A Whirlwind of Emotions......

A lot has been going on in my life. Since I have Presidents Day off today I figured I would sit down and fill everyone in. About a month or two ago I decided to have my chest looked at. My breathing is just not normal and I wanted to get another opinion. It first started out with a pulmonary function test, which I hate. Imagine not being able to breath and someone is pushing you to breath harder. I come out lightheaded and mad at the doctor for pushing me so much. Then it was off to X-Rays. I was suppose to visit with the surgeon that day but Geisinger didn't schedule me with the right doctor so I had to reschedule my appt, even after we told them we took off a day for all the appts. So, about 2 weeks later it was time to meet the doc. He looked at me and also had two med students there to question me and take a look as well. Pretty embarrassing. Good thing I shaved my arm pits first :-) I've never had so many people in a room checking out my chest. Jason's normally the only one that checks me out. The doc said that he wanted me to see a pediatric surgeon as well. So, all the med students walked down with me where I met the ped surgeon. Another med student decided to meet with me as well to check me out. Gosh....too many people. So, he said that my Pectus was a mild case but wanted to look inside further just to make sure.

A week later it was off to the doc for blood work and a CT Scan. Most people know about my intense fear of needles but I ended up going myself to the doc. I figured I could handle the needle on my own since Jay was very busy at work. So they gave me a wonderful guy to draw my blood. Took him literally 1 minute to get it all done. I was very impressed. He didn't wait around to talk with me or try to get me to calm down. Just stick and go. It was awesome. Next it was up for my CT Scan. Little did I know that the CT Scan involved an IV. This had me quite concerned since the needle would be staying in my arm for several minutes. The guy that did my IV was absolutly horrible. I keep forgetting but I'm going to complain about him to the doctors. First off he put the rubber band thingy on my arm and told me to pump my fists. Now, I have really good veins. Very easy to see and to get them to pop out. I have no idea what he was doing but he was rubbing my arm. Then he decided the left one wasn't good enough so he moved over to my right arm which is where I had just had my blood drawn. Stupid idiot. So, again, rubber band thingy and then pump my fists. It took him literally 10 minutes to get the IV in my arm. I was hyperventalating and freaking out the whole time. I was also very sick to my stomach and wanted to throw up because I was freaking out. I will NEVER have him work on me again......So, 10 minutes, the IV is in my arm and off for the CT Scan. The CT Scan tech lady was very nice. She explained to me about what they would be injecting into my arm. She said it would start with a metallic taste and then it would move down my body. She said that it would feel like I had peed my pants but she told me and reassured me that I didn't. So, she was right. Metallic taste first and then I could feel the stuff move down my veins. It was really hot and set my body on fire. It was weird how I could feel it moving down too. I sure did think I had wet myself so when it was time to get up I had to double check. The CT Scan took just 5 minutes and when I sat up I was really sick to my stomach. The stuff they injected was horrible. She gave me a barf bin and I said their for a while. I had to drive myself home so I knew I had to quickly get better. The ride home was horrible. I had a bad upset stomach and wanted to puke. I went straight to bed at 7:00. Everytime I would try to get up I would feel sick again.

The next day I rec'd a call from my doc. He said that my CT Scan revealed that my pectus was a severe case and that it had displaced my heart to the left. That really scared me. I have always had problems with my heart. When I don't get enough sleep it feels like a heart attack. He wanted to get a full pulmonary function test done on me. So, off to the pulm lab again. I had the same lady who fought with another one to get me. I guess I was just too cool. They drew more blood, which I didn't know about, this time it was out of my artery. Talk about hurting....I truly feel this was one of the worse needle pokes I had. Then I was put in this air tight circular thing for my breathing test. I told Jason it reminded me of a transporting device like "Beam me up Scotty". Good thing I do not get claustrophobic. On my way back to work, literally a 30 minute drive I rec'd another call from my doctor. I am pretty impressed with him, by the way, although I think he's staying on top of this because he's worried. He called to tell me that my pulm tests were back and that for a person of my age my results were very low. So, it was time to schedule an appt with him and with the ped doc to discuss surgery. I was going to be out of town the following week but told him the week after would be perfect. So, last week was my Bentonville trip and this Wednesday I am meeting with them. I'm very curious to see what my Pectus severity index is to see just how bad it is. I'm curious to see my CT Scan and to see my heart being displaced.

After my meeting our plan is to get all my records and head out to the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH for a second opinion. This doc visit will not be covered by my insurance but the Cleveland Clinic was rated as the Center of Excellence for my condition and I want to make sure I am in good hands.

So, everyone please be in prayer for me. Right now I'm going through a ton of emotions....Although I am very excited about the possibility of being able to breath normally it's just a scary time.

Now onto the rest of what's going on. Jason is going to be building us a conference table/computer desk for our office. This one pink room with purple carpet will get a total makeover. New wall paint, dark grey, new molding and trim, new furniture all made by Jason. I'm so very excited. The purple carpet will have to stay for now until we can afford to put the swift lock down throughout the whole upstairs. We picked up the wood today and Jay is going to start small. He's making 2 end tables for our bedroom. Then he'll work on the desk. Then a futon frame. After that I told him I would like a platform bed made which would have drawers underneath. We saw one at IKEA and loved it.