Updates...

Ashley's MRI went well. It looks like perhaps the tumors may have grown again, but if so, only marginally, and so the oncologist & radiologist are not concerned right now. They said it was so minimal that it was difficult to tell if it was true growth or if perhaps it was just a slight difference in the slicing from the last scan. I have to schedule her for another ophthalmology appt., and that will be the true test as to whether her vision has changed & the tumors are effecting her sight (If so, we'd start chemo), otherwise we just wait another 3 months and do this again (since they're benign). I can't believe we've been doing this every 2-3 months for 3 years already! He did say that it was okay for us to try doing the MRI 'awake' next time, but to have the anesthesiologist on stand-by just in case, but he thinks she could probably do it without now. I hope so!! It would be great if she didn't have to be put under anymore.

Now, as far as I go,.. I've been a real mess. I think what stirred this flare up was all the work getting ready for the darn convention the week before last, and some other things that helped contribute. This has gone on long enough, and it's clearly 'something' and so (before anyone starts yelling at me about it, lol) I DID go see my physician!

I've gotten much, much worse,... It hurts to move,.. EVERYthing hurts. All my bones, every joint, every muscle,.. my hands, fingers, wrists, elbows, arms, shoulders, neck, back, hips, knees, legs, ankles, feet, heels, and toes,.... I am exhausted beyond belief, and even with adequate sleep (7-9 hrs) I am still feeling wiped out and in need of (almost) daily naps,.. and STILL feel tired. My eyes are heavy & fuzzy, it's difficult to concentrate because I feel so awful. I don't even have to be moving to be in pain. Sometimes, it's tolerable, others it's excruciating, and I have to fight from bawling,.. and still other times I can't hold in back no matter how hard I try. My skin burns sometimes, some of my muscle tissue burns, I feel bruised on all pressure points on my bones/joints,.. I have stabbing pain in places that don't make sense, and in my fingers, hands, elbows, shoulders, and knees, feet & toes. It comes on sudden, stays a bit, and then fades. It hurts to hold a pen to write, it hurts to hold a phone, hurts to hold the steering wheel to drive, hurts to walk, even stepping on or off a curb, let alone the stairs. It hurts to type right now (which is why I'm going to keep this fairly short).

I saw my Dr last night, and she said I definitely have some sort of rheumatoid thing going on,.. question is, WHAT. She ran me through all sorts of clinical tests, which I could do, but not without a great deal of difficulty so much so that she told me to stop trying because she could see it was only hurting me. She said it's definitely effecting my connective tissue, and she's concerned... And she doesn't think it's just my osteoarthritis anymore. I got labs done,... they're running a battery of tests which I fully anticipated. The tech took about 7-8 viles,.. said they were running 10 different tests. I know they're checking for rheumatoid factors, cancer tags, Lupus, and a bunch of other possibilities. I should have some results tomorrow, and she's referring me to a rheumatologist, which I'll probably see next week. In the meantime, she put me on Rx IB, vicodin, and muscle relaxers,.... OTC stuff didn't do ANYthing to help, and actually, the prescriptives didn't do anything for me last night either until I was finally so drowsy I didn't care anymore and basically passed out. I still woke through the night with pain any time I moved.

Anyway,.. *fingers crossed* for them to figure me out & help me,............... I seem to get worse day by day. This has been going on for years, but has been getting closer together and worse each time. This is by far the worst I've been yet.

Anyway, it's really hurting to type so I'm going to get off of here. I'll talk to ya'll soon.

Love, me