Broken Goods..

You know how I was feeling numb and tingly on my right side of the face and neck? Well, things got a little scary on Monday night when I was in the shower. I was shampooing my hair and I realized my fingers were feeling tingly and I couldn't really feel my fingers feeling my head. I thought it was strange. I looked at my fingers...an they were turning blue. Seriously blue. I thought I was seeing things and called Mr. JB to ask what he saw. He said they were blue too. I was worried. Normally, you'll have blue toes and fingers if you're cold. BUT I was in the shower.

I did my own physical assessment, of course. My capillary refill was longer than 3 seconds (normal is 3 seconds). So, thinking it was circulation issue, I moved my arms like crazy to make sure I had circulation going. It took a good 15 minutes to get it back to normal. Then, the capillary refill was back at less than 3 seconds. But the tingling I was feeling didn't go away. The pinky on the right hand is still feeling weird.

I decided to call Kaiser on Tuesday to make an appointment. I got an appointment with my doctor on Wedneday at 8:20.

Wednesday came and I saw my doctor. She was really cute and sweet. She's my primary physician, who took over the Nurse Practitioner I was seeing for years. Anyhoo, I told her about my symptoms plus the cough I had for weeks now. She ordered a chest x-ray, and gave me prescription for my cough. Then she said she's going to start the MRI process. I told her that I still had to do the blood work that was requested of me by the neurologist. And off I went to another building, visiting 1st, 2nd and 3rd floor. Third floor was for chest x-ray, 2nd floor was for lab and 1st floor was for pharmacy. A busy Wednesday morning.

And the lab results started to pour in yesterday night and today. I'm happy to announce that I don't have diabetes. And just now, I checked the other results and saw that for my ANA, normal result should be negative but I had positive as my result. What does it mean?

"An antinuclear antibody (ANA) test measures the amount and pattern of antibodies in your blood that work against your own body (autoimmune reaction).
The body's immune system normally attacks and destroys foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses. But in disorders known as autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks and destroys the body's normal tissues. When a person has an autoimmune disease, the immune system produces antibodies that attach to the body's own cells as though they were foreign substances, often causing them to be damaged or destroyed. Rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus are examples of autoimmune diseases."

"ANAs can be found also in patients with infections, cancer, lung diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, hormonal diseases, blood diseases, skin diseases, and in elderly people or people with a family history of rheumatic disease. ANAs are actually found in about 5% of the normal population.

The ANA results are just one factor in diagnosing, and must be considered together with the patient's clinical symptoms and other diagnostic tests. Medical history also plays a role because some prescription drugs can cause "drug-induced ANAs".

I have no idea what's next....or if this is really my result...

Maybe more tests? Maybe it's nothing? I dont' know...

Poor Mr. JB who is now responsible for me, the broken goods. He's such a good sport about it though. He worries and usually wake up to see if I'm doing okay during the middle of the night, while I'm having my coughing fits. Mind you, he used to sleep through the night but lately, he hasn't been able to sleep well because of my coughing. But yesterday, I took the cough syrup and went to sleep fine. Only two bouts of coughing. Not so bad.

I'll keep you posted on the lab result. I'm sure it's nothing...