Monday, April 6, 2009

Sounds of Silence

Well, kind of.

It's almost 2 o'clock in the morning and my house is mostly quiet.

There are two "tickingtocking" clocks that are hung on walls approximately 10 feet apart. They have never "ticked" or "tocked" at the same time since we've owned them, so there is a constant chattering that I can't get away from.

Sometimes it seems like my heart beats with both their rhythms and when I pay close attention to all three, they drown everything else out.

Until something breaks the silence.

Like Hunter shifting positions in his bed directly above where I am sitting. Or the dog, Oreo, snoring. Or, thanks to Mother Nature and the winter storm warning, the thunder and lightning going on outside the doorwall next to me. The forecasters say we might be receiving 10 inches of snow so the winter storm warning is in effect until 8 p.m. tonight (Monday).

I've had a lot of silent time on my hands lately. Ten weeks worth...and still counting. Yep. Ten whole weeks since I broke my foot and boy did that open up a Pandora's Box of health issues I never saw coming.

When I saw the "Wizard of Feet" eight weeks after I broke my foot and it was clear to my untrained eye -- and confirmed by the "Wizard" -- that there had yet to be any healing taking place, and after he explained the only option available to me would be surgery, I knew what I needed to do next. Have a complete blood work-up.

The first set of lab results showed my serum (blood) Calcium to be high. This is not good. The second set of labs showed my Parathyroid Hormones to be high, too. (A "normal" PTH reading is between 10 - 65; mine is 105.)

My doctor referred me out for a Dexa-Scan (bone density scan) as well as to an Endocrinologist. Both of which I accomplished last week.

My bones look good -- no signs of osteoporosis yet -- and the Endocrinologist ordered a whole new set of labs PLUS a 24-hour urine. (A 24-hour urine is simply capturing ALL of your urine for, yep, 24-hours in a big lab container, while keeping it refrigerated.)

If you've ever done one of these without a broken-no-weight-bearing-foot; consider yourselves lucky.

The lab tech who drew my blood for the Endocrinologist actually works for the lab who tests all the labs drawn in that office.

One would think, at least I did, that said lab tech would actually know what the hell she was doing when doing a venipuncture.

Five tiger-top tubes of blood later and a hematoma (knot) where she poked me, that lasted more than 24 hours, and the resulting bruise that makes me look like a drug addict and I think she should never draw blood again.

Ah...'ticktock'...'ticktock'...the sounds of silence...

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