My medical procedures, potential diagnoses and the month of April.

On Wednesday, I had an EGD and colonoscopy to determine the source of severe stomach pain, exhaustion and sudden weight gain.  Potential diagnoses ran from cancer to Crohn's.  It was nerve wracking, particularly the prep which involved drinking an extremely uncomfortable amount of nasty solution in two different time periods.  I think the very worst part was the extreme migraine it gave me and my inability to take anything the morning of the procedure.

The procedure itself was surprisingly easy.  I'd never had biopsies done (aside from the biopsy of hives in 2011 but that's a bit different).  I've also never been under anesthetic.  Needless to say, I was terrified.  While I joked with the staff and tried to maintain my cool, I developed a feeling of weights on my chest and they had to bring my husband in to calm it.

But once I was in the room and they administered the anesthetic I was out.  I did wake up in the middle of the procedure, but because I was able to react quickly (my eyes opened, I barely noticed the monitors and said "I'm awake."), they got me back out pretty quickly.  I officially woke up as they were wheeling me out of the room.

They say it takes 15 minutes to come out of the anesthesia they administered.  They also said I beat their record for coming out of it.  Bonus, since my primary fear of anesthesia is that my mom has a terrible time waking up from it.

There are no "official" words yet on what's causing my symptoms as I'm still waiting on test results, but I can tell you what the doctor told me.  He said that he saw no obvious symptoms of cancer, so we can likely rule that out.  We also ruled out diverticulitis, ruptured polyps and ulcers.

However, when you enter the lower part of my stomach, there are these "fingers" that help you digest food.  Mine are red and blunted, suggesting Celiac disease.  They took a biopsy.  Actually, they took several biopsies.  I'll have the results for those in 7-10 days from Wednesday, which makes it somewhere between the 2nd and the 5th of April.

In addition, they didn't see any symptoms for Crohn's in my stomach or bowels, but they couldn't access my small intestines obviously.  Because of that, I have another very minor procedure on the 3rd.  The doctor made it clear that Crohn's is still a moderate possibility since many of my symptoms match the disease.  Having it in just the small intestines is less common but not terribly unusual.

Then, on April 29th, I'll be meeting with a GI nurse to go over my final diagnosis and plan.  If I have Celiacs and/or Crohn's, I'll be referred to a dietitian to help make my diet congruent with my diagnosis.  I don't expect to have to make many changes since I keep a pretty clean diet (sans the very rare cheat day here and there).

During April, I'll be seeing an endocrinologist to work on my hypothyroidism.  While I'm level, I've never had an ultrasound of my thyroid to check for nodules.  I don't think I've had many of my vitamin levels checked in some time.  So I'd like to get everything under control there.

In addition, I'd like to see a derm about getting my psoriasis under control and checking out that spot of inflammation on my stomach.  It's never returned to mole form like it was several months ago, but it's still a patch of ever-so-slightly discolored skin and I want to make sure it's safe.

On top of this, I begin my exercise class on April 1st.  I'll also be nabbing a community center membership and going with my friends to work out on a regular basis.

While I was talking to my GI specialist after my procedures, he made note that it seemed like my stress levels were off the charts given some of my symptoms.  He suggested that I take a vacation or try to slow down.  Aaron and I talked about it and I think I'm taking off from character design only during the month of April.  I have the first week booked, but the last three weeks will be focused on my health.  This gives me time to run between the GI specialist, endocrinologist and dermatologist while working on exercising.  I could continue to work during this month, but my stress levels would remain high and I would be risking my health.  I'm not thrilled about taking the time off, but it's for the better.

As far as what that means for this blog, I'm not quite sure just yet.  I may have to totally reevaluate my goals over the next few days and update my year plan.  I still want to lose weight, maintain a garden and pay off 1/4th of Aaron's loans (my "Big Three"), but my career and personal goals may have to be shifted a bit.

Things have been surreal.  While I'm still waiting for answers, it's a relief to finally be on the road towards them.  And that's about all the update I have for now.