Thursday, January 31, 2019

medical shit and another firing


Monday morning I woke up with a couple of itchy spots on my jaw line near my chin on the left side of my face making me think a mosquito or spider chowed down on me during the night. By mid-day it had become a larger patch of rash. By evening a line of rash had appeared on the right side of my face from cheekbone to jaw line and Tuesday it had spread into a patch of rash, itchy or tingly off and on. Yesterday during lunch Marc says that's how shingles starts which resulted in a frantic internet search on shingles. Nope, not shingles which starts with severe pain and then a rash develops several days later which become little blisters. So far, no pain, just itchy which I'm treating with cortisone itchy cream. Wednesday morning a small patch on my hairline appeared and by Wednesday night the back of my left ear broke out. Today a small eruption on my right thumb and wrist and my left pinky finger have appeared. I have no idea what this is or what is causing it. Marc suggested poison ivy but I know poison ivy and stay far away from it, don't think I was exposed to any, and besides it's all dormant right now, no leaves, though it does seem like poison ivy and some blisters have formed. Sunday I had been pulling weeds, the same weeds and grass I've been pulling up for weeks, and the tall dead cosmos stalks which are rough and a bit prickly and probably brushed against my face (but the back of my ear?) but then why not my hands and exposed arms?  (well, now my hands.) Not to mention I've been pulling up those stalks and weeds for years and never had a reaction.

In other news, the goldfinches are mobbing the bird feeder and tea cup, the red shouldered hawks are doing their mating flights and calls, the cardinals are singing their love songs. The love-in-a-mist have put out a few first tentative blooms, 


the poppies are growing big, and the woodlands painted petal are beginning to put up bloom stalks.

a chilly sulfur butterfly waiting for the day to warm up

I've been working with the modeling glass and have a kiln shelf full to go in the kiln, most of which are experiments to see how different glass...transparent vs opal, frit vs powder...fires.



And finally, I've almost got my referral for the cardiologist. I have to say that Memorial Hermann is not instilling me with confidence. First of all, they have my husband's phone number as the primary number and mine as secondary totally ignoring what I wrote on the info sheet and despite me telling them over and over of their error. Second, my primary care doctor told the desk worker she was referring me to cardiologist NP Mazel but failed to submit whatever written form which I learned last Thursday when I called the Patient Concierge Services for Memorial Hermann which sets up the referrals and so had to call the doctor's office to get that remedied. When I still hadn't heard anything by last Tuesday, I called the PCS again and they told me they had the referral and were processing it. Today, they called me, again on Marc's phone, to tell me my referral with Dr. XXX was set up and to call them for an appointment. Dr. XXX is not the doctor I want to see and not who my referral was supposed to be to. So, now waiting once again. I asked the woman at PCS if this was going to take another week since it had already been nearly two weeks since I was supposed to be referred. No, she said, she'd try and get it taken care of today.





18 comments:

  1. I swear. Our medical system is fucked beyond repair. Nothing causes more stress than trying to get to the doctor of our choice. I'm so sorry, Elllen, but I really respect your tenacity in this situation.
    I think you must have poison ivy. Maybe you got some that is still in such a formative stage the leaves weren't apparent. And you could easily have spread it to your ear and your hairline with your hand. Whatever it is, it sounds miserable.
    I can't wait to see what comes out of that kiln.

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    1. so annoying. my new supplemental plan makes me have to go through my primary care physician for a referral. last year's plan let me just make an appointment. the trade off is no co-pay for the PCP which was only $15 anyway. not much of a trade off. as to the rash, I think you must be right. I'm pretty sure it's poison ivy.

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  2. I have got poison ivy in march just cutting wood. the vine or stems can get you.Better get to the doc, it could be the 7 year itch and who wants to go that longLOL

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  3. Can you be getting an allergic reaction to the glass or colors? I got something similar one year, although it spread by only around the original location. It was some reaction to a plant and I had worked in that garden for year. I finally thought it was larkspur stems...which were dry and dead, but I had not proof and had to go on a pill and cream.

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    1. I don't think it's the glass as the worst outbreak is on my face and not my hands. I think it must be poison ivy and some of the dormant vines must have been in the cosmos.

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  4. Ugh. May the referral be straightened out asap. Meanwhile get over that rash. Yikes that’s uncomfortable sounding.

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  5. I love what you are doing with the modeling glass!

    My case of shingles in 2001 didn't start with severe pain. It started with itching and mild weird achy discomfort in my lower back on one side in the evening while I was at work. There was never any severe pain. I was working in a hospital at the time and went to the ER to get it checked out. The ER doctor guessed that I might have a kidney stone or some kidney issue and did a CAT scan, finding nothing. The doctor said that I probably strained my back from sitting at a keyboard for so many hours as a medical transcriptionist and left it at that.

    The next morning, I diagnosed myself with shingles and went to my primary care doctor who said that, although he couldn't be sure that I had shingles, he would give me Valtrex "just in case." It turned out that my intuition was correct. I developed a fairly severe case of shingles, but it would have been much worse if I hadn't made the diagnosis myself and gotten a prescription for Valtrex. I hope that you don't have shingles. I hope you find out what it is going and find relief soon.

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    1. almost positive it's not shingles besides the no pain part. just have too many little spots popping out in different locations and those areas where I can see it much better than my face look and act like poison ivy.

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    2. I have read, from doctor sites, that if the rash crosses the midline of the body it's not shingles. It's an unverified data point, but there you go.

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  6. That rash sounds very annoying! My shingles did start with discomfort - not severe pain, but achiness. I actually thought it was some sort of issue with my hip until a small rash appeared. Yours doesn't sound like that to me.

    I hope they get this referral business sorted out. The support staff in these doctor's offices just don't seem to be all that - but since I've been looking at jobs it could be because they don't pay all that well. Who knows.

    LOVE your test pieces!

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  7. I don't know why it's always so difficult to put A and B together to get C. I know that technology was supposed to make our lives a breeze, but it doesn't seem to have made much difference. I suppose nothing is fool-proof when fools are part of the system. I agree all around - sounds like poison ivy. Your glass pieces look great, even without firing!

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  8. Your ginkgo leaf is just lovely. I wrote "fabulous", then backspaced. It's art, for crying out loud, Joanne!
    As for the referral, just keep at them, every day. Don't call them fools and A-holes until after you hang up.

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  9. One thing I didn't know about poison ivy is that its oil can spread and last for a LONG time where we least expect it. I got it once from a collection of old clay pots. I didn't realize that, despite some obsessiveness about being careful around the vines, where they had touched those pots they left the oil. I've been told that the oil can be around even after the vines have shriveled, died, and almost disappeared.

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    1. it is heinous stuff. one of my chores in the spring is to go around the property and pulling up all the new sprouts. I grew up within a few minutes walk of Buffalo Bayou and the woods and have had some horrendous cases because I wouldn't wear long pants in the summer.

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  10. It does sound like you got into poison ivy or some other noxious weed. Maybe something you're allergic to and just never knew it? Have you been trying any new soaps or anything like that? Could it be related to your work with new modeling glass?

    Ugh re. the medical situation. We go through the same nightmare stuff here regarding Dave's Crohn's treatment.

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  11. Oh Ellen! I hope that rash is getting better by now. I only know about poison ivy from books and movies. Central Europe is benign when comes to toxic weeds.

    But all that shit with referals to doctors and not getting the one you want etc., we have that too. despite our socialist health care.
    We just don't have to pay for it, at least not directly.

    Anyway, cardiology is an extremely well researched field - thanks to the fact that cardiovascular diseases are so widespread in our western lifestyles and any cardiologist with basic training should know their stuff. Have your questions on a sheet of paper when you go.

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  12. Your description of the spreading of the rash certainly sounds like some sort of allergic reaction. But, like you, I am completely baffled--if you haven't been exposed to anything new, where is it coming from? I hope it goes away and you find relief soon.

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    1. It's definitely poison ivy and I've determined that the oil was transferred to me from the dog. it's getting better.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.