Gotta catch 'em all!!

I had intended to give a chronological account of my experiences but having got a bit behind, so much has happened in between that needs to be said! Don't worry, I will go back to the time in the Royal Free.

Today I had a bit of a tricky day. 

It didn't get tricky until mid-afternoon. I left for my rheumatology appointment shortly after 2pm giving myself plenty of time to get there. Traffic was a nightmare and so I was star gin to worry about being late. I made it to the rheumatology department in the nick of time but started to feel the tell-tale signs of dropping blood sugars - hot and shaky. Thankfully I had my emergency Haribo in my bag. Once checked in, I sat and waited. I was called to be weighed and fell apart. I was in quite a lot of pain in my left hip which has been playing up for some time leaving me able to walk about for around half an hour before causing trouble which then doesn't settle for the rest of the day. I hobbled down to the scales and cried. The nurse was so lovely. She sat me down in a quiet corner and I explained that I was feeling shaky and as though my sugars were low. She had them checked and confirmed that whilst I was above hypo measurements, it was low and it would be a good idea for me to get something in me. She sorted out with water, a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits- just what I needed after the quick fix of the Haribo. 

I sat in the quiet until the consultant called me in at 4pm, an hour after my appointment time. The consultant went over changes in meds since my last appointment and did an examination of my joints. The ones that came out as most painful were hips, knees, ankles and wrists. There was also pain in around half of my toes... Sitting back down, he broke the news that I had some sort of inflammatory arthritis. This was both a shock and a relief. A relief that actually I haven't been imagining these joint pains and that they can be attributed to something. A shock as I really hadn't expected anything to have shown up. The diagnosis came from the examination as well as blood results from my last visit. 

The next step is to start treatment for inflammatory arthritis and to determine which form of arthritis it is. The relevant tests have all been requested so I get to look forward to more blood tests, more x-rays and more ultrasounds!

I would like to reiterate how wonderful the nurses were. I felt pretty silly allowing my blood sugars to drop to the point where I got myself quite so worked up but they looked after me so well and kept a very good watch on me to make sure I really was improved enough to get myself back home.

So, it would appear that my immune system needs to chill out and stop playing Pokemon and trying to collect all these auto-immune conditions! Fingers crossed the treatment plan is given the go ahead by the liver team and that they can work alongside one another.

Keep Smiling :)