Life with Chronic Illness

I wrote recently about the crazy weird things that have been happening lately, including jaundice, hemolysis, chest pain, a weird rash that made my eye shut because of the swelling, swollen lymph nodes, and mild leukocytosis.  I saw the rheumatologist on Monday, but first saw the resident (or fellow, I'm unsure which she was).  She took my entire medical history, which is always difficult to go through, and remember every tiny, and major thing that has happened.  When the rheumatologist came in, he was already pretty convinced that I had Lupus.  I have a strong family history of Auto-Immune diseases, I have about 8 out of the 11 qualifying symptoms needed to make a diagnosis, and for once, this diagnosis was pretty straight forward.

Unfortunately, because I had to have my adrenal glands removed in order to treat  Cushing's Disease, the usual initial treatment of predisone to stop the flare up was not a good treatment for me.  Instead, I will take plaquenil, or hydroxycloroqui…

The past few weeks have been a little crazy.  First, I turned yellow, then less yellow, then more yellow (repeat x5), we figured out that was caused by hemolysis (a breakdown of your blood cells), tests results come back relatively normal.  A few weeks later, I notice weird swollen glands.  Fast forward 2 weeks and I go back to the doctor for chest pain.  All tests, X-rays, EKGs come back normal.  Follow up with hematology reveals that I may have Lupus (cue tears).  Now, I have a big, red, angry rash on one cheek and a swollen, painful eye and face, maybe periorbital cellulitis?

So I've been just a little busy trying not to end up in the hospital.  After many tears, one sick day from work, and a grand total of 3 visits to my PCP's office just this week, I'm ready for a timeout.  A vacation not just from work, but from my other full-time job of trying (and failing) to stay healthy would do the trick.