Not Done Yet

I think one of my biggest assumptions about having cancer was, you do the things they ask you to do, check them off the list…and you’re done!  Right?  Well, not quite. Today was one of those days that reminded me of that. 

I had a follow up ultrasound to check on some enlarged lymph nodes (again).

Wait-I guess I should back up and give you some context first.

A few months ago, St. Patrick’s Day to be exact, I came down with a really strange illness. Thankfully I was the only one in the family affected.  I went to bed the night before in a great mood, looking forward to an epic sleep in my bed.  We have a new puppy and had been trading off puppy duty downstairs, this was my night to get a full sleep and I couldn’t wait.  As I was sleeping, I started to notice some random soreness, just like muscle aches when you work out hard. I thought maybe it was from playing tennis, but that didn’t really makesense because that had been two days before. 

I didn’t give it much thought, just rolled over and went back to sleep.  Throughout the night, this muscle pain increased to full body pain, I can’t even call it aches because it was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. Everything hurt.  Rolling over was almost impossible.  My toes hurt, my fingernails hurt, my eyelids hurt.  It was insane and annoying! 

When I woke up, I didn’t feel well at all. 

I felt like someone had spent the evening beating on me with a very large bat.  I had promised to take Everly for a pedicure (which she very sweetly reminded me of first thing that morning) so we loaded up for some girl time.  I pasted on my happy mommy face and tried to fake it for her sake. 

 

As we were sitting there with our feet soaking, I noticed a strange red rash covering my feet and ankles. I was wearing (really cute!) ripped capris and followed the rash up my legs through the rips.  Then I noticed, yep, it was covering both arms and hands.  You should have seen me trying to low-key look down my own top without alerting the guy doing my toes.  Ha! 

But yes, the rash was covering my bosom. 

I texted a friend who is a nurse and asked her if I should be worried that I felt this awful and had a weird rash.  The rash wasn’t itchy or painful but, in my memory, I had never had anything like this happen before.  She assured me I wasn’t dying (phew), but said it seemed like a systemic inflammatory response and advised me to get thee to a doctor if it got any worse.

Of course, at that point I didn’t.  I went home after the pedicure and put myself to bed.  I slept and rested and took Tylenol and Benadryl.  I stopped taking Tylenol on day 2 because I didn’t want to hurt my liver.  I don’t know, I get weird about taking medicine too long, (yes, I realize 2 days isn’t long!).  By day three I was starting to get a bit worried. 

My body still hurt so badly, and the rash was still going strong. 

When I got up to go downstairs on day 3, I had a big ol’ cry. I typically have a giant water glass that goes everywhere with me. I’m talking 32 oz. of H2O goodness at all times.  When I tried to pick the glass up, just like I do multiple times every day, I couldn’t lift it.  My fingers couldn’t grip the cup, and I didn’t have the strength to lift it.  I had to carry it down with one hand under the base and the other wrapped around the side.  This REALLY scared me.  I felt like my body was betraying me and breaking down.  I didn’t know what was wrong with me or what to do. It seemed like a good cry was in order. 

When I came into the kitchen Josh was there and I told him what happened.  I’m not one for going to the doctor, even now, knowing what I know, I still have to talk myself into making the appointment and gettin’ ‘er done.  This seemed like a no-brainer though.  I was able to make a teledoc appointment for later that morning, and, unfortunately, it went just as I thought it would.  He couldn’t give me any recommendations beyond what I had been doing. 

Rest, Tylenol, Benadryl and if it gets worse go in somewhere. 

He did ask when my last physical was, pap, bloodwork etc and I had to sheepishly admit it had been a hot minute.  Which made me think…perhaps it was time to take my own advice and get some things taken care of for my own health.  I skipped my 2-week appointment after Everly was born and hadn’t had my lady bits checked out since then so that was a solid 6 years. 

Bloodwork and my annual MRI were probably 3 or 4 years overdue.

So, this was a wake-up call to take the time to get checked out.

Talk soon.