Some of you may not know that I have had a rash on my arms and face/neck for quite some time now, actually several months. Most people don’t even notice it until I point it out. I went to my regular Dr. who prescribed a ointment to control itching and suggested that I see a Dermatologist – it made sense to me, so I made an appointment with her referral, who is supposedly the dermatologist of choice here in the SCV, so I felt confident that soon my rash troubles would be a thing of the past. So my appointment was at 7:30AM on the first day of school, so I had Hayley with me. So the dermatologist looked at my rash, and asked me questions, she decided that she would do a “punch biopsy” on my arm where the rash was. So I was like, OK…let’s do it. They have to give me a shot of lidocane (?) to numb the area that they are going to “punch”. So what is a punch biopsy you may be asking yourself? Its where they punch this needle/scalpel looking thing into the infected area and take a “plug” of skin (all layers of skin) to test. Well, after a week or so they came back and informed me that there was nothing abnormal in the tissue that perhaps it was an allergic reaction to something. I was like…OK, allergic to what???? And they said that they weren’t sure, that maybe I could go and see an allergist. I was like gee…thanks…for nothing…
So, off I went to find an allergist (sans the $200 the insurance wouldn’t cover for the dermatologist fee). Before I looked online for an allergist, I decided to give my primary care Dr a call and see what she thought and if she had any recommendations for a good allergist - you know since she did such a great job of the referral on the Dermatologist and all. She referred me to an Allergist, and I called and made my appointment and in a couple of days I found myself sitting in the waiting room of Dr. Strick, the allergist. While I am waiting, a gentleman walked in that was sneezing and wheezing and sniffling his head off, and I thought “Oh, poor guy”, he could barely breathe and I kind of felt sorry for him. And as I sat there listening to this man, I started feeling and congested and hot…what is this?? Was I sympathizing with John Doe with the runny nose??? I think I was… its kind of weird. Anyway, they finally called me in to see the Dr. and off I went. I explained my symptoms, and he took a look at the rash, and we talked about it and he gave me a prescription for some lotion to put on the rash (which is reallllly working – so…SCORE!!! ), and then he handed me an lab order for about seventy thousand and one blood tests. Oh, alright, it was really only about 5 or six, but with the amount of blood that the lab drew it felt like seventy thousand and one. The lab is conveniently located on the same campus as the Allergist so I went right over to have the blood drawn. The girl who was doing the blood draw was really nice, and as she prepared the needle and everything, I explained to her that they almost always have to use the butterfly thingy on me because my veins are small. Do you think she listened? Yeah…uhhh…no…She also ignored me when I showed her where the best vein is to draw blood. So she stuck me…twice…and got nothing…she walked away and came back with the butterfly one! Guess what?? She got the vials and vials of blood needed for the seventy thousand tests, from exactly where I suggested…go figure….
So today was my appointment to go back and get the results. Yay!!!!! I am thinking that I would get a prescription for some magical wonder drug that would rid me of this blasted rash forever. Wooohooo!!! Well….That’s what I get for thinking. But while I was waiting on the Dr. to come in there was this man who had come in to get his allergy shot, and he is standing there while the nurse is preparing and he looked over at me and smiled, and then he raised his sleeve and made this gosh awful look on his face and the nurse said “ohhh, I havent even gotten near you yet…” and then she gave him the shot and his face was so contorted I couldn’t help but snicker. The man opened his eyes and looked over at me and said “ohhh…I didn’t see you there…it’s not that bad at all…I promise….and we all had a good chuckle… Anway…so Dr. Strick finally came in and closed the door and began to calmly inform me that there were some “abnormalities” in my blood work. And I looked at him and said “okayyy”, in the tone that suggested he continue with the news of his findings, meanwhile this is the conversation I had in my head … “What??? Abnormalities? WHAT abnormalities…uhmm, wait…this doesn’t sound normal at all… are you sure doc, are you really really sure???? Am I going to die- just tell me pleaseeeeeee…abnormalities.realllyyyy???” So he continues and tells me that my thyroid antibodies are elevated, whatever that means (something thyroidal - is that a word??)….I was not so much surprised about that result. And he also explained to me that my ANA (Antinuclear Antibodies) could be positive for Lupus (or something like that), that Lupus typically presents with a rash, but that my rash is not typical of someone who has Lupus, and there are other things that could be the matter that could cause a false positive in the ANA results. Fun, huh? So, he asked my permission to share his findings with Dr. Wells and pass this information over to her so that she could refer me if needed to specialist. I of course said that this was fine. When I left the office, I was fine for about 2.3 minutes….then it sank in…Antibodies, Lupus, autoimmmune?? I just started to cry…I wanted to talk to someone, and nobody was available… :-(( I wanted to cry more because I still have NO idea what is wrong with me. So, within half an hour I received a call from Dr. Wells’s office giving me the names of her referrals to an Endocrinologist and a Rheumatologist. I immediately called both of those Drs offices and neither one of them can see me until like April in 2029 or thereabouts…what is that?? What if I was like really really sick??? What if I really am really really sick and just don’t know????. So I called back my regular Dr. to see if they could refer me to anyone else, and they said NO to check my insurance to see what other Drs I can go see. So I asked her to fax me over my blood test results and logged onto my Blue Cross account and looked for Drs in my area, then I remembered there is this Medical Group called Facey…so I went to Facey.com and found my own referrals (thank the Lord for PPOs)…I will be seeing the Rheumatologist on December 4th, and the Endocrinologist on Dec 16th…just in time for Christmas and I’d say that that is way better than waiting 20+ years, huh? So, I still do not have any more of an idea of why I have this rash, why I am tired, why my joints are achy. I am hoping it’s something that can be either controlled or fixed by medication…I am positive it isn’t something that is horrible or untreatable, it seems like they would have been telling me to come in NOW or something…right??? Yeah, that’s what I am praying for….
On the upside, I do know that God is in control, and has a plan, and that everything will be OK. I just want to know…ya know??
So, off I went to find an allergist (sans the $200 the insurance wouldn’t cover for the dermatologist fee). Before I looked online for an allergist, I decided to give my primary care Dr a call and see what she thought and if she had any recommendations for a good allergist - you know since she did such a great job of the referral on the Dermatologist and all. She referred me to an Allergist, and I called and made my appointment and in a couple of days I found myself sitting in the waiting room of Dr. Strick, the allergist. While I am waiting, a gentleman walked in that was sneezing and wheezing and sniffling his head off, and I thought “Oh, poor guy”, he could barely breathe and I kind of felt sorry for him. And as I sat there listening to this man, I started feeling and congested and hot…what is this?? Was I sympathizing with John Doe with the runny nose??? I think I was… its kind of weird. Anyway, they finally called me in to see the Dr. and off I went. I explained my symptoms, and he took a look at the rash, and we talked about it and he gave me a prescription for some lotion to put on the rash (which is reallllly working – so…SCORE!!! ), and then he handed me an lab order for about seventy thousand and one blood tests. Oh, alright, it was really only about 5 or six, but with the amount of blood that the lab drew it felt like seventy thousand and one. The lab is conveniently located on the same campus as the Allergist so I went right over to have the blood drawn. The girl who was doing the blood draw was really nice, and as she prepared the needle and everything, I explained to her that they almost always have to use the butterfly thingy on me because my veins are small. Do you think she listened? Yeah…uhhh…no…She also ignored me when I showed her where the best vein is to draw blood. So she stuck me…twice…and got nothing…she walked away and came back with the butterfly one! Guess what?? She got the vials and vials of blood needed for the seventy thousand tests, from exactly where I suggested…go figure….
So today was my appointment to go back and get the results. Yay!!!!! I am thinking that I would get a prescription for some magical wonder drug that would rid me of this blasted rash forever. Wooohooo!!! Well….That’s what I get for thinking. But while I was waiting on the Dr. to come in there was this man who had come in to get his allergy shot, and he is standing there while the nurse is preparing and he looked over at me and smiled, and then he raised his sleeve and made this gosh awful look on his face and the nurse said “ohhh, I havent even gotten near you yet…” and then she gave him the shot and his face was so contorted I couldn’t help but snicker. The man opened his eyes and looked over at me and said “ohhh…I didn’t see you there…it’s not that bad at all…I promise….and we all had a good chuckle… Anway…so Dr. Strick finally came in and closed the door and began to calmly inform me that there were some “abnormalities” in my blood work. And I looked at him and said “okayyy”, in the tone that suggested he continue with the news of his findings, meanwhile this is the conversation I had in my head … “What??? Abnormalities? WHAT abnormalities…uhmm, wait…this doesn’t sound normal at all… are you sure doc, are you really really sure???? Am I going to die- just tell me pleaseeeeeee…abnormalities.realllyyyy???” So he continues and tells me that my thyroid antibodies are elevated, whatever that means (something thyroidal - is that a word??)….I was not so much surprised about that result. And he also explained to me that my ANA (Antinuclear Antibodies) could be positive for Lupus (or something like that), that Lupus typically presents with a rash, but that my rash is not typical of someone who has Lupus, and there are other things that could be the matter that could cause a false positive in the ANA results. Fun, huh? So, he asked my permission to share his findings with Dr. Wells and pass this information over to her so that she could refer me if needed to specialist. I of course said that this was fine. When I left the office, I was fine for about 2.3 minutes….then it sank in…Antibodies, Lupus, autoimmmune?? I just started to cry…I wanted to talk to someone, and nobody was available… :-(( I wanted to cry more because I still have NO idea what is wrong with me. So, within half an hour I received a call from Dr. Wells’s office giving me the names of her referrals to an Endocrinologist and a Rheumatologist. I immediately called both of those Drs offices and neither one of them can see me until like April in 2029 or thereabouts…what is that?? What if I was like really really sick??? What if I really am really really sick and just don’t know????. So I called back my regular Dr. to see if they could refer me to anyone else, and they said NO to check my insurance to see what other Drs I can go see. So I asked her to fax me over my blood test results and logged onto my Blue Cross account and looked for Drs in my area, then I remembered there is this Medical Group called Facey…so I went to Facey.com and found my own referrals (thank the Lord for PPOs)…I will be seeing the Rheumatologist on December 4th, and the Endocrinologist on Dec 16th…just in time for Christmas and I’d say that that is way better than waiting 20+ years, huh? So, I still do not have any more of an idea of why I have this rash, why I am tired, why my joints are achy. I am hoping it’s something that can be either controlled or fixed by medication…I am positive it isn’t something that is horrible or untreatable, it seems like they would have been telling me to come in NOW or something…right??? Yeah, that’s what I am praying for….
On the upside, I do know that God is in control, and has a plan, and that everything will be OK. I just want to know…ya know??
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