How the hell…
… do you manage to catch flu twice in 6 weeks?
Frankly, the timing couldn’t have been worse. R left for a 10-day (work related) visit to the US last Monday afternoon. 36 hours later, I developed a tickly cough. By the end of the day, it was pretty obvious that I had The Flu II.
And It’s Back
The “pain holiday” is over š After about 9 or 10 weeks with very little bad stomach pain, it started to creep back in. First, it was just for an hour or so in the evening. Then it started to take over the whole evening. Finally, K was back to waking up with bad pain some mornings and missing school on the really bad days.
It Ain’t Flu – It’s A Migraine!
I’ve finally figured out the reason for the repeated flu-like episodes. They’re Migraines From Hell! And not one medic managed to put 2 and 2 together and figure that that the “flu” that starts with the mother of all head & neck pain (headache is far too mild a word for it) in someone with a 40 year history of migraines justmight suggest particularly severe migraine attacks.
I Have A Brain!
Yes. It’s official. I do have a brain. I must have because it was scanned earlier today and I imagine that a large empty space would have attracted some immediate comment.
It all started when I had my normal rheumo appointment. R suggested that I mention the weird memory lapses I have occasionally. At least he thinks they’re weird. As far as I’m concerned, the things he claims I’ve forgotten simply never happened. Normally, when you forget something like a film you’ve seen or a place you’ve visited, there’s a little tickle at the back opf your mind that says “Oh yes – you do have a memory of this somewhere in here. You just can’t locate it right at this moment”. That tickle is actually tremendously reassuring – even if you’re not fully aware of it.
July Already?
Long time no post.
The problem is that I’ve been way too busy – even though, if asked, I’d say that work has been quiet generally.
All I Can Do Is Knit
It’s not been a good day joint-wise, Started off with a bad left ankle and a rotten right knee. By afternoon, both ankles and both knees were extremely painful and I was reduced to limping around with a walking stick. But only when I absolutely had to move. You know it’s going to be a bad day when you start watching the clock and working out when you can take the next lot of painkillers.
Oh No! Not Again…
My left shoulder and wrist have started hurting again.
This may have something to do with the fact that I’ve been working every hour possible trying to put together about 200 Powerpoint slides and 50 pages of notes for a workshop in a week’s time.
It also wasn’t helped by the fact that my left hand suddenly gave way under me last night as I was moving – wrenching both the wrist and shoulder.
Looks like it’s time to start using Dragon again…
Flare
OK – it wasn’t K’s fault that I felt rotten. It was a lupus flare.
I’m over the worst of it now (high temperature, dizziness etc) but still dealing with some residual pain in most joints. Still, the worst passed pretty quickly (3 days?), so it looks like the meds are working.
Mild Flare Forecast
Started feeling distinctly ropey last night.
Lots of joint pain out of the blue. Today, as expected, the pain continued – though not as bad as last night.
I guess it’s a flare but, as flares go, it’s pretty mild. Just painful and I’m a bit more tired than usual. Can’t really complain. It’s 5 months since I had a bad flare and about 2 months since I had a mild one.
Guess the new meds must really be working.
Rheumo Update
Quick visit to the hospital today.
Well – 2 hours actually but only about 10-15 minutes of that time was spent actually talking to a medic. Seems my bloodwork has normalised again which might explain why I’ve been relatively free from the really nasty joint pain and had very few ‘flu-type’ bouts over the past 3 months.
Still withholding an official diagnosis but unofficially classing it as ‘mild lupus’. Turns out I should have been on a double dose of the Plaquenil for 3 months not three weeks as I was told but they’ve told me to stick with the single dose for now as, in the longer term, it doesn’t really matter.
Not due back again for another 6 months – fingers crossed.
