I know I am approaching 70 years old, but it is crazy after literally not going to the doctor except for our mission physicals over the past four years how many tests and things I have been involved in over the past few months. (And this is one of those posts which are more for my grandchildren when they get old, than for people to actually read now, so feel free to skip.)
To recap--first the surgery on both eyes for cataracts in December, dental surgery in January for my gums and to extract a tooth which had weakened internally for some unknown reason; then a physical in February when it was discovered that I had a super low white blood count.
Although I didn't have any symptoms of a low white blood count, when it remained low for another time, he consulted with a hematologist and they decided I needed to be seen. In March, I had lots of blood drawn and scans done to determine the cause of this low white blood count. I had also being having swollen lymph nodes which required additional workup as well. So lots of appointments!
In addition, I knew that my hearing has been declining, so after my physical in February, I was able to get a referral for an audiologist visit in March. (I knew I probably needed hearing aids so we selected an Medicare Advantage plan with some hearing aid benefits. Lucky for us.) It was determined that I did need hearing aids and my fitting appointment was set for when we got back from New Zealand.
In addition to all of that "fun", my lower left leg has been painful since November--at times, it causes me to limp; it can wake me up at night; but it is very unpredictable. At first I assumed I had hurt it someway, but it never got better. Heat and ice don't make a difference. So before we left for New Zealand, I had it checked by our family practice doctor. He did an x-ray and there was a deformity in the bone near the kneecap which was an incorrectly healed broken bone. I didn't know I had broken that bone but regardless, the doctor thought that perhaps it was swollen and perhaps steroids would help. I headed to New Zealand with steroids and they made no difference at all. Bummer.
Our primary care doctor (Carl) told me to come back after the trip if it wasn't better, so I did the Friday after our trip. Then he immediately sent me for an ultrasound to rule out a blood clot. Although I didn't have any outward signs of a blood clot, it seemed important to rule that out. No blood clots. Good, but it still hurt.
On April 7, I went in and got my hearing aids.
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| red for the right, blue for the left |
It is not fun to wear hearing aids and I understand why many people who should don't ( including two of my brothers-in-laws). The world is a noisy place and the hearing aids amplify it all. Your own voice sounds loud when you talk so it is hard to moderate your voice correctly. However, years ago, I determined if I needed hearing aids that I would get them and wear them, because hearing is that important to me. Both Jena and Ben can be quite soft spoken so it has helped me understand them so much better, plus general conversations in noisy places are so much easier for me now. It is so helpful as I teach Gospel Doctrine to hear the sisters and brothers in my class as they make comments. So it is good, but annoying at the same time. The remodel continues....
Two days later (April 9) was my appointment with the hematologist-Skyler (NPA). Overall my results were great. Nothing worrisome. The best news was that they discovered the cause of the low blood cell count was genetic. It is called Benign Ethnic neutropenia (called BEN for short). It is super rare in Caucasians, so Skyler was excited about that. It is most common in people of African descent and actually has a protective feature against malaria. (So I didn't need to take those malaria pills when we went to Thailand after all.) Basically it is a syndrome where people have low white blood cells but no problems or symptoms because of it. Typically, the levels are in the "mild" low which I have had doctors mention from time to time, but in February they were in the border of the moderate/severe range which is unusual for BEN but not unheard of. He will follow up with more blood work in July to make sure they have remained back in the mild range. I think that is the best result possible: They know what caused the problem but you don't need to do anything to fix it.
All the scans found a few other random stuff (like would happen with any person's body. We have random weirdness inside.)--notably for me-- a cyst in my thyroid (no symptoms); gall stones (no symptoms and no signs that it is inflamed), my two degenerating disks in my back (no current issues), a kidney stone [yuck--but not blocking anything yet and my kidney's function is perfect. Something to look forward to :() ]; and finally some plaque buildup in my lower aorta arteries--not good. All of that stuff was bounced back to my family practice doctor for decision making and direction. More appointments and scans....
And my leg was still hurting......
Next step for my leg was for a vein specialist to check out the veins in general. My pain patterns seemed to point to a circulation problems. More ultrasounds and another specialist to see. My veins are great BUT my pulse in my left leg was very faint. This is not good. So I was sent for another test (now we are into May) to have the pressures in my legs checked before and after doing a treadmill.....and then I was scheduled to see the main vascular surgeon, Dr. Schleider. Another appointment....
We actually met last week on Wednesday. The tests showed my left leg was definitely experiencing lower blood flow due to plaque buildup (most likely). My right leg is perfect. He is hoping to be able to get enough information from the scans I had done in March to track the build up in the pelvic area to avoid doing them again (that would be great luck for me.) He also ordered a echo of my heart since I haven't had one in 20 years or so just to be on the safe side. He told me that the pain is caused when the muscles can't get enough oxygen to the cells. The pain signals the brain to produce more tiny arteries to "go around" the narrowed areas. The treatment is walking which is great because I love to walk--although walking in pain has not been my favorite. The goal is to walk further each day to get to about one hour six days a week. I had already been doing about 40 minutes a day but I have to walk slow. That is frustrating because I am used to walking fast and of course, you want to get your heart rate up. But now the focus is on creating more tiny arteries to pass the blood through the cells of my leg. And I take a baby aspirin and a statin every day! I told Gary that now I feel "old". I am taking baby aspirin.
And while my leg still hurts--at least we have a reason and a plan. He will do a different kind of ultrasound on my leg in June and along with the other scans, will plan the next phase of treatment. The goal would be for me to manage walking daily and to manage the pain until the fall before doing an anagram and perhaps adding a stent in my artery to open things up. Pain is not my favorite, but it is manageable. I am not planning on any mountain climbing this summer though!
And that is what can happen to you as you are approaching your 70th birthday--of course, eating right, exercising, sleeping well, and managing your stress your entire life could eliminate or postpone some of these things--we are physical beings at the moment and these things happen to us. It is okay.
Maybe we should go on another mission!!!!
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