Yesterday I took Hestia with me to see my GP about my hip pain and nausea. It was a nice day out, so I could wear my orange and green dress for warm weather! Brad was dressed to the nines in a purple and strawberry themed outfit! Hestia was looking really regal in her purple vest.
We got a few pictures in the lobby while we waited for my appointment.
When we got back to the room, Brad and I took some pics of me on the table with Hestia. At first I was just sitting there, and then I picked up a book of medical illustrations for patients to look at and posed with that. After a while I was feeling a fair bit of discomfort sitting on the exam table because of my hips plus the swelling in my feet. So I pulled out the foot rest and lay down. Hestia had fun posing for Brad while sitting on my stomach! She looks like she’s queen of the world up there LOL!
We had to wait a long time for the doctor, but she was WELL worth the wait! She listened to what was going on with my hip pain, and we also discussed my hand pain which I’ve had mostly in the winters since 7th grade. She gave me a thorough exam, moving my joints all around on the table and then standing. Then she started pressing in different points all over my body and asking if they hurt—which some of them did.
She said that taking into account some of my other things that I have going on plus my evaluation, she wasn’t sure if it was arthritis or something like fibromyalgia. She ordered a bunch of bloodwork to check for arthritis and other markers, and she ordered X-rays for my hips and hands. If the bloodwork and X-rays come back normal, then she said it’s likely to be fibro. Otherwise if they don’t, she will refer me to a rheumatologist to help out.
I was kinda in a bit of a whirlwind in my mind. Arthritis I had considered, but not fibromyalgia. I am really unsure how to feel about the whole thing. I’ve since done a bit of research on fibro, and several of the things I have going on with me (like weird sleep, anxiety, depression, history of PTSD, nausea, and the joint pain plus the pain in certain points) do fit the bill for fibro. I am just not sure how to feel about it right now.
We also discussed my nausea, which she is worried might be acid based like an ulcer or too much stomach acid. So she is putting me on a proton pump inhibitor for 2 weeks to see if that helps. If it does, we will manage it with tums and maalox (much better for the body than proton pump inhibitors!). If it does not help, then we need to do further investigating as to why I have the nausea issues.
I felt so seen and heard during this appointment. The doctor really is fantastic. She listened so well, and had independent thoughts about what might be going on and was able to communicate with me clearly about them. While I am shaken by her mentioning the possibility of fibro, I am happy that she is thinking outside the box.
When the appointment was over, I headed over to the lab to get my blood drawn. Unfortunately the person whom I know wasn’t there. It was someone else, and she was NOT pleased about the service dog situation.
I walked in holding Hestia and she said something like “No, that’s not gonna happen”. Then she asked if Brad could hold Hestia during my draw. I said that Hestia is a service dog and is used to this, that she won’t be any trouble. The lady asked if Hestia would bite her, and I said no, that I’d keep her far away on the other side of my body.
So I sat down and put my arm out, and the lady was SO ROUGH with me! She really jabbed that needle in hard and it really really hurt! She went super deep and it was painful the entire time. More than 24 hours later and I still have stabbing pain in my forearm when I move my elbow in certain ways. I don’t have any visible bruise, but something is definitely going on in there. I hope that in the future, my friendly phlebotomist is there and not this woman!
Brad got a picture of me waiting for the blood draw, but since the lady was in such a bad mood, he didn’t ask to take pictures during the actual draw.
