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The novel to Dr. Li

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Hello Dr. Li, how’s 2011 treating you?

I saw the sinus doctor you recommended to me.  He was awesome the first time.  I got a CT and they said my front maxillary sinus was swollen.  Looks pretty cool on the scan.  I’ve been having headaches for so long now I was so excited that I would finally get relief.  I did everything he said.  Nasal rinses 2 x’s a day with Nasonex 2 sprays in each nostril twice a day.  Haven’t missed a dose.

Then I returned for my follow up – with no relief from the face pressure (left side only) and headaches (left side only).  Plus a new tooth is hurting now (top – second from the back) and I JUST had my teeth x-rayed less than 2 weeks ago, so not a cavity.  He said I had to do the Nasonex for another 6 months(which he also said would maybe help 5%) and he’d see me later.  He didn’t think my headaches were sinus related and handed me a paper study explaining that most headaches are not sinus headaches.  He also seemed really anxious not to be talking to me anymore.  Threw a bunch of medical jargon at me, didn’t explain it, and said have a nice summer.

And I asked…”Do you mean to tell me you think that I have different headaches and I just also HAPPEN to have a swollen maxillary sinus that is NOT causing sinus headaches?”  And he said yes.

Since I have been having stomach problems I went to my GP who ran EVERY TEST in the world.  10 vials of blood and an ultrasound of my pancreas and gall bladder.  The nurse practitioner I talked to said my tests looked fine.  I haven’t talked to Dr. Hom yet.  The ONLY thing different in my body is that my blood pressure is up to 148/98 at CVS it was 152/103 so I got a blood pressure cuff and it’s around 140/102 all the time.  On Monday when I saw the nurse practitioner it was 133/92 and that is the lowest it has been…it’s not that low anymore.  Dr. Inouye took my blood pressure.  It was 165/113 and they guessed it was about 10 off based on his assistant’s usual readings…so 155/103.

So my theory (to calm myself down from thinking it’s a frikkin brain tumor) is that I have 3 different kinds of headaches (because I believe I have now had 2 migraines – one on Wednesday that Roxicet didn’t TOUCH until the second one, and one on Sunday – spent the superbowl in a dark room with no sound).  Aside from the lovely migraines, I have, I believe, a chronic SINUS headache that is leading to a chronic STRESS headache.  Although according to literature, stress headaches are on both sides and mine is only on one.  But stress from chronic headaches could raise my BP, right?  What else can explain it?  Aside from a (yes I know obviously highly unlikely) brain tumor.  I say it jokingly but seriously I’m a panic attack away from crawling under my bed and never leaving home again.

Why am I bothering you?  Well, you’re the doctor I respect and trust.  Sorry.  You should have been a bigger jerk to me.

My first big question is: Since the maxillary sinus is so far down and the opening is so far up, and since I have yet to see anything come out of a nasal rinse or feel any relief from the Nasonex, does anything really get there down into the maxillary sinus through the nose?  I mean, they can’t even scope it, they can only look at the opening… I know I don’t have an infection, but the swelling…what causes it?  Why isn’t it getting better and only feeling worse?  If it weren’t for the fact that I feel more aggravation when I breathe in (than out) and my tooth nerve is killing me when I laugh or sing or talk loud, I would believe him and be sad that I have stress headaches and migraines.  But everything points to sinus being the culprit (stress headache secondary to chronic sinus headache in my opinion).  What do I know I’m just the stupid patient.

Big question #2: Do you think taking the hardware out will help at all?  Can you bomb my sinus?  I really just want to reach through my nose into my cheek and rip it out.

Big question #3: Regardless of hardware removal helping sinus or not, I want to schedule that bad boy asap.  Not that I want or am looking forward to you cutting my gums again (I know feeling is mutual), but the screws have got to go.  I’m thinking sometime in March.  Maybe early April?  Thoughts?  Can you do it with this high BP since I’m obviously just sick in the head?

The good news is I’m down to 135 lbs (from the 160 I ballooned up to), though probably not for the right reasons except we are working out so at least I’m not flabby thin like I was when I met you the first time.

Now back to my deep breathing exercises.

Hope this didn’t piss you off too much.

Shelby

Posted in Ramblings, Sleep Apnea, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I’ll bet Dr. Li never thought he’d have to keep in touch with a patient for sooooo long.

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

I should explain that I have, I believe, been having some sinus problems for at least 8 months (if not more).  I’ve been going to allergists to try to find out what this post nasal drip fountain is, and I’m not allergic to anything, so I was a wee bit baffled.  Result: pseudoephedrine to address post nasal drip.

I figured out it was my sinuses (having never had a sinus infection before that I remember) when my dentist said that my symptoms (bad breath, nerve pain in top teeth when I walked) sounded more like my sinuses.  That was on June 24, 2010.  I bombarded my body with more pseudoephedrine and my new best friend Mucinex and a megaton of water every day.  The teeth stopped hurting.  I thought I had bad breath and learned how to talk to people while inhaling whenever I had to get close to them.  I thought maybe it was coffee breath.  I don’t know.  I’m not that smart.  But I did notice that even minutes after brushing my teeth it would taste bad and really thought it was the bite guard.  Even though I efferdent it EVERY DAY and it didn’t smell bad after it was cleaned, I just figured this was something I was going to have to live with until I got my teeth to touch again someday.

The headaches (on the left side of my head only) began on June 3 (I can’t actually say if I ever had one like it before, I just know it was definitely there that day), 2010 after going to what I thought was going to be a massage and what turned out to be acupuncture, then a massage.  I thought a troll or an alien was trying to escape through the top left side of my head.

I went to the massage/acupuncture appointment because some dude had rear ended me while I was parked in a parking lot on May 13, 2010.  I figured the SEVERE and debilitating headache was my body “adjusting” to acupuncture (having never experienced acupuncture before).  Every time I went to acupuncture after that I got that SEVERE headache on the left side.  Incidentally, the massage guy massaged my sacrum into serious misalignment and I couldn’t sit without pain for weeks, so I looked up a local chiropractor (also not something I usually subscribe to, but I figured, someone popped my back out, someone else can pop it back in).

On July 9, 2010 I started seeing a chiropractor and it of course resulted in my seeing her 3 times a week for 3 weeks, then twice a week for 5 weeks, then blah blah blah etc. etc….it took months for me to be able to sit without pain.  Even now, traffic throws me into some serious discomfort.  NOTE:  Most every time she did some serious adjusting I got THE HEADACHE. Which of course was explained to me as my body adjusting to the adjustments.  This is the angry gnome trying to escape via the top left of my skull. (Yes, it is now a gnome)

Fast forward to Thanksgiving.  I was in Hawaii…and realised that my breath was so bad I was going to have to become a hermit and be single because it was really really really horrible.  Then my teeth started to hurt.  And my face was killing  me (yes I know, it’s killing you too).  DING!  Light went on.

iPad came out, symptoms entered (remember the mucinex and pseudoephedrine I’d been downing to address post nasal drip), SINUS INFECTION.  Contacted awesome doctor who I knew had one of his diplomas in Otolaryngology = antibiotics because it was that easy to diagnose.  Bad breath resolved after 1 course of antibiotics.  Awesome.  But nothing else changed.  Still post nasal drip, still headaches, face still hurt.  Of course I talked to Dr. Li and he referred me to a SINUS SPECIALIST.  wooooo.  I was so excited, even though it took about 2 months to get in.

So on January 20, 2010 I got to see the Sinus Doctor and I thought all my problems would go away.

See next post for the novel I just wrote to Dr. Li who should charge me if he answers it.

Posted in Ramblings, Sleep Apnea | No Comments »

You know you’re old when…

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

I was listening to some morning radio show and one of the news items was that some seniors got kicked out of a rally for wearing inappropriate t-shirts.  And I thought to myself, “What would senior citizens wear on their shirts that would get them thrown out of a rally?  How did they all coordinate this appearance at the rally wearing the same shirt?  Do they live in the same senior citizen home?  Did they show up on a bus?  Where was this rally?  What kind of rally was it?”  And then I realised…  Oooooh. THAT kind of senior.

In case you’re where I was before that moment…they were high school Seniors.

Posted in Ramblings | No Comments »

This just in: Maybe no jaw surgery?!? But not surgery-free.

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

No holding of breath, but we’re trying some STUFF…involving chiropractics (though no CRACKING or POPPING of my jaw, just muscle work), this horrible bite wedge thing, and me massaging the HECK out of every single muscle I can get ahold of in my head.
At the end of October we will re-assess. The 3-D scan looked interesting and when I get the motivation, I’ll put it up here. For now I’m just sighing in relief that I’m not going under the knife anytime soon. One bad thing though…In the exploration of tissue in my head…I have come across some RATHER painful points that I just could NOT figure out. Went to see the great Dr. Li…what is it????

We had a fight.

It went something like this:

Me: It hurts here (pointing to side of jaw)
Dr. Li: That’s probably a screw. (Presses on said point on side of jaw)
Me: Ow.
Dr. Li: Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s a screw
Me: If you put your finger in my mouth you can feel it right along the gum line back there. Feels like a shard of bone.
Dr. Li: It’s not a bone shard. It’s probably a screw.
Me: Put your finger in my mouth!
Dr. Li (putting on gloves and looking at X-rays): The bone is so thin back there, the screw heads aren’t flush.
Me: Come on, I won’t bite.
Dr. Li (looks at me)
Me: Hard?
Dr. Li (sticks finger in mouth and immediately finds point I was talking about)
Me: Ow.
Dr. Li. It’s a screw. It’s this one (points to X-ray). Shelby, I do not want to do surgery on you again!
Me: Sorry.
Dr. Li: I thought you said it was the jaw JOINT that was hurting.
Me: Yes! It is! But in addition to that, trying to get the muscles to relax, I have uncovered this problem.
Dr. Li (pointing at my x-rays at the chin where the last hardware removal event occurred): Why didn’t you tell me THEN that these were bothering you?!?
Me: I didn’t KNOW they were bothering me! Plus! Why didn’t you just take them out while you were in there?
Dr. Li (purses lips and looks at me with evil glare)
Me: Is it because you were too busy removing my tonsils?
Dr. Li: Well, I am not doing anything until your jaw joint is under control. So just tell me when I have to take the hardware out.
Me: Just this one?
Dr. Li: OOOOH NOOOO. I’m taking it ALL out. We’re not going to do this again!
Me: Ok cool. I’ll let you know.
Dr. Li: Yeah, you let me know.
Me: Oh, hey look what I can do! (wiggle my jaw side to side)
Dr. Li: That’s great! I don’t want to do another jaw surgery on you.
Me: Well, you may not have to…except the hardware.
Dr. Li: (silence and pursed lips). Well, at least you look good. Have you been losing more weight? (He’s allowed to say these things since it is already established that extra weight on me = sleep apnea again)
Me: Yes, it’s amazing what not being able to chew can do for weight loss!
Dr. Li: Go away.

He loves me.

And now you know why he schedules me at the end of the day when no other patients will hear us bickering.

Posted in Ramblings, Sleep Apnea | 5 Comments »

The end in sight is someone mooning me.

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

It’s been that time for a while. What time? Blog update time. Especially since I told Julie I’d write more and then…didn’t! Boo hiss.

I just got back from Dr. I the new ortho who is getting my jaw to settle down so that I can (dreams dreams dreams) eat without pain. When he first started working with me he said he could fix my jaw issue then make my teeth touch, if I didn’t mind braces again. Of course I don’t mind braces again…if it means someday I will be a normal kid. Okay, maybe I MIND a little…but I won’t give anyone a hard time if it accomplishes my end goal, right? Dr. Li and Dr. I have spoken about my case and everyone thought all this was do-able withOUT another jaw surgery. Have you noticed yet that I am conveying what everyone thought in the past tense?

Zut alors!

Dr. I took a look at my new million dollar x-rays (okay just $300, but how many of these am I going to get this year?) and saw that my lower jaw is still sitting too far back, especially on the right where the bone has changed from all this abuse. So we played around with jaw placement and I’m pretty much going to look like Ms. Sling Blade when they get things all settled. And that’s when Dr. I started talking about making “spaces” in the upper teeth and augmenting this or that to do some “aesthetic dentistry” and I said, “Are you saying all this because really what I need is surgery?” And he kind of sighed and said maybe yes. Then talked a little about moving upper jaw forward (which means I would look like a monkey) or shortening the lower jaw…yeah, so surgery. Guess I’ll go bug Dr. Li to get those two pow-wow-ing about me.

So what did I do in reaction to all this news (which I have been fearfully suspecting but telling myself I was being paranoid for a while now)? I bought myself a double iced latte and 2 bags of sourdough snacks, sat down here and shared with you. The end. NOT!

Posted in Braces, Ramblings, Sleep Apnea | 1 Comment »

Allergies? Allergies? You don’t have no stinking allergies.

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

I have a very very bad habit of starting things and not finishing them — oh look!  Something shiny!  Where was I?  Right.  Unfinished tasks.  I also have a motivation problem.  I can think about something so much that I am exhausted before I’ve even moved and it never even gets started.

Why start my post this way?  Well, for years I have suspected I have allergies.  I don’t get sneezy (except this year) and I haven’t noticed a consistant “seasonal” onset, but I have post nasal drip.  ALL THE TIME.  And after I eat (not every meal, but MOST) I get very phlegmy and have to clear my throat for about 30 minutes.  In addition to these minor things I SWEAR I can tell when I have eaten a walnut because my mouth hurts and sometimes I throw up.

So…  A few years ago I had a nasty experience at my favorite Indian restaurant where I ordered something new that didn’t have walnuts in it, my mouth exploded as if I had had walnuts, and I threw up in our parking lot when I got home.  When I spoke to the owner he said there were only cashews in the dish, and only cashew powder for that matter.  No matter…because I used to snack on cashews by the pound so I’m pretty sure I am not allergic to cashews.  To this day they insist there was nothing other than cashew dust in the dish, but my mouth is usually pretty specific with the walnuts so…who the heck knows.

This prompted me to finally go to an allergist.  He was a nice guy.  He listened to my story.  He got his assistant to bring in a few huge trays of pokey allergens that they smooshed into my back, and afterwards, after NOTHING happened on my back (aside from me feeling like someone had turned me into a pin cushion) said, “I’ll bet you think you’re done.”  Well, actually I didn’t…but I was wondering what the next step would be.  Turns out it’s blood.  They take your blood and test it for all the things they just stuck into your back.  Good times.  Unfortunately, that blood work required me to find a place to take my blood, make a time to go (with no end time since you know how long you can end up waiting at those walk-in blood places!) and *sigh* actually go.  That never happened.

Fast forward a year or so (sad how I used to be so specific with my timeline memory) and put me in front of my favorite steak house/fancy drink restaurant with a couple vendors.  Business meeting.  Talking shop.  Had some garlic bread, a couple drinks, and all three of us split a shrimp cocktail – but they were huge so that means it was a prawn cocktail, right?  Anyhow, one vendor left and I was sitting with Rick whom I have worked with for a decade when suddenly my blood pressure took a large dive and it was all I could do to keep from fainting.  As I fought the darkness shoving its way forward from my periphery, I managed to say something like “I think I’m going to pass out” before VIOLENTLY THROWING UP…TWICE…on the table.   Mmmmm.  Good times.  This led me to believe I am allergic to shrimp, or prawns, a theory which I have not tested since (repeat? no thank you!) since immediately after “the incident” I felt better.  But did I get around to that blood test?  Did I follow up with the allergist?  Of course not.  Fast forward a couple of years to, oh, say, 2 weeks ago.

This allergy season was killing me!  Feeling like I had to sneeze for hours at a time.  Watering eyes (accompanying the feeling that I was just about to sneeze), runny nose, and that darned post nasal drip!  I was getting tired during the day again, so of course suspected my sleep apnea was rearing it’s Supposed-to-be-gone-now hideous head and began to despair.  For some, their hours of darkness find them calling out to the heavens.  I cry out (on email, so he doesn’t have to hear my sniffly whine) to Dr. Li.  And Dr. Li always answers.  This time he said, “Get thee to an allergist.” (I may have paraphrased a little).

Made the appointment.  Since it’s a new doctor and I didn’t  have records transferred (I did think about it!  But you know how that goes)  she didn’t take my word that someone else’s 3 trays of needles smooshed into my epidermis had no reaction and so she ordered her own.  I think her tech was way too into making each one hurt.  Whereas the 1st allergist had been able to smoosh one tray at a time (each tray housing some couple dozen allergen stick points) for a total of 3 moments of discomfort, this one had each allergen administered individually underneath my skin…and she had ordered many many allergens tested.  Unfortunately the burning I felt was not a reaction anywhere on my back and so the tech came back with the big guns.  Real needles.  None of these little prick your skin things.  These 8 needles had larger doses of certain allergens that were then INJECTED under my skin.  Those burned too, but according to whatever chart they had, none of them reacted (though it sure did look red and welty when I got home and stung until I got up in the middle of the night and exfoliated my back in the shower).

Turns out, the only thing you can do with the sticking and the pricking and the injecting of allergens into someone’s body is the existence of an allergy.  You cannot prove one doesn’t exist this way.  So what next?  Yes.  Blood.  I now have another blood work form to take to some blood work center.  I’m pretty sure I’ll do this one since my post nasal drip has turned into the feeling that something is caught in the mucus that has taken up residence at the back of my throat and I am tired during the day, especially while driving in traffic.  Boo Hoo.

I am going to stop writing now to go take an allerclear, drink a gallon of water, and forage for a salty snack that I hope doesn’t turn me into more of a phlegm monster than I am presently.  Hasta!

Oh…here’s a picture of my back that night.  Yes.  I have a lot of dots.  I know this.  What I am trying to show you are the “non-reactive” needle sticks.  Primarily I’m talking about the ones on the left that look like flea bites, though you can still see the writing on my back where she labeled the ones on the right.

Yes, I know I have lots of dots.

Yes, I know I have lots of dots.

Posted in Pictures galore, Ramblings, Sleep Apnea | 2 Comments »

TAD – Last Day! Day 28 Watermelon Tourmaline with Magnetic Clasp bracelet by smac

Sunday, February 28th, 2010
Okay! So, things I learned about magnetic clasps…they’re really difficult to work with if your tools and/or findings are metal! :)
I was going to make this a two-stranded bracelet, but I think in the future I should string the beads before dealing with the clasp.
Thank you everyone for your awesome creations and comments. As usual, TAD has rocked!
Best,
Shelby

Posted via email from Shelby’s Posterous Adventures

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TAD Day 22 that I forgot to post on Day 22 doh! Cat’s Eye and Lab Opal earrings by smac

Sunday, February 28th, 2010
Here it is, the last official TAD Day and I just realised I hadn’t posted this particular day…Day 22. So I am posting now. I’ll post my last creation after I create it. :)

Posted via email from Shelby’s Posterous Adventures

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TAD-Day 26 Faceted Labradorite Discs with Freshwater Pearls Knotted Necklace by smac

Friday, February 26th, 2010
This is a semi-replica of a necklace I made years ago that a friend of mine really liked. I tried for months to find the same pearls I used in the first one, but to no avail. The hardest part is knotting between each pearl. How do people do this for a living? Hand cramp!!!
I hope you can see the awesome opalescence in the labradorite discs. So beautiful!

Posted via email from thing-a-day 2010

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TAD Day 21 – Opalite and crystal cubes with square sterling silver wire earrings by smac

Sunday, February 21st, 2010
Don’t be such a SQUARE…okay so they’re cubes, but it is square wire.
This square wire looks so cool…in theory, but is rather difficult to work with as far as repeating a look is concerned.
Instead of twisting, I just bent. Next thing to learn: silver soldering. It’s been on my list for eons.

Posted via email from Shelby’s Posterous Adventures

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