Nervous Expectations
The human body can be perplexing. My feet were a little sore back in January and I was sure I needed some new shoes. My cheap work shoes had cracks in the bottom and I figured they were the cause of my discomfort. Then, on Thursday morning and again on Friday morning the bottoms of my feet really hurt when I got out of bed, but only for about 10 minutes. Now I knew I needed new shoes! Well, the weekend seemed to give me a break. Then on Monday afternoon, I developed a fever of 101 that lasted for about 6 hours. On Tuesday I awakened to two large swollen ankles. Very puffy. No pain. I decided this was a good day to see a doctor. So started my search to meet as many physicians as possible in 5 months!
My general practicioner had lots of blood drawn to see if I was fighting an infection. Sure enough, there were indications that I was. On the outside of my left leg, just above my ankle, there were two red patches, just barely visible. After Googling my symptoms we thought a dermatologist was then next step. My visit with him came a few weeks later and he ordered a chest X-ray. The interpreter of the X-ray thought he saw some enlarged lymph nodes in my chest, just under my sternum. At this point, my GP ordered some more blood drawn and a CT scan of my lungs. The CT interpreter concurred and my next visit was with a Pulmonologist. Now it’s getting a little scary. I’m visiting with doctors who spend much of their days with victims of lung cancer. The pulmonologist couldn’t help a whole lot because my X-ray and scans didn’t show up for their appointment with me and the doctor. Two days later he called. The only way to know for sure what’s going on is to see a surgeon who would perform a Medial Stenoscopy under general anesthesia.
Yesterday, I went under the knife. The surgeon made an incision at the top of my sternum and went in underneath 6 inches to a point where he could clip out a few of the inflamed lymph nodes and send them to a lab for analysis. Now, we wait a few days to find out what the cause of the inflammation is….
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June 15th 11:30am. Got the results, and it's sarcoidosis. Whew! Could've been much worse. We'll watch and see how it plays out. It could choose to affect me in a multitude of ways, or never rear it's ugly head again. I like the latter.
posted by hangar52 @ 8:46 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Swell picture, Dad! War wounds...
We'll see if I get a worthy scar. Maybe I could rub it a little so it doesn't heal right. Cool...
Hi Becky,
I have had two around-right-lung surgeries, March 21 & April 30. I've often had symptoms including shortness of breath, a dry cough, and wheezing, especially in the colder temperatures, but neither my Pulmonologist nor surgeon mentioned sarcoidosis. I've had three ct scans, a vq scan, numerous chest xrays and blood tests. I spoke briefly with Bruce earlier this evening about my recent health problems, but he did not mention yours, but did email be with a link to your blog. There are so many ways our bodies can develop problems!
Ken Howard (used to attend Rose City Astronomy meetings and a couple star parties together).
Hi,
I was looking for someone who has gone through this sarcoidosis thing and feel so glad to have found you! My sister had the same procedure done in late July. She is still coughing and feeling some pain in her chest and I think this is causing her some anxiety.
Are you completely healed from the procedure? Do you have any symptoms? Are you treating the sarcoidosis? What have you found most helpful?
Thank you so much for ANY input.
I'm one of the lucky ones. Other than the swollen ankles in January '07, I've had no sypmtoms. I've had a few strange, small sores on my legs that the pulmonologist feels has nothing to do with Sarcoidosis. No breathing problems: My pulmonary function testing shows normal lungs, and the latest X-ray is normal. I've needed no meds at all. I believe it would've never been discovered if I would've waited a couple days and let the swollen ankles go back to normal. But, that would've been stupid. It just isn't right to awaken to big feet that weren't there the night before! As for the procedure itself, my voice was a little raspy for a few days, but I had no healing problems at all (especially no chest pains or cough). I really wish the best for your sister!
Thanks so much for posting. I am glad you are doing well. It is interesting about the swollen ankles because my sis had them, too. Her sarcoid was found totally by accident during a cat scan. Nothing was found in her lungs. Thank you for the kind wishes.
Hello all,
I am so relieved to have found you all. Tomorrow I am also going in for medial stenoscopy to access the lypmh nodes near my heart as I had one round lung surgery in September and then 10 lymph nodes removed in January from around my windpipe and sternum.
I am still without diagnosis 7 years on, but they have begun taking it quite seriously since last year as my lymph nodes have gone from inflamed to swollen and my symptoms worsened in the past 18 months.
Some of the diagnoses they are mentioning are Lymphoma, sarcoidosis and tuberculous.
I was interested to read that moving the bottom of your feet really hurt when you first get out of bed. This has also just started happening to me over the past two weeks but could be due to coming out of plaster and a boot for the past 14 weeks from a broken foot and surgery to place screws in.
I guess my biggest symptom is excessive symptom beyond belief. The others are high CRP levels, lethargy, excessive infections, coughing (dry), sleep apnoea just to name the main ones.
I am really unfamiliar with blogs and using them so I am hoping this is still open.
I am pleased you received a diagnosis finally and when I get back in I will have a really good look at all the comments.
Thanks so much,
Urs
That should read excessive sweating, and also shortness of breath. Thank you.
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