It's a bit of a mystery...but what's new?

In October, during my routine oncology appointment, my doctor suggested that I talk with my PC about my kidney function because my lab work was consistently coming back abnormal. So I made the appointment, saw the doc and although he wasn't too concerned, he ordered a renal ultrasound. The following week, I received a call from him, telling me that I have several kidney stones. The stones are not very big and probably will not cause me any trouble, but I should now consult with a urologist to see about having them "blasted" with ultra sound before they get any larger. I will be seeing the urologist later this month, adding one more doc to my ever increasing list!

On a Friday in mid November, I was working on Real Estate paperwork and making phone calls from my home office. I had not been feeling well in the previous weeks and dealing with chills and sweats. I thought maybe I had caught a bug from the grand kids but wasn't too concerned because nothing major seemed to be hurting (any more than usual).

I finally decided to jump in the shower and get ready for the day. I was shocked to see in the mirror a bright red "rash" across my chest. I went ahead and took a shower, keeping my back to the warm water. After showering, the red was not going away and I was getting a little nervous. I asked Sherry to take a look and she had the expected response...we better call dad. I insisted that it would probably go away with time and there was no need to bother him. A while later, the redness seemed to be increasing a little and after re-evaluation by Sherry, I gave Art a call. I chatted with him briefly and found out he was just around the corner, so there was no need to tell him until he was home. One look at it and he was ready to take me to the ER. At this point, my emotions were hard to contain and the thought of Inflamatory Breast Cancer raced through my mind.

Once I arrived at the ER, I was given a mask and taken in the back, almost immediately. I was having a hard time containing my emotions while talking to the nurse and then the doc. Within a very brief time in the ER, the redness was spreading quickly. The doc took a pen and outlined the area so that he could monitor the progress. Sherry laughed and said it looked like a bat on my chest. Stacey was home with her little guys, and anxiously awaiting text message updates from Sherry. Stacey told the boys that grandma was at the hospital and Seth wanted to know if I was getting a baby out of my tummy! Yikes...where did that come from? You have to remember that they had just found out, weeks earlier, that mommy was pregnant with baby #4. However, grandma was definitely NOT having a baby!!

I was seen by an infectious disease doc and started on some heavy duty antibiotics, while waiting for the results of all the blood work. Later...much, much later, I was admitted to the hospital for further observation. They assured me that it was not IBC but possibly cellulitis (skin infection). After a couple of nights in the hospital, lots of antibiotics, an allergic reaction, and a bit of stress, I was released and sent home with two oral antibiotics. The redness cleared up very quickly and has not returned. It's a bit of a mystery but what's new?