| Friday, January 06, 2006 |
| 4.5.5 |
In Arizona...We were living in a travel trailer on Gary''s parent''s place. It was a 35 ft. trailer so not as bad as it could be. Keep in mind that his parents did not like me at all and here I am in their side yard living every day under their spitefulness. One rude comment after another, the water being turned off on us after Gary would go to work, without warning and in a hot box in the desert. Just things like that. They tried so hard to tear a rift between Gary and I. One time I actually did leave, that lasted for just hours. It was enough for Gary to step up and decide that his family, the three of us, was top priority. To get out from under his needing to always please them. He had this thing that since he was adopted he felt he owed them everything. He admitted that to me one day and it all made sense as to why he was allowing what was going on. When he finally made a decision to commit himself to us totally we fought together. We bought a trailer and moved to the small town down the road. Freedom at last. Oh, don''t get me wrong, they stilled tried, but we were not under their ever watchful eye. We could now go to like Burger King and not have to get rid of the evidence before they would walk over. They didn''t approve of eating out so Gary would hide the fact that we did it. That is how bad it was. Clay come home from his grandparents one day and told me, remember this is a 4 year old, that grandma said I needed to go to Jenny Craig because I was so fat. My son heard about me being fat from her all the time. This is from a woman who wore a 18w - 20w, lmbo. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. I do believe she had a weight issue as well. I knew I was fat, I didn''t need her reiterating it to my son continuously, that is for sure. He could see I was fat, duh. Petty stupid little things. So the new home was a breath of fresh air. We had our lives and Clay went to their house every Friday and Saturday. I do have to give her credit for the positive things she did for Clay. She took him to church every Saturday, she let him make bread with her every Friday. He absolutely loved those times. He worked in the garden with her and took pride in it.
About 2 months of moving into the trailer park and meeting the neighbors, I was talking with one of them about needing to find a doctor other than the one I was seeing. I was not pleased with the one I had. He was a pulmonologist and yes I needed one but I had other problems that needed figured out. She mentioned one in a neighboring town. Since the disability I had been diagnosed with asthma, COPD, congestive heart failure, and fibromyalgia, yet I knew there was something else. So I go to this doctor that the neighbor gave me the heads up on. It turns out that this doctor is an environmental and occupational expert. He has been featured on 20/20 since. So a very knowledgeable guy in what he does. I filled out a book of papers for him. I mean a book, lol, not the normal ton of papers. I had to take the book home after the first visit to fill it out. The next visit they ran a test called the Grey''s Panel. A test derived by the doctor. They took 8 tubes of blood and sent it to San Diego, CA., I was lucky that I didn''t know that medicare did not cover the test because it cost 1200 dollars and I would of had to pay it. Since not knowing about it I was free of the bill.
So we get the test back. I had high levels of formaldehyde in my system, along with a few other toxins, they deduced that the formaldehyde came from inhaling the dust from the fabrics used in the garment factory where I had worked. This stuff really messes a person up. Come to find out, 7 years after my disability hearing, we actually knew why I had become disabled. It was a relief as well as a scary thing. It caused what is known as MCS, multiple chemical sensitivity, as well as a myriad of other issues. The one thing this doctor didn''t believe I had was the CHF, I didn''t know that for awhile because he just kept giving me the digitoxin. One night I ended up in the emergency room for upper respiratory distress, they diagnosed the flu. I knew better but what do you say to the professionals that have egos as wide as Montana? I had been through it all before. So I took their prescriptions and left, scared. One week later I was back, I was bound and determined to get someone to listen to me and just luckily the doctor on call was someone who would listen. I told him that he needed to run a arterial blood gas on me and a chest xray of the heart. That I had gained 9 lbs. in the week since being in there before and that I thought I was in active failure. He ran the tests and others and they came back that I was active heart failure. That got them moving and me relieved that I was going to be treated correctly. I was immediately admitted and all hooked up. They pumped me with lasix. I eliminated 7500 cc''s in the first hour. To put that in perspective, it is like a normal person peeing 15 times in an hour eliminating 500 cc each time. My breathing became easier. I still had an infection due to the distress of what my body had been through. The next morning my doctor, the great Grey, lol, (which he was actually a good doctor for the most part) came into to see me. I just said, "Well?". He told me that this told him that I had congestive heart failure, can we all say a big "duh" at this point? He had been giving me lanoxin for a year and now he says I have congestive heart failure, lol.
One thing that happened in the emergency room the second round. I cough up some stuff and noticed a pinpoint size of blood in the sputum. I told the doctor about it and he took a sample and ordered tests run on it.
to be continued, blog on and God bless.
April 5, 2005 10:13 PM |
posted by Teressa @ 12:00 PM  |
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