Thursday, 12 Jan. 2012

[JonPorobil]

http://reesabrown.com/

A good friend of mine died today. She'd been dealing with cancer on and off for the last two years. She leaves behind a husband, a stepson, a daughter, and a mountain of medical debt.

I don't have a question today. Or rather, I've got nothing but questions.

[fluffy]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Dealing with death is hard, and the more you have to do it, the worse it gets.

On a related note, I have put Important Information on my refrigerator in case my own situation gets suddenly drastically worse and one of the things is a request for someone to post to the SFBB about something if I am unable to, myself.

[RangerDenni]

I'm really glad that I came to New York last year. x

[fluffy]

Apparently my CT scan came up negative for diverticulitis, but yet I still have all these symptoms that are best explained by it. What the hell.

I'm still sick and tired and dizzy and weak and having bad intestinal problems and whatever is going on, even if it isn't diverticulitis there's SOMETHING seriously wrong with me, and it's probably intestinal given everything else. I'm supposed to have an endoscopy sometime next week. Hopefully that'll find whatever the hell it is.

I'm getting so sick of this shit.

[Billy's Little Trip]

fluffy, I saw on one of the doctor shows a long time ago that E-coli is one of the most misdiagnosed bacterias in humans and can hang on for weeks and sometimes months because more severe strains can cause different levels of anemia to reduce you immune system. You'd have to look it up, but I remember that it decreases one of the B vitamins that help with red blood cell reproduction. B12? But bottom line was that supplements of that vitamin and a couple other things, like iron were prescribed to replenish the red blood cell count. Just a thought, because it sounds like what you described.

......and one more reason ecoli popped into my head. Don't freak out when I say this, I almost wasn't going to. But the Gregory House in me is twitching. What is the timeline of your symptoms in correlation to getting your new cat? The dust from cat litter or the cat walking on counters with feces on their feet that is transferred to food or eating utensils has caused miscarriages and even death because it was misdiagnosed. Sorry, but there, I said it. It can't be unsaid.

[Billy's Little Trip]

Sorry about your friend, Jon. That's rough.

[fluffy]

fluffy, I saw on one of the doctor shows a long time ago that E-coli is one of the most misdiagnosed bacterias in humans and can hang on for weeks and sometimes months because more severe strains can cause different levels of anemia to reduce you immune system. You'd have to look it up, but I remember that it decreases one of the B vitamins that help with red blood cell reproduction. B12? But bottom line was that supplements of that vitamin and a couple other things, like iron were prescribed to replenish the red blood cell count. Just a thought, because it sounds like what you described.

......and one more reason ecoli popped into my head. Don't freak out when I say this, I almost wasn't going to. But the Gregory House in me is twitching. What is the timeline of your symptoms in correlation to getting your new cat? The dust from cat litter or the cat walking on counters with feces on there feet that is transferred to food or eating utensils has caused miscarriages and even death because it was misdiagnosed. Sorry, but there, I said. It can't be unsaid.

The cat issue had occurred to me although it seems unlikely. I had mentioned it to my doctor and the answer was that they'd check my stool sample test for signs of that but that came back negative.

The timeline is like this:

December 15: I started to develop a cold.

December 17: Werner arrived.

December 19: I had a big ol' bowel movement and bad stomach cramps. This was a one-time thing. I took the day off from work.
December 20: the cold got worse. I went into work for the morning but took the afternoon off. I still had stomach cramps.
December 21: I stayed home all day, and only went out for the bare minimum.

Somewhere along the line the cold turned into bronchitis.

January 3: the current bout of daily chunky squirts started. The bronchitis also hadn't cleared up yet, so I went to the doctor for both issues and got a course of Zithromax for the bronchitis. I also got my blood and stool tested for signs of infection; both came back negative.

January 6: I dragged myself into work to pack up for our office move (and went home soon after). Suppressed the chunky squirts with Kaopectate.

January 10: I went back to the doctor as the chunky squirts were still going on, and the bronchitis was coming back. The doctor put me on Advair for the (apparently viral) bronchitis (which worked right away), and palpated my colon to test for diverticulitis. The palpation test strongly indicated it, as there was only pain when one place was probed, and HOLY COW was it huge. I got scheduled for a CT scan for the next day.
January 11: Went to work in the morning, CT scan in the afternoon, back to work. Productive for the first time in close to a month.
January 12: Went to work all day, even with chunky squirts. Afternoon was filled with dizziness, tiredness, and extreme thirst. Emailed my doctor to ask if that could be indicative of an emergency; he said not to worry unless I felt very sick (I didn't). He also said the CT scan was negative for diverticulitis.
January 13 (today): Work in the morning, doctor followup in the afternoon (hopefully with more information about the specifics of the CT scan).

I'm also scheduled to see a gastroenterologist on the 17th (who will also go over my CT scan and probably schedule me for a colonoscopy).

MY BUTT IS FASCINATING.

[fluffy]

Also I had thought about the litter dust issue and I really hated the clumping stuff anyway so that's why I switched him to the corn-based stuff a few days ago. I like it better, he likes it better, and it's WAY cleaner.

I should get him a covered litter box though. He's a very ebullient litter-kicker. He buries his poo with great alacrity and aplomb.

[Billy's Little Trip]

My solution to the litter blizzards my kitties create is a large rubbermaid container that's big enough to hold their littler box and still enough room towards one end for them to be inside without standing in the litter box. Then I cut a hole in the lid at one end over the area of the container where the litter box isn't sitting. That way they can jump in through the hole in the lid without jumping into their little box. Then they can walk in to the litter at their leisure, do their beeswax, fling litter to-and-fro, step out of their litter box and jump out the hole in the lid.

.....hope that play by play gives you a solid mental image, lol.

Oh, the other reason for the hole in the lid was to keep my dogs out. They seem to think cat poo is a delicacy.

[fluffy]

Well it looks like a chocolate truffle so of course it's delicious.

[RangerDenni]

He buries his poo with great alacrity and aplomb.

This is my favorite sentence so far of the whole year yet.

[Billy's Little Trip]

He buries his poo with great alacrity and aplomb.

This is my favorite sentence so far of the whole year yet.

Yeah, that gave me a chuckle as well.

[Caravan Ray]

After you put the butter on the cat's feet - you didn't re-use the butter did you?

[Paco Del Stinko]

I should get him a covered litter box though

Gotta do it. Side benefit is when they do their business, and get that concentrated stare, it looks lke they're driving a car. Goes like this: "Aww, look! Baby Mia is driving the car, how cute! Get the Lysol!"

[Billy's Little Trip]

I should get him a covered litter box though

Gotta do it. Side benefit is when they do their business, and get that concentrated stare, it looks lke they're driving a car. Goes like this: "Aww, look! Baby Mia is driving the car, how cute! Get the Lysol!"

Wait. How do you see him driving said car (although I laughed) if you can't see said "Baby" in a covered box. Sorry Chuckles, the Gregory House in me was twitching..again.

...plexiglass?...

[BBABM]

Well it looks like a chocolate truffle so of course it's delicious.

I always thought it looked like Ferrero rocher.

[inevitableguy]

Well it looks like a chocolate truffle so of course it's delicious.

I always thought it looked like Ferrero rocher.

Probably tastes like one, too.

[Spud]

I should get him a covered litter box though

Gotta do it. Side benefit is when they do their business, and get that concentrated stare, it looks lke they're driving a car. Goes like this: "Aww, look! Baby Mia is driving the car, how cute! Get the Lysol!"

Wait. How do you see him driving said car (although I laughed) if you can't see said "Baby" in a covered box. Sorry Chuckles, the Gregory House in me was twitching..again.

...plexiglass?...

[Billy's Little Trip]

^^^ Oh, now that thing is Coolio! Be like he's driving a DeLorean and making almond roca flux catpacitors, trying to hit 88 mph.

...oh, that's just crazy talk.