I finally got the CT report yesterday by going to the doctor's office. The findings were a relief. Mesenteric inflammation and stranding. Diverticulosis. My appendix is normal and there were no masses found.
Like I said, this all comes as a relief. I was expecting to find chronic appendicitis and needing surgery. I also had a little apprehension that it could be cancer. That fear was there but a bit low, since I had tumor markers drawn last year. The markers were either normal or lower than normal. That means the risk of cancer was low but not nonexistent.
Expecting possible surgery, I had alerted my agency and employer ahead of time. I was also planning financially. If necessary, I would have taken out a loan from the bank. For the first time in my life, my credit score is in the excellent range. To some degree I'm not sure how it got there, aside from making payments on time because my income has been stable. Knock on wood. It may also be that the rating agencies are grading on a curve and many people today are defaulting on debt. In any case, I could have gotten a loan if I had to. Enough to not have to spend all of what I have in savings. It would be a lot better getting the loan up front instead of waiting, if I had to be out of work for a while and depleting my savings. Then I would have been able to pay the cost gradually as I returned to work.
For a few days, I went through a scare that I would have been fired. My coworker was told she was going to be fired. She got a contract somewhere else and then resigned at our current place, so she's okay. She even got a raise in the process. $5 an hour, so that's an extra $200 a week at 40 hours. Wish I could get a raise like that! Any way, this all came about because of a conflict which I had no part in. Though I think they don't like me in admin, since I am not someone who just follows orders without question. I ask questions and raise objections when things don't make a lot of sense. Or explain how things can be done in a more efficient way. They don't want efficient, they want automatons that just do as they're told. So, while I am not being fired, they are not renewing my contract. They want me to work through the end of my contract, which ends on 1/22/23. Okay, I can do that and keep to myself as much as possible. The agency is seeing if I can return to Carroll County, where I worked for a year. Sounds like they have spots available. Honestly, that's what I had been planning on doing. I did not want to renew here and hoped to go back to Carroll County. Barring any unexpected events, I could remain at Carroll County for a year again.
What is happening there does anger me. I have done nothing wrong and tried to make improvements. The pharmacy is in much better condition than when I got there. The inmates and officers all like me. They don't want to see me go, It made me feel good when both women's pods all said I was their favorite nurse, then many of the males said the same thing. I care, I answer questions, I follow up on things when I say I will. I write notes of issues while doing pill call, so I don't forget. I change orders that are incorrectly entered, sometimes because the wrong times are entered and other times they are entered so that the medication will not even be sent from the pharmacy, so the patient doesn't get the medication. Checking TB skin tests are done at night. Before my coworker and I started, the compliance was around 25%. Since we started doing it, compliance is around 90%. I made the suggestion that most get done at night and the ones who refuse be attempted the following morning. Some inmates are more compliant in the morning than the evening. This seems to have been taken as me being insubordinate.
I have drawn attention to the fact that, while the HSA says she wants wound care done at night, sometimes she has ordered it twice a day. Then nobody does it in the morning.
Right now, my WBC count was still 21.9, so I am back on Cipro. I was having a lot of pain but it seems to be decreasing at this point. For the past few days, I have been taking 750 mg instead of the prescribed 500, as a kind of loading dose. That seems to have helped. I will drop it down to 500 this evening. Been having intermittent back pain, which can be a sign of too much Cipro. Any time I take antibiotics I get some level of brain fog and fatigue. At least I am not having confusion.
None of this is helped by the fact that my iron is below 10. Should be above 50. Low iron also causes fatigue, slow memory and mild brain fog. May sound arrogant but I am still more highly functioning mentally than most people, though that is by sheer effort and always has been. I had asked about getting an iron infusion at my last appointment but it got lost in the shuffle with other referrals for the CT scan and GI consult. I think I should call Monday and ask again. Low iron also means slower wound healing, including to my intestines. I already take 8 iron supplements a day and that doesn't seem to be helping. (Though if I didn't, my iron could drop to zero.)
I really want to get my health issues under control once and for all as soon as I can. This month, if possible. My GI appointment isn't until 2-21-23 but when I take a week off between contracts, I may see if there are any cancellations and be moved up. I know they are going to want a new colonoscopy and I will agree to it. I can afford it now. Besides, there were some things on the CT scan which conflict with the prior colonoscopy. I may not have ulcerative colitis but Crohn's Disease, depending on the location of the damage. Rather minor distinction but can change how it is treated.
Having to push back my more aggressive push on my presidential campaign because of all that's going on. Have to shoot for late January or early February. On top of the other issues, I am back in FB jail because of "bullying". That's because I compared capitalism to prostitution, which is an apt analogy. FB has no concept of context. 27 days left to the restriction, so that will be early Feb. Since FB is my main social media platform, that affects my ability to communicate. Once that's over is when I'll go hard on my efforts.
That's okay. Hopefully by then my health issues will be under control. Besides, I am rebuilding my savings to a specific level. Took a hit having to be out sick one weekend and with Christmas spending.
Then that was after my ex dying a few months ago. It hit daughter really hard and I took a few weeks off to be available for her. She's doing much better now. Spending a lot of time with her SO. I do not think her attachment is false but I do think it is being intensified by the emotional vacuum left by her mother's death, which came suddenly.
I believe things will work out well. Just with effort.
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