Is visiting the Dr the right thing to do if you're ill?

6 weeks ago, I woke up with severe vomiting and spent 3 hours sitting on the toilet while being sick in the sink..... I have to say that it's a convenient set up in our bathroom lol
So, I was sent home from work and took 3 days to recover.... after that, I had pins and needles through my left leg. Went to the Dr's and was told that I had a viral infection and that it would go away.... it didn't. It got worse after a couple of weeks, so I went back and another Dr told me to leave it a month and it should go away. He says it's the after effects of the viral infection..... so 2 days after that, I start getting this weird feeling on my head. I thought we had a leak in the ceiling above my desk as it felt like a drip of water on my head, which then ran down to my nose. This feeling got worse over 2 days and added to that, the pins and needles had gone, but had changed to a numbness down the whole left hand side of my body. My left leg would lose all feeling and I'd have to grab on to something to stop myself from falling over!
So on the 20th of November, I had Alan drive me to the A&E. They admitted me and I spent a week there. Listed below is what I had done in that week.
X ray - clear
CT Scan - inconclusive
MRI on my head - showed scarring on my brain
1st lot of Blood taken - still waiting on results
MRI on my spine - still waiting on results
1st Lumbar puncture - failed to get any fluid as it was a junior dr doing this.
(I did however end up unable to walk without any pain as she'd hit my sciatic nerve!)

They discharged me on the 27th November with an appointment to come back for another lumbar puncture, more blood and an eye exam.

I went back in on the Monday and they managed to get spinal fluid this time. Thanks to the Dr who managed this without leaving me in agony.

Still waiting on the results of the 2nd lumbar puncture, 2nd load of blood and am still waiting to get my eyes tested. I'd originally had them tested about 2 years ago and had been told I had a cataract growing. Turns out this may be wrong.

So I leave the hospital after the lumbar puncture. They did let me sleep for hours to make sure I would be ok. However, I start having the headache from hell when I get home.
On Wednesday, I receive a letter telling me I've to go see the neurologist in JANUARY 2010!
So I call them and tell them I have no idea what's to happen next, that I'd been discharged on Monday night with no info. So the secretary says that she'll get the dr to call me....

Thursday I'm still suffering the lumbar puncture headache but I need to go to the Dr to hand in my discharge notes and get a sick line to give to my work. The lumbar puncture headache is fine when I'm lying down, but HORRENDOUS when I'm standing up. By the time I get to the surgery, I'm in AGONY. After sitting for 5 mins, I make the decision that I must get home ASAP or I was gonna pass out with the pain... I walk up to the desk, hand my notes over, then collapse..... they lift me into an empty Dr's room and lay me on the bed.
Bliss.
The Dr comes through and writes out a sick line for me and I've been told to ask him to contact the Dr at the hospital for news by the secretary I'd spoken to the day before. He assures me he will, then leaves me alone. I manage to call a taxi, then the nurses in the surgery help me out to it. I crawl into the house, up the stairs and into bed. I fall asleep for hours and when I wake up, I'm a little better...

On Friday, the Dr calls me and I explain what went on and how I'm still feeling. He wants me to go back into hospital but assures me he'll get the neurologist to call me first.

So, he calls and after pushing him for an explanation on what's going on with me, he tells me that he doesn't like giving this kind of info over the phone, but that he's diagnosing me with MS.
It's not something that I'm totally at a loss about as my Dad has had secondary progressive MS for 12 years now, so I'm kinda keeping it in the family so to speak :)

Now that he's told me this, he's brought my appointment with him forward from January 2010 to December 7th 2009 :) he's hoping he'll have all the other results back and we can discuss where to go from there.

I'm gonna try and keep this blog up to date as I'd like to keep a daily diary on how I'm feeling, pain wise and emotionally.... They say the best way to deal with MS is to be happy and bright.
I can be that :) easy!!

So, watch this space :)

Veggie no more?

So, I've been a veggie for almost 20 years now... wow.

10 years ago I donated a kidney to my uncle over in the good old US of A. He had polycystic disease and really needed a new kidney to survive.

http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/newsroom/life_stories/story.jsp?id=33

After the op, things were ok for a while. Then I started catching every cold and virus going and the Dr's told me that my immune system had been affected. So I've soldiered on and suffered many coughs and colds but now it's getting to be a joke. I've had lots of colds this year, but I also caught seasonal flu and just last week had a viral infection that I'm still getting over.....

The Dr has told me that I need to change the way I'm looking after myself. With 2 strikes against me (being veggie and only having one kidney) meant that I needed to look after myself more than normal people.

So, I've decided to stop being as much of a veggie and I had my first bacon sandwich after nearly 20 years...... OMG! Maybe not such a big deal to most of you, but it's a big deal to me.

I became veggie after watching a programme on how we treat our animals before we murder them for our consumption.... not nice at all. I still did eat fish, like tuna and haddock, on occasion, but didn't touch red meat or chicken.

I feel a bit guilty after eating that bacon sandwich, but I guess it's time to look after number 1 now, and in case you'd forgotten who we're talking about.... that's me!!