#really though I'm just worried the ct scan will show nothing

[wallabywannabe]

ENT PA straight up lectured me about taking sudafed for 2 weeks straight. Heavily implied all my problems might go away if I stop it. I thought ok, wow, I've been dealing with this for 4 weeks and Sudafed is the only thing that's made a dent but if it's that bad sure I'll stop.

I told my mom that and she said that's ridiculous, but she's not a doctor so whatever. Then I got a text when my dad (who is a doctor) got home from work

I love how we come together as a family to gang up on a medical professional who says something dumb. And I love the address by name, comma, new paragraph structure in a text.

One time I went to a vet visit with a stack of scientific studies I printed out to make a case for a request my cat's treatment. It was effective. I'm not that passionate about sudafed, because it's not solving the problem even if it is helping and I really just want it solved (ct scan is scheduled). However I am kind of annoyed that she made me feel bad about taking medication that was helping so I am tempted to do a deep dive in the literature and plead a case.

[quicksilverlightning]

MEDICAL TALK - WHERE THE HELL HAVE I BEEN?

(General all-around warning for talk of health and hospitals; I don't believe I've included anything too gruesome, but I am pretty plain-spoken below about what's been going on. )

You may remember the last post regarding my health, so here's both a sequel and a prequel as certain things have been cast into a different light.

About two-ish months before the colitis/mono double K.O. back in February, I got a UTI for the first time. There was some abdominal pain and I definitely recall bringing it up to my PCP, though ultimately let it go for not being all that big a deal. It is my suspicion that every thing actually began here instead of at the next round of happenings.

Next round of course being February - there were definitely two different illnesses being dealt with and the symptoms sort of fed on each other to keep me knocked out a solid two weeks; colitis made nauseous and unwilling to eat, while mono simply made me too tired to care. Thay said, the treatment plan I eventually landed upon did take care of things; beyond some residual symptoms, which were honestly expected, I thought it was going well.

I had a genuinely lovely April weekend - went to some local markets, hit a few stores I hadn't been to in a while, took the boys out a bit. When I first felt the same symptoms in the same place while kicking back thay Sunday evening, I was more annoyed that anything.

Really? This again?

I got in with my PCP that Tuesday, got the same meds again, albeit with a much less powerful pain pill, and went home, confident this would just be another go round.

While Mom and Mimi were worried about how much longer it was taking to get better, I was quick to remember that my first go with this was while on hydrocodone; it made sense to me that perhaps the first time wasn't faster, just better masked.

Meanwhile, my PCP was attempting to contact a gastro specialist. I do not know why this took so extraordinarily long, nor how I came to be involved in the game of phone tag, but there it is. The pain had been steadily moving from my left side, where it has always been, and seemed to be gathering in my abdomen instead.

I finally got to see a specialist, though her advice to go to the ER had nothing to do with any gastro trouble and more to do with me showing signs of afib (160!) and dehydration. Oddly enough, at no point did I notice my heart beat was that crazy, even after being directly told.

Anyway, the ER gets me fast tracked to the back to start dumping all the fluid ever into me and get my heart rate down. They can't even look at whatever's going on in my abdomen until they get me stabilized; sometime around 2am I got an actual room, which was nice.

Next up, I get a go in the CT scanner where they find a large abcess. Yes, I know, gross. My abdomen is badly swollen (I believe I heard 18cm) and needs to be drained so they can get a better look at what's going on in there, like trying to assess flood damage - you gotta drain the water first. Luckily, it's all between my skin and not in any of my organs, which would be an entirely different battle.

As of now, I've been in the hospital for about three days and will likely be here another three more, depending on what the eventual next scan finds. It's currently up in the air as to whether I'm going to need surgery or not.

The running theory is that the infection in my intestines passed through a fistula caused by the inflammation where it began doing damage there instead. Right now, all anyone can do is play the waiting game as the fluid drains away.

So, that's where I am right now; I'm simply too tired for any fandom nonsense and even if I weren't, I've been completely thrown off my rhythm and out of my headspace. I do not know when, or even if, I will ever get back to any of it. I want to certainly, but won't be making promises that may be out of my ability to keep. I have no idea how long I'm going to be in the hospital, or what sort of recovery process I'm looking at after, but I doubt I'll be going upstairs anytime soon.

[just-nothing-forever]

So little life update I keep forgetting to write about. I really hope I can save these Tumblr posts as a sort of journal cause that's what I've been using it as.

October 19th, 2022 I was sent to the hospital and was incoherent for 3 days

That previous night, Wednesday, I remember working and we also had a staff meeting. I remember they got us Panera bread and then I went home, talked with family, and after that everything is blank.

Apparently my mom woke up the next morning, Thursday, to hear me yelling "ow". She said I had spittle, not exactly throw up, all over my face and that I was combative and confused and kept trying to hit her. She and dad struggled to get me up the stairs and into the car to go to the hospital.

I remember absolutely nothing. Apparently when I first came in, the doctors thought I'd overdosed on something. But the only thing I remember doing was smoking weed, as is typical in my daily routine, maybe I had alcohol but I really don't remember.

I was in the hospital for 4 days, 3 of them barely coherent. It all felt like a dream to me. I specifically remember one, where there were people in masks and white protective gear surrounding me, telling me it's okay but I still struggled, but then I saw my mom. She was also wearing the gear and a mask, and her hair in my memory was super frazzled and frizzy, but I recognized her eyes, and it calmed me down.

My mom told me later they'd had to restrain me at some points, it was that bad. I truly have no memory of anything, except that "dream"

When I first woke up and was actually cognitive, my mom said the first thing I asked was "is today Thursday?" Cause I was worried about having to work.

But my workplace was super understanding and oh so nice, they gave me and amazon and Visa gift cards. They're so generous, especially since they'd already helped us out with gift cards when we went though the basement floods a few months ago. I honestly loved that place, one of the best Ive worked at.

Back to the hospital though, I woke up and found they'd put a diaper on me. It was very embarrassing and when I had to pee they brought me a portable toilet to pee in front of everyone. I thought I'd get pee shy like the last time I was at a hospital but I was still so out of it I didn't care.

Mom also brought her tablet for me to watch things. I remember putting on the new "Light-year" pixar movie but remember nothing from it except lesbeans. I remember the doctors coming in and asking questions but I still was just barely awake to answer them. I knew the date, but just from what my mom had told me, I didn't truly understand what day it was. I forgot the passwords to my phone and laptop; I remembered my phone after about a day but my laptop took forever to remember, even though it's the easiest password, 1234. I also forgot how to write for a bit, even my name. It took at least two more days after being released to remember my signature and laptop password, which was very scary. Forgetting things that almost seemed like second nature?? I can't even describe the feeling. Hopeless and helpless are the best I can get I suppose.

They did a lot of tests while I was ,"asleep," but when I woke up they did a Lumbar puncture, CT scan, and MRI. All showed normal results.

It was a terrifying experience. I lost four days of my life without even knowing it, and all a month before I'm leaving for Europe. Im so upset by it, I was exercising and practicing languages and so much before the hospital, then it happened and I just couldn't get into a good routine again

Just thought I'd write the experience down so I dont forget

Currently in Europe but I'm keeping a physical journal to document experiences, but I may make a few more vent posts here

[y0rkminster]

I completely believe you but I'm really interested in the mummies with cancer and heart disease thing. Do you have sources? I just wanna read more up on it!

No problem at all, it's a really interesting topic! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and in order to prevent a problem, we have to understand what causes it. I'm not an expert but "modern diseases" in mummies suggests that the cause of these disorders is probably way more complicated than we realize. 

Heart Attack of the Mummies - Archaeology Magazine

This is a really interesting article-apparently the Egyptians were not alone! Mummies in other cultures usually came from people who did not survive long enough to develop heart disease, but they had plaques in their arteries that showed that they would have developed cardiovascular disease had they lived long enough. Some did have full blown heart disease though, including one woman who had coronary artery disease so severely that she would have had bypass surgery today.

Some of these cultures ate diets thought to prevent heart disease, and genetic predisposition doesn't tell the whole story either unless there are genes associated with heart disease that we haven't identified yet (very possible). One theory is that frequent infections and inflammation may have done the trick. Even today, inflammation is believed to be a huge problem.

Mummy CT Scans Show No Significant Differences in Atherosclerotic Disease in Modern vs. Ancient Egyptians | Imaging Technology News

A fascinating study showing that, amazingly, the incidence of coronary artery disease ("clogged arteries") is no higher in modern Egyptians than it was in Ancient Egyptians! Different environmental factors may play a role, but genetics is the most likely explainer. As a species, we humans tend to be very prone to cardiovascular disease.

From ancient Egyptians to modern humans: Why do we still have the genes for heart disease? | Pursuit by The University of Melbourne

One may wonder why the genes for heart disease have been around for so long. This article discusses how genes associated with plaque buildup in arteries actually helped our ancestors reproduce.

Dying in ancient Egypt—evidence of inflammation, infection and possible cancer

Broad but very interesting article on how looking for bio markers can indicate cancer, infections, and other diseases even when mummies aren't preserved well enough to reliably determine what their cause of death was.

Medical Xpress: Prostate cancer found in ancient Egyptian mummy

Cancer in mummies is an interesting problem. A major study in 1998 seemed to show that cancer was vanishingly rare in ancient times; for long enough, this was taken by some as proof of cancer being a modern or even "manmade" malady. However, the problem with that study is that the technology to reliably detect cancer in mummies didn't exist before 2005. New research on this topic was quite rare until around 2011 when an Egyptian mummy was found with advanced cancer.

This does NOT mean that modern carcinogen exposure isn't responsible for many cases of cancer. It just means that cancer is not an entirely new problem.

Galen on Cancer: How Ancient Physicians Viewed Malignant Disease

Slightly off topic as it's not mummies, but discusses cancer in ancient times.

This webpage isn't live anymore, but there's a snapshot of it on Web Archive. Long but very interesting read on how the famous Ancient Greek physician, Galen, viewed cancer. Many of our modern terms relating to cancer come from the Greek, and many of these terms were actually used by the Ancient Greeks

Claims that cancer is only a ‘modern, man-made disease’ are false and misleading - Cancer Research UK - Science blog

In 2010 (before mummies were reexamined with modern technology on a larger scale), an opinion paper in Nature asserted that cancer is a wholly manmade and wholly modern problem because few mummies were found with evidence of cancer. This paper was, frankly, bad science. Being an editorial of sorts, it wasn't subject to vigorous peer review like most scientific papers, which is probably the only reason it got published. Sadly, it caused a lot of guilt and worry amongst cancer patients and their loved ones, and gave rise to a few conspiracy theories even. This piece explains why the editorial was incorrect, and discusses risk factors, as well as evidence based prevention, for cancer.

Pathological skeletal remains from ancient Egypt: The earliest case of diabetes mellitus? (PDF Download Available)

Diabetes is really hard to diagnose in mummies and other remains. We know that type 1 diabetes existed in ancient times because ancient medical texts described and even named the condition, but type 2 remained elusive and finding evidence of it has proven very challenging. Even in modern times, because of the way cells can change and influence blood test results, diabetes can be hard to pick up in autopsy. However, there are telltale signs of diabetes that can help identify the condition in mummies. In ancient times, there was no supplementary insulin. Sadly, this meant that type 1 diabetes was a terminal illness. Because of this, complications associated with longterm diabetes could likely be attributed to type 2. Here, a mummy had evidence of longterm diabetes complications, implying that he had type 2 diabetes.

Prevention (not a link, links below) 

Even though this was about mummies and ancient illnesses, I think it'd be a bit remiss of me if I didn't include sources that talk about ways to possibly minimize one's risk for cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. We can't control our genetics but lifestyle can sometimes help with harm-reduction. These sources do not imply that illnesses are sometimes people's "fault", but rather give people the option to possibly reduce risk if they're worried about developing certain chronic illnesses

How to Help Prevent Heart Disease - At Any Age

Preventing Diabetes | Basics | Diabetes | CDC

Cancer prevention: 7 tips to reduce your risk - Mayo Clinic

Also, I just wanted to restate that I'm not an expert, just a nerd on the internet :-). Being in the medical field myself does not give me the authority to give medical advice online, and nothing in this post should be taken as medical advice (that said, it’d be pretty hard to in this case because it’s about ancient diseases, but still). The sources are peer reviewed, my analysis is not. I could easily be wrong, and would be very open to any criticism.