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Went to the Saw Bones............................OH Boy Update #3

Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
edited September 2020 in General Discussion
I went to the DR a few weeks ago because I have been having some health issues; Lack of appetite along with a large weight loss(25lb in 4 months), nerve pain and just feeling like crap most of the time.  Until this year I had not been sick in 42 years except for food poison, dengeue fever and stuff like that.

He checked me out and took 4 things of blood and 2 stool samples :o.  He knows I was in Africa a lot and took Malaria pills(mefaquine) for darn near 12 years straight.  The crap messed up my liver but it has come around.

So all the testing and all the other crap they did to me and it turns out I am health as a horse: A1C is 2.5, prostate of a 30 y/o, heart in great shape, lungs are fine, liver is working good to get the booze out of my system you name it I am in great shape..............

Except one minor thing

I have Rocky Mountain Spotted fever :s
He said that is where the nerve pain is coming from and the feeling like crap.

So now I am one doxycycline for a month and then more blood tests. 


I spent all my life in tick infested woods and never have a problem.  I got this tick playing golf in April.

Oh yea I also tested positive for COVID 19 antibody so I had it.

I am so ready to get over 2020 what a sucky year.
RLTW

Comments

  • Horse Plains DrifterHorse Plains Drifter Forums Admins, Member, Moderator Posts: 39,309 ***** Forums Admin
    Hope things turn out well for you, Sam.
  • KenK/84BravoKenK/84Bravo Member Posts: 12,055 ✭✭✭✭

    It could be a Whole lot worse Sam.

    You posted that you thought you had already had Covid, so this is just confirmation. That could be good news, if there is any anti-bodies or immunity.

    That Golf, is a dangerous sport, be careful out there.

  • NeoBlackdogNeoBlackdog Member Posts: 16,566 ✭✭✭✭
    Well, could be a lot worse.  Could have been Lyme Disease!  
    Hope ya get to feelin' better real quick, Sam, and glad you found out it is something relatively easy to cure. 
  • mogley98mogley98 Member Posts: 18,297 ✭✭✭✭
    Wow glad it something they can hopefully treat and cure and not worse congrats on being healthy as a horse :)

    Why don't we go to school and work on the weekends and take the week off!
  • hillbillehillbille Member Posts: 14,120 ✭✭✭✭
    Dang Sam you gotta learn to keep them balls in the fairway.............
  • GrasshopperGrasshopper Member Posts: 16,704 ✭✭✭✭
    Those ticks are in the fairway also! I actually spray myself there days and would advise it from now on. + Glad you went and got tested, good job there.
  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    Thanks guys.

    My Dr feels like this was caught early and we can get rid of it and yes I am glad its not lymes.
    RLTW

  • SCOUT5SCOUT5 Member Posts: 16,182 ✭✭✭✭
    I remember you saying something about not being up to par.    Now you have answers and a treatment plan and that's good.  Follow directions and get well.
  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,183 ✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2020
    If I was you I would give that doctor for Christmas a shoe box with 50 Ben Franklins in it.
    Your doctor is a genius to catch a rather obscure ailment such as you have.   Give me his name I will nominate him for the Nobel Prize in medicine.

    Thank God you got such a good doctor and got on the antibiotics in time.
  • mohawk600mohawk600 Member Posts: 5,373 ✭✭✭✭
    That guy was not a saw bones........maybe an internist or GP.........you overestimate the real "saw bones".........that actually saw your bones.
  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    Its been a mean couple of days.  The medicine I am taking upsets my stomach some and I feel like I have a bad sunburn all over.  I also have nerves firing off in my back stomach and legs that really make it hard to sleep.

    I will be glad when I can say good bye to RMSF.
    RLTW

  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    I have taken Doxy before for malaria and did fine.   Thanks for the warning though.

    What is strange is I have none of the external symptoms of RMSF, no rash or anything other than nerve pain and a general feeling like doodoo.

    One of my problems is I have no appetite so its hard to eat something so I can take the meds, last thing I want to do is take them on an empty stomach.
    RLTW

  • mrmike08075mrmike08075 Member Posts: 10,998 ✭✭✭

    When I knew I was sick -that something horribly wrong was occurring and was finally forced to go to the GP doc and complain...

    They did extensive blood draws and tests - lab work along with skin and hair samples - stool and urine - fasting and non fasting including the stool sample swipe and mail off initial test...

    Believe it or not the first cancer test came back negative - but my iron level score was below 3 and in a normal functional person should be 10-13...

    I was essentially suffocating - the lack of iron killing production of bone marrow and red blood cells - dramatically cutting back internal oxygen transfer through the blood stream and circulatory system. Also sever potassium and magnesium deficiances leading to muscles cramping and lock up - horrible pain and disability - akin to having a reoccurring heart attack with anoxia...

    Chest pains and vertigo and nausea and dizzy spells and periods of inability to function on a basic level.

    Took a little while as they treated these issues and tried to abate the damage and restore normal baseline parameters before they turned to MRI's and CT scans and X-ray's and ultrasounds followed by a GI DOC colonoscopy to nail down the stage 4 / end stage cancer with lymph node involvement...

    That from chest abdomen and pelvis scans which showed the massive tumor...

    Only later when I blacked out and cracked my head open was a head CT performed and the brain tumor found...

    Lucky you that they new some of your history and kept up with testing until they figured things out - at a stage were they can treat you and abate the damage and cure you? Or handle the disease with regular meds?

    Thank god they found it and here's hoping they can fix it.

    Mike

  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    I don't know if anyone gives a crap but this RMSF is no joke.  I have been having some serious pain but its getting better.  I still have no appetite an its hard to sleep(because of pain).  On the plus side I am back to the same weight I was 25 years ago so as a weight loss program its not too bad.

    I am really tired of taking Doxycycline, you cannot drink beer or milk while taking it and I like both.  Its been about 20 days on doxy and I am starting to feel a little better.  I have to stay out of the sun also so I am going crazy.

    Man I hope this gets cleared up.
    RLTW

  • MobuckMobuck Member Posts: 13,733 ✭✭✭✭
    "I have Rocky Mountain Spotted fever 
    Well, could be a lot worse.  Could have been Lyme Disease!  "
    Haven't had RMSF but had LYME.  Having to go by the hospital after work for the daily IV therapy wasn't any fun at all. The IV line was left in my forearm for the duration of the treatment schedule so everyone who saw me had to ask what was wrong with me.
  • mogley98mogley98 Member Posts: 18,297 ✭✭✭✭
    Praying you get better quick how is a guy supposed to go without milk and Beer! Hang in there
    Why don't we go to school and work on the weekends and take the week off!
  • He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,947 ✭✭✭✭
    So the take home message here is that golf is deleterious to your health.  And watching it on TV is the best soporific known to man.  Get better Sam!
  • Bubba Jr.Bubba Jr. Member Posts: 8,176 ✭✭✭✭
    Hope you feel better soon Sam. :)
  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    Thanks guys, I do miss the beer and I really miss milk.  There is nothing much better than an ice cold glass of milk with some nesquick in it.
    RLTW

  • Ricci.WrightRicci.Wright Member Posts: 5,129 ✭✭✭✭
    Hey Bro, I just read where they have discovered that a big bowl of cold lima beans may cure RMSF. You need to eat them twice a day, at least two cups and remember they need to be cold. 
  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    Hey Bro, I just read where they have discovered that a big bowl of cold lima beans may cure RMSF. You need to eat them twice a day, at least two cups and remember they need to be cold. 

    I would rather have the RMSF ;)


    RLTW

  • BobJudyBobJudy Member Posts: 6,445 ✭✭✭✭
    I truly sympathize with you. In 2018 I was on a many month course of antibiotics and that made me a firm believer in pro-biotics. Taken a couple of hours after the antibiotic it sure calmed down my gut. Bob
  • SCOUT5SCOUT5 Member Posts: 16,182 ✭✭✭✭
    I was wondering how you were doing.   Progress is the measuring stick.   Sounds like your making it.
  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    Going to see the DR tomorrow to see if its gone.

    I have some serious nerve pain still and some other problems like no appetite. 

    Good way to loose weight though I am down 20 pounds.
    RLTW

  • Ricci.WrightRicci.Wright Member Posts: 5,129 ✭✭✭✭
    I noticed you were looking pretty svelte the other day. That means skinny Ken. 
  • KenK/84BravoKenK/84Bravo Member Posts: 12,055 ✭✭✭✭

    Please leave me out of your Bromance.

  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    The bad thing about loosing over 50 pounds in 18 months is my clothes don't fit anymore.  My Dr told me to loose weight and get down to under 200(I was 230 at one time) so I lost about 25 pounds then came Chinese flu.  I lost another 10 in 2 weeks.  Now comes along RMSF and another 15-20 pounds and still going is lost. 

    I am weak and it has effected everything I do.  I wish I could eat more but I almost puke thinking about food.  I have to force myself to eat. 

    I was 189#'s when I retired from the Army in 06, it took me 12 years to gain weight and end up at 230#'s.  18 month later I am at 182#'s.

    My pants were a 42" now I wear a 36 and its loose.  The good thing is I can IWB conceal a 44 magnum and I don't have to unbutton or unzip my pants to take them off, just undo the belt and down the go. 
    RLTW

  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    Well I will find out today what is going on with the pain and what he is going to do about it.  I expect he will take blood again to test for RMSF.  The bad thing is the test takes a long time to do(Not sure why) so I will not find out for a week or so.

    Since I have to go to town to see him I think I will stop by the driving range and hit some balls then go to a Mexican joint for lunch and get a some chow and maybe a margarita.  I need to hit Home Depot and get grass seed, fertilizer and lime for the yard.  I aerated yesterday.

    This is going to be a full day!
    RLTW

  • NeoBlackdogNeoBlackdog Member Posts: 16,566 ✭✭✭✭
    Hope they can get it figured out for you, Sam.   
  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    yea me too.  I am sick of this nerve pain it really is bothersome.  I also want my appetite back, yesterday I had a yogurt and glass of milk in the morning a tomato sandwich for lunch and some popcorn for dinner, woke up this morning and I am not even hungry.
    RLTW

  • Sam06Sam06 Member Posts: 21,254 ✭✭✭✭
    Well he did the blood tests and now he thinks the pain is from shingles..................Great!  They took more blood to see if the RMSF is gone and I got 2 medications, one for nerve pain and one for shingles. 


    I think I am going to drink a bit tonight.
    RLTW

  • BobJudyBobJudy Member Posts: 6,445 ✭✭✭✭
    Getting old ain't for sissies but you are taking it to the extreme. Prayers and good thoughts headed your way. Bob
  • Grunt2Grunt2 Member Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭
    BobJudy said:
    Getting old ain't for sissies but you are taking it to the extreme. Prayers and good thoughts headed your way. Bob
    +10...
    Retired LEO
    Combat Vet VN
    D.A.V Life Member
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