Bits and pieces

As is obvious from my last post, I’ve finally made some progress on writing about our holiday. I wrote most of that a few weeks ago but it was only tonight that I finally edited it in preparation for posting. I fear I will forget much of what I wanted to write as time goes on but there is nothing to be done about it. 

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I’ve been in a much better state of both physical and mental health over the past couple of weeks. While I don’t exactly feel energetic, I don’t feel like I need to sleep all the time. It seems the thyroxine must have been doing something after all. My tonsillitis episode did mostly resolve after about a week and a half.

This week I had my annual appointment at the immunology clinic in our local teaching hospital. Last year I had a disastrously incompetent doctor, and despite the other doctors being good to great, I was worried about a repeat. Fortunately, it was all fine, although it took longer than I expected. She was rather abrupt and gruff when we first got started but improved as we talked further. She later mentioned that she’d only been in immunology for a week so I assume she’s still settling in and that might have been the reason for the less than friendly start to our discussion. We covered my low thyroid issues caused by being off my medication and also discussed some abdominal pain episodes which had occurred while I was away and for a while after I returned. She examined my hands and found them quite cold, then asked if my feet were the same (which they were). Later she checked my blood pressure and found it was quite low (95/55) and was worried that I might be light-headed (which I wasn’t). She checked my abdomen thoroughly for anything unusual and presumably found nothing amiss. She asked about a couple of spots/rashes on my stomach but I wasn’t able to provide any useful information except that one has been there for a couple of years and the second, smaller one appeared recently. I’ve presumed they were due to some sort of skin condition but the only notable thing about them is the larger one sometimes seems to change color slightly. She had a thorough look at my mouth and throat and noted my tonsils are swollen.  After we covered pretty much everything, she went off in search of the consultant (head doctor) for the department to confer before we finished.

 The doctor was on a phone call for quite some time before she was able to reach him. Eventually he came to the consulting room and they discussed my case right there, which was kind of unusual. I’d seen this doctor at two previous appointments and he’d concluded that my autoimmune condition is Sjögren’s syndrome based on my symptoms and my ANA. I have antinuclear antibodies of at least two types. One type is called anti-coilin and seems to be fairly unusual but mostly is seen in people with primary biliary cirrhosis and Sjögren’s syndrome. The other type is common and also non-specific but also seen in Sjögren’s. This doctor had previously given me lectures on careful attention to dental care and keeping extremities  warm (as I have early symptoms of Raynaud’s syndrome). He repeated the dental lecture again even though I’d confirmed I’d had it before. It may have been as much for the registrar’s benefit as mine. Discussion was had over which blood tests I needed to have done and it was decided I’d be reviewed again in a year. Appointment concluded.

In addition to the usual auto antibody tests, I also had tests specific for autoimmune liver disorders along with immunoglobins added in. I found the pathology department at the hosptital was too busy for me to wait so had them done today at a local pathology center. I think I’ve reached a record with seven tubes of blood this time. Apparently I will be contacted by the clinic if any results need any follow up.

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The semester started last week at my university so I’ve started my last class for my degree. It’s an external unit and it seems to be a small class as there has been almost no discussion online so far. Also, the unit outline hasn’t been updated for this semester. I pointed this out to the teacher but have had no response after several days. It would be good to have some interaction with others in this class. It’s already isolating to study by distance education but it’s worse when you feel like you’re the only one out there.

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My favorite band, Crowded House, are coming to Perth in Novemeber and I have purchased tickets for the event. We are fortunate to have them playing at a nearby winery so it will just be a fifteen minute drive instead of 30-60 minutes to reach Perth or Fremantle. The Scientist and I will, however, be trekking down to Freo for a concert with Megan Washington and support act Dan Kelly at the end of the month. Tickets were quite inexpensive as these are up and coming artists…so it should be good value for money. We’ve seen both as support acts for other performers and both were excellent.