Monday, March 22, 2010

The few details we know, and why I'm still not much online - A diagnosis without etiology, etc.

Nothing is clear in my life these days... not my thoughts, not the cause of my conditions, nor the future course of it.
After...
  • Four months
  • Hours spent in every known scanning device
  • Litres of blood and urine drawn and tested
Here is what we know: Diddly/squat.

OK, we know a little more than that. As my first x-rays at the walk-in clinic back in early November suggested, I do indeed have osteoporosis. VERY severe osteoporosis. So severe that the doctor wrote for the best and most expensive osteoP drug on the market- Forteo- and insurance approved it right away.

We know one other thing: My testosterone levels are significantly higher than normal... so much so that the doctor asked if I'd been shooting up 'roids and testosterone like an MLB home-run king.

Yeh... right... were I taking additional testosterone, I'd look like sasquatch, and sound like a foghorn.


We don't know what caused the osteoporosis.
Nor do we know why I am still in such inexplicable unbelievable pain on a daily basis.
My surgeon has determined that my gamma nail has set properly tho, so he's signed off on my care... we're looking under all stones to find a doctor who will either treat my pain or help find its cause.
So far that's been difficult, which is why you don't see much of me online, and won't until this is addressed.
The pain- more than the pain meds- leaves me in a fog/haze most of the time. I'm often disoriented in regards to space and time... I trip over things not there, run into things... and remember, before all this, my reflexes were so acute that I did all sorts of crazy things balancing on the bongo board.
Along with the pain is usually very severe muscle spasms. They are primarily in the areas of the body most affected by the osteoporosis but not exclusively.
The pain and spasms started before my femur fractured... so either they and the osteoporosis share a common cause, or they're just comorbid.
I just can't words for the pain... but perhaps this will suffice to convey how severe it is... I often find myself wondering if phantom pain could possibly be worse than what I'm experiencing on a daily basis... I wonder if I'd not have done better to have the leg amputated? Consider that... consider what a lover of the outdoors I am, how vigorous and vital I am, that the pain is such that amputation seems like the greener grass.
There are lots of good things happening in life... most especially that Tess and I have spent more time outside together in the last 5 weeks than in the previous 5 years... its an answer to many prayers.
Thanks for the comments and caring and praying... I so wish I were able to be online interacting with you, but interacting with this maelstrom which is working its way through my body takes all I've got... and then some...
The photo is one I took of my reflection in the creek which runs along one side of our property... seemed like a more apropos image than the wheel chair one. I did some FX to it... maybe I'll do a post about them someday...

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hope you start to feel better soon.

Listig said...

Thanks!

I do have a rug I'm working on- started it when I was in the hospital with an IV in my left arm, look forwards to talking about it someday

Anonymous said...

Correctly your article helped me very much in my college assignment. Hats off to you enter, will look progressive in the direction of more related articles without delay as its united of my pet subject-matter to read.

Questions, comments?

Blog Directory