I realize that I am in control when it comes to finding peace and happiness, doing what I love without other expectation than my own enjoyment and well being, nothing to prove, just being me and doing what I love.
And a special mention to hubby who has been more than amazing throughout this whole thing, I know he loves me and it feels good to know that he loves me so so much. I love you to honey!
And I don't look like Wilma (she needs dark curly hair and some B&B) but maybe hubs looks a bit like Fred LOL... not at all!
Looking forward the next posts, they will be filled with all my fun activities: Therapeutic Yoga, Qi Gong, Meditation and I'll throw some Dancing and running if I feel super energized after the steak LOL
"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me" Ayn Rand
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