I got side lined for a while due to a surgery on my knuckle (and other complications). It had been getting more and more sore..and an odd bump started growing. I asked my Dr. about it and she said it was a wart. Nothing to worry about. It shouldn’t last more than 6 weeks or so, and would go away on it’s own. I told her the bump has been there for at least 3 months now and she said “don’t worry it will go away”.
I had to go in for a corrective surgery on my face in Oct. from the skin cancer op I had last summer. I asked the surgeon about the bump and he strongly advised I get it biopsied. The Dermotologist referred me to a hand surgeon, stating it would be risky to open the bump and maybe get infection in the knuckle. When I saw the surgeon he said it was a ganglion cyst..caused by arthritis. He would remove it.
I had the surgery and a bone spur was found. It’s probably what caused the cyst to form. He said it was good I had the surgery before too much damage was done. He scraped the bone down, removed the cyst and I was good to go.
It was very slow to heal, but I’m doing much better. I’ve been able to do a bit of sewing.
I made this apron as a gift for my 6 year old neice. She likes to try her hand at cooking with her Easy Bake Oven, and she likes to do crafts. I thought an apron would be nice to protect her clothing. I used a combo of 2 free online patterns to make it. The bib portion came from an apron tutorial here.
The bottom portion came from here. I really liked the design for the waistband. She can slip the apron on and fasten it herself because it has velcro. No ties to fiddle with. The velcro also makes the size adjustable. I had to make the waistband as two pieces rather than one that was folded over so I could tuck the top portion in. It was easy peasy..and that’s coming from soeone who rarly sews anything aside from quilts.
I made a couple of other gifts…which I can’t show yet, and will be making a couple of pouches for making microwaved baked potatoes.
My intention was to try to keep this blog mostly quilt/sewing related. Most people don’t want to spend time reading about other people’s problems. I have gotten several notes asking where I am, so I decided to write a post telling what I’ve been going through. Please feel free to skip over to another blog if you’re not interested. It’s ok..really.
As some of you know I was Diagnosed with Celiac disease ( a complete intollerance to the gluten found in wheat, barley, and rye) this summer, after being ill for quite a while. My Dr. kept telling me there was nothing wrong with me and to eat Tums, but I knew there was something very wrong! I got to where I was nauseated all of the time and started losing weight. He ordered a CT scan which showed enlarged lymph nodes in my intestines.
My Dr. told me he thought it was nothing, and with a flipant attitude said “maybe I should find a GI Dr.” Normally, a Dr. will refer a patient to a good GI, but mine didn’t. I had to find one on my own. She ran some tests and did a scope that showed severe damage to my intestines. She said “You have Celiac disease. Don’t eat gluten. Look it up on the internet”. I asked her several questions that she didn’t know the answers to. It was apparent that she knew little about the disease. Blood tests showed I was low on several vitamins/minerals. I started supplements.
When I went back to my Dr. for follow up care he said he questioned my diagnosis.
My Dr. was in the Resident program at the clinic run by our nearest hospital. In July he moved on and I was assigned a new Resident. I was hopeful that I would be taken more seriously, especially with a diagnosis that explained my symptoms. The new Resident said she agreed…saying she too, questioned the DX. Celiac disease was considered rare at one time, and as a result it isn’t given much attention in medical school. It’s actually much more common than was once thought. Many people with Celiac disease are misdiagnosed with other illnesses because it can affect every system in the body. I don’t know why the info isn’t updated in med school? It should be. Untreated Celiac disease can lead to many other illnesses including intestinal lymphoma.
I immediately went on a gluten free diet once diagnosed. My symptoms became better..for a while. Then, I started slipping backwards. Keeping a log of everything I ate helped me figure out that soy was now causing a lot of bad reactions. Soy is in SO many things! I found it hiding in my multi-vitamins, fish oil, D3, CoQ10, even my calcium supplement. It hides in foods under the alias of Tocopherols too. I’ve made sure all soy is now out of my diet.
My health hasn’t improved though. I’m still losing weight and each day it feels like I’m getting worse. When I told my new Dr. how I was reacting to soy she said “soy can’t do that”. I beg to differ. I found numerous sites online that confirm my symptoms are intollerance to it.
I’ve had severe insomnia, severe nausea, severe anxiety, no appetite, and when I do eat I get sick. I asked my Dr. to run a blood panel to see if there’s some vitamin or mineral that could be causing my symptoms. She asked if I take a multi-vitamin and when I said yes, she told me I couldn’t have any deficiencies. She gave me an RX for anti-depressants and told me to come back in 2 weeks.
She had no appointments available in 2 weeks so I was sent to one of the other Dr.s. He didn’t seem to know anything about Celiac disease either. He gave me an RX for sleep medication and agreed to do the blood test I had been asking for. He said to come back in 2 weeks. The test showed I was very anemic, which could cause some of my symptoms. When the intestines are damaged as mine are, vitamins and minerals can’t be absorbed by the body. It’s called malabsorption and the Dr.s should know about it!
The sleep med didn’t work. In fact I was more “wired’ than I was before. I read the info sheet that came with it and found it shouldn’t be combined with 4 of the other meds I am taking! When I went back to this Dr. and told him about the drug interactions and told him I quit taking it, he said “ok”. He noted that I had lost 2 pounds since I had seen him last. He told me I needed to get on “the gluten free diet”. I needed to see a dietician. I told him I had seen one that was recommended to me by the other Resident. She knew very little about Celiac and some of the info she had was wrong. We had a nice talk though, and she made copies of several sheets of info I had. I told the Dr, that I had seen the dietician and I knew what to eat..I just couldn’t do it due to the nausea.
He told me to see the dietician again and repeated that I needed to get on “the gluten free diet”. I explained that I have been gluten free since my Dx. A gluten free diet is a normal diet, just without gluten items. Whole foods are best like fresh fruits, veggies, whole meats, fish, dairy, and eggs. He wouldn’t listen and repeated I needed to see a dietician and get on “the gluten free diet”. It was now becoming clear to me that he must think there are exchanges, or points like some diet stystems? He told me to see the dietician and make an appointment to come back afterwards. I noted on the check-out slip that he wrote that I was to see my assigned Resident only..and underlined it three times. I’m not making an appointment. It’s clear that I will get no help from the Dr.s in the Residency program.
I found another GI that will accept my insrance and made an appointment. I will see him today. I’m hoping that he can help me. I feel like I’m slipping away.
And so…that is why I’ve been missing from my blog. I had hoped I’d be more healed by now. The stress of the holidays is getting to me too. Please be patient with me? I hope to be back to some kind of normal soon.
: )
