Disconnected.

I’ve generally always kept to myself and was absolutely fine with all the alone time in the world.  Now I think I’m going crazy.  I’m having a hard time coping with everything that’s going on and what the future might hold.  I only have my husband to talk with about it.  I don’t feel like anyone else I talk to (which is very few) will understand.  I know friends and family might take offense to that statement, but at this point I need someone who knows what I’m going through and can help me get to the next step.  I need more than the conversations that just consist of “Oh that sucks, I’m sorry,” although I do greatly appreciate it when someone cares enough to listen to me.

Since we’ve moved to a new state, I’ve isolated myself even more than normal.  I was already having worsening health at the time of the move and wasn’t looking forward to having to change jobs.  I’ve had a hard time coping with cutting my hours and changing my work to fit me better.  I have two jobs, a part time and a PRN.  I had to fight with the occupational medicine doctor for weeks to get them to clear me.  It’s all put me in a state of mind where I feel like I’m just going to be let go for my health at some point anyways.  Even at my last doctor appointment it was mentioned that there was a possibility of having a “medically-induced” career change.

This has made it that much harder for me to make any connections with people here.  The only time I leave the house other than the regular adult things is to go to work.  At my part time job, the group I work with is pretty close knit and a lot older than me.  My PRN job has some people my age with similar interests, but I want to quit that job so bad because I’m always in pain when I leave that I can’t get myself  to try to socialize.  This on top of being  complete ate up with my health situation at the moment makes me a real bore to talk to.

In all honesty, I’m probably depressed.  We already know my anxiety has been kicking in too.  Any chance I take to talk to people about things usually ends up with them either blowing over what I said or them telling me something ridiculous like I need to stop the doctors everything.  I’m afraid that my health is going to ruin my life.  I was doing really well…  I graduated college, got a well paying job, bought a new car and bought a house.  Now I’ve been dialing back on pay and hours to be able to work without killing myself, which makes it more difficult to keep our heads above water on the financial front and we may not move back to Indiana where our house is.

I really dislike uncertainty and that’s about all I have at this point.

I like having clear plans.  I like having executable lists.  Other than going to the grocery store, I can’t implement that in my life anymore.

I desperately wish an excel sheet could give me all the answers…  Or maybe I could find a peer that can understand me.

Anxiety set in.

I started writing in this blog as a way to blow off steam.  I may not have posted much, and to be honest, it’s not like I’ve had a super terrible journey.  Thus far, I’ve been pretty lucky and I’ve always kept that in the front of my mind when it comes to all my health stuff.

I sat down in the wee hours of the morning while everyone was asleep and compiled all that is currently happening in my journey right now.  It hit a little harder than I was prepared.  I’ve been so busy thinking about other things since we’ve moved that I hadn’t let myself really take in everything that I’m experiencing with my health and with my doctors.

This may all be thanks to part of my test results coming through yesterday from my last doctor visit.  Really just the fact that I don’t have all the results yet does not sit well with me.  And yes, I am that kind of person who signed up with LabCorp and Quest to receive all my test results after they’ve been sent to my doctors.  I’m an MLT and I need to know my results.

Anywho, I only got part of my results and that part was positive.  It’s pretty much a non-specific test but still has me on edge and got me focused on everything that’s going on.  Currently I have 5 specialists, am being evaluated for another autoimmune disease, possibly starting biologics soon, need to get setup to do physical therapy, and probably will have surgery this summer.  I can’t even imagine what else I would get myself into if I brought up any other concerns I have to my PCP.

If my body just gives up, I’m gonna be in a bad place.  And trying to get my health straight, not even counting trying to eat right or exercise, is damn expensive.  I’ve gotten to the point where I really can’t handle working full time in a core lab anymore, so I’ve had to lessen my hours (PRN in core lab and part time in Micro) which means less money.  I got on the best insurance I could (a.k.a. EXPENSIVE) and still want to puke to think about adding on all the other costs for treatments coming up.

Needless to say, I still struggle with my needs, wants, and identity…  In general and when it comes to my health. I never know what new and weird thing my body is going to do next and send my doctor on a witch hunt to find the culprit.  (But seriously thankful for this new PCP with an attitude like that.)  From muscle spasms, to hot and red knees, to my fifth bout of shingles on my damn face…

I guess I’ve always been kinda okay and laid back about these things because I hadn’t had a real concrete diagnosis and my symptoms didn’t stack up at the same time like they do now.  I’m getting diagnoses, I’m getting more abnormal lab results and I don’t know how to really cope.  I’ve been used to there being a sort of end point to things…  like, I got my xray and did my course of steroids so we’re done with that issue even though it’s not resolved.  I don’t think that’s going to be the case now with most things which maybe a good thing in the long term.

Who knows, maybe 2017 will be my healing year.  I’m just tired of waiting to get through it.