October in Review - Kinda a rant - you've been warned

Near as I can tell, October was "hell" month for me and mine. It seemed and felt like every time we turned around, some new issue was popping up out of the snow like daisys (but not as reassuring as that sentiment, let me tell you).

Though, in retrospect, I don't have Lupus, or some antibody that will cause me to miscarry then to stroke with a year's time of said miscarriage. So, in that respect, it could have been much worse. Don't get me wrong though folks, worrying over the tests for two weeks was enough to make me a bit... "cranky".

Alright, alright, alright, so I was bitchy and snappish. You would be too!

Back to the point; all the tests Mr. Neurologist did came back negative, it just goes to show they still don't know what the devil is wrong with me.

"How long have you had headaches" they ask, "On a scale from 1-10, how bad is your headache" they ask. Me, I look at the doc like he's just grown two extra heads and asked me to call him "Fluffy", smile and say "First one like this I remember was in 92, and on a good day, it's 'just' a ten, on a bad day... well... 22 sounds about right". Which lands me a raised brow and a furious following of scribble, scribble, scratch, scratch on my chart. I wonder if they doodle or if they are really taking notes some days.

Though, I have to say: KUDOS to my Neurologist! He actually gives a damn. Last Friday his nurse calls me, to see if I'd given any thought to having a Contrast MRI done. He'd mentioned it the previous week (about 2 or 6 times) and the fact that Nurse Karen called to ask again, I went ahead and said "Okay, let's get it done, but can we do that here in Ada, please?" I could hear her smiling over the phone, normally that makes my day, but it made me want to vomit at that moment. Who was she to be bright and chipper when they were going to shoot me full of dye and expose me to even MORE radiation. Yipee, it's sure my idea of fun. NOT. And oh, yeah, I need to have a Beta HCG with a negative result before I can be radiated.

I had no sooner got off the phone with Ms. Chipper, when my favorite-est PA calls up to see how I'm doing. I told her point blank I felt off, as the upcoming holidays do not put me in a Happy-go-lucky-mood but more of an Ebineser Scrooge saying Bah humbug mood. She empathized and offered short-term-medication to help me through the holidays. *laughs* It's tempting but I think I'll keep my neurosis thanks. She really does have the best of intentions. She let me know that my OBGYN wants more tests run, because well, he just felt there were a few bases that Mr. Neurologist didn't cover. And, could I get them done STAT so that the results are back before my follow-up next week.

Excuse me, do I look like a fluffy poodle just waiting to jump through firey hoops for your pleasure? Cuz, jeez folks, I'm just a person who works, has a life and plays World of Warcraft!

Monday morning rolls around and I call Ms. Chipper, and lo and behold she has an appointment for my MRI set. Now, me, I'm thinking: "It will be next month or next year" as it's usually a 6-10 week wait to get into one of those things unless it's a medical emergency in which case, they push the appointments back and let the crits go to the front of the line - as well they should. Triage baby, triage. So, imagine my jaw dropping when Ms. Chipper says "Does Tuesday the 31st at 8:30am work for you - you said you have Monday and Tuesday's off." Yea, my jaw hit the floor. This doc wasn't playing around on wanting this MRI done. I said that it would work and she asked me to have my local OBGYN just add my BHCG test to the others he was going to run. No problem - I can do that. (Let me know that they ARE communicating with each other like they should - cookies for the docs).

Called the Bestest PA and viola, one BHCG added to the list and away I go to get blood work done. Snag hit - the lab they sent me to, don't do on site testing.. they send it to the City and didn't know for sure if they'd have the results in time. No problem, another call to Ms. Chipper and its now "be at the MRI department at 7am so they can do a quick BHCG before the test".

7am Tuesday rolls around and I'm barely awake and it's effin COLD. I can't wear anything with metal bits so my warm jeans are out of the question. So fine, sweats and a blankie are my friends today. I was apparently VERY nervous about this, so on our way in, hubby stops at Love's (his favorite breakfast place, even though it's a gas station folks) and gets his b-fast and picks up a stuffed horse thats bigger than both my cats put together times about three. It takes up an entire shelf in our bookcase! It's name is Sam, but I'll explain that name later. A second stop at Mc Donalds and I'm set for breakfast too (I just love their sausage and cheese biscut early in the morning before it's hard and tasting like glue and flour).

Anyway, we get there and OOPS, my lab order was never called in and could I please call my Neurologist (AT 730 in the MORNING) and have him call in the order. I'm thinking - "yeeeeeah... right... you want him to do what?" but I placed the call, spoke to the answering service and proceeded to wait. Honest to goodness folks, he called me back within 7 minutes. I about fell out of my chair. I told him what we needed and he got it done. Another blood test done and I'm back in the chair with the tech coming up to me with a sheepish look. I'm thinking - oh shit, what now?! - and he goes "the lab just called, and it's a negative, but so did XX (the other lab that I went to Monday) and their test was negative too" So... I called my poor Neurologist at an ungodly hour for nothing. SORRY DOC!

Anywho, they did the test, shot me full of dye, tried to talk to me while I was in a tube with things against my ears and got a bit frustrated when I couldn't hear them. Uhm... HELLO!!!!! I told you I was hard of hearing and if you made me put those ear plugs in I was DEAF! But would you listen to me? Did I know what I was talking about? Oh... no! I'm just the patient, I don't know jack shit about myself and my abilities or inabilities - I need YOU, who have never met me before in either of our lives, to tell me that I'll be able to hear you just fine through them. *scoffs* Showed you what you and your paper that says you-can-be-taught knows.

Okay... that's enough bitching... positive things:
Tests came back negative.
October is OVER!
I made it to level 40 with my Mage in World of Warcraft like I wanted to!
It's that much closer to my birthday!
I finished season 1, 2 and 3 of Voyager.
I finished season 1 of Supernatural - wicked show folks!

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Oh! And in case any of y'all were wondering how I got the marquee on my page, this is where I get it from. I just kept playing around until I got it to scroll across where I wanted it to. You can get it to scroll or not scroll. Me, I kinda like the movement, it catches your eye.