We get married in 56 days. The wedding is in Vegas. Everything is booked....I think. It has all seemed too easy; I keep having reoccurring dreams that we get to Vegas, and nothing is prepared. I have a feeling all this "Wedding Stress" isn't helping much in addition to the "Health Stress."
Back in August, my Rheumatologist put me on Cymbalta for Fibromyalgia. Not more than two weeks after I left the hospital in April, I returned to the doctor who had diagnosed my myositis to complain of pain. I felt sore every where. And, again, clearly it was not because of an overzealous workout....I could hardly walk, I certainly wasn't working out.
Let me back up a bit....Myositis is a rare disease. It is is inflammation of your skeletal muscles, which are also called the voluntary muscles. These are the muscles you consciously control that help you move your body. An injury, infection or autoimmune disease (as in my case) can cause myositis. The more common forms of myositis, Dermatomyositis and Polymyositis, affect the entire body---Focal Myositis, well, happens focally. While it as not as severe as the other versions, it is even more rare.
Anyways....I was sore everywhere. It hurt to carry my purse on my shoulder. D and I were concerned that the "focal" part of my myositis had become an "everywhere" thing. My doctor assured us that it was not possible--put me on medications to help with the soreness, and sent me on my way.
If nothing else, I noticed the medication help me with my yawning--as in I did not yawn nearly as much while I was on it. That's something, right? But it just didn't seem like I was doing any better. While I was in the hospital, and for months after, I was on rather high doses of Prednisone--a synthetic corticosteriod drug that is particularly effective as an immunosuppressant, and affects virtually all of the immune system. It is used to treat certain inflammatory diseases--so, in my case, it helped eliminate the swelling in my leg--and helped to keep it gone by suppressing my immune system so it would stop attacking itself. Once I was tapered off of it, everything hurt again.
Right around the start of the semester (also in August) I began to notice I was running low-grade fevers. When I had seen my Rheumatologist, and been placed on Cymbalta, the nurse informed me I had a temperature of 100.2. The catch? I didn't feel sick. It was odd. I also noticed my hair was thinning quite a bit---I was constantly pulling wads of hair out of the shower drain. I decided to take my fevers and my hair loss, and head back to the state university's health center. I saw the same doctor I had back in April---he took one look at me, and sent me back to my Rheumatologist.
And so it began.
D found a wonderful Internist---and I started seeing him in addition to my Rheumatologist. In addition to the Rheumatoloist and Internist, I began seeing an Oncologist, and an Infectious Disease doctor (whom I had previously seen while in the hospital). From there, it was an Oncological Surgeon, Gastroenterologist, Pulmonologist, and Neurologist. I am to the point right now where I can hardly keep them straight.
I have continued to lose weight. I have continued to lose hair, and strength.
Tomorrow starts the new school semester....and I have lingering classes that need to be finished from last semester. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever be able to catch up. And the wedding is coming up. And we're moving this summer.
And they still haven't fixed me.
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