My Appointment, Ultrasound and Other Things

Well, as you all saw in my last post, we're having a boy!  We're both excited, and of course our family is excited for us as well.. although Jeff's excited because as he put it, "[I] won't nag [him] to have anymore kids." Oscar looks great internally and the ultrasound technician said that his heartbeat was really strong, which is a relief. It was so great to see his profile and try to imagine what he's going to look like once he's born; I think he's definitely going to favor Jeff! I especially hope he has the red hair that Jeff had when he was born as well as my three youngest nephews had at birth.

As for my last OB appointment on November 18th, it went well. I weighed in at 114.6 pounds which means I gained a bit over a pound since my previous visit and my bloodpressure was fine.  Unfortunately, there was a mixup with clerical work, so the referral to the Rheumetologist was never sent or received back in October, but Dr J (my OB) was proactive and personally sent the fax herself. And since I was due for my Quad Screening blood test, she went ahead and also did a full run on my thyroid.  After I left the lab, I went ahead and called the Rheumetologist office, and after persisting they check their faxes, they confirmed that they recieved the referral, and I called back the next day and set the appointment to be seen on November 30th, which was this past Tuesday. They also requested that I personally bring in the results from my thyroid tests, so I was able to get those the day I had my ultrasound; thankfully my thyroid is in normal range and I passed the Quad Screening tests with no problem.

The visit went well, I gave a through personal medical rundown of everything I ever had -I got Cat Scratch Disease when I was a junior in high school.. something that's really rare so I must be special- and all my various aches and pains.. talked about when I sprained my ankle when I was 13 -jumping and slipping off a pile of logs, I won't do THAT ever again- and of course my family history. I mentioned in the paperwork that my dad has Rheumatoid Athritis, and apparently my grandfather had Muscular Dystrophy in his eyelids. He did a full examination and concluded that I have Trochanteric Bursitis, or in other words I've got bursitis in my hips. He told me he felt that my chances of having Rheumatoid Arthritis were very slim, however because of my family history with one parent having it, he went ahead and ran the two blood tests they do for RA.  I didn't really think much of it, and figured the bursitis was the reason why I've been having pain and whatnot, along with pregnancy, although it's not really normal to have the ammout of hip pain I've been experiencing in the first and second trimesters, it's supposed to hit later.

Well, I got a call today and was told by the nurse that one of the "Tests came back positive for RA, but there were no other findings." which basically means I DO have it; however due to various factors, I have not had the onset of clinical symptoms. Dr G told me that generally speaking with RA, pregnancy actually suppresses the symptoms, and talking with a friend of mine with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) is also suppressed by pregnancy; I guess it's something that's shared with all auto immune diseases; which is why there's studies currently being conducted to test the effectiveness of using pregnancy hormones to control the symptoms.

I'm not going to lie, there was a bit of a nasty shock when I hung the call up, and I did have the momentary urge to cry, but it passed, and I started to think positive. I've had the symptoms for years.. some which include depression and anxiety along with sensitivity to cold, and tiredness and of course body and joint pain.  It's a relief to know that I do NOT have clinical depression; that the occasional depression I do have is really a symptom, not the actual thing I have. It's nice to know that I finally do have the answers, and I genuinely do have a lot of things going for me. I'm young, it's apparently been caught early enough that I do not have the onset of clinical symptoms of swollen, red hot joints -which is why he initially thought I didn't have it, since I don't have this yet- and I'm short and I have never had issues with excessive weight gain.  I've fluctuated up and down, but it's always been in the range of normal for my body type and height.

Obviously there's not much they can do for me now, I can only just manage the pain when it gets bad with tylenol, and I avoid doing that unless it interferes with getting to sleep. My plan is to of course follow up with Dr G after I have Oscar, and to avoid the heavy medications for as long as I can. My dad was diagnosis with it at 29, and he has yet to start any of the RA medications because he exercises regularly, has a good diet and of course maintains a healthy weight, something that I plan on doing as well.

I'm fairly optimistic about this, I really am. I realize now too that it's a great thing that I got pregnant again, because I honestly don't think I would have been proactive enough to go to a GP doctor and saying "Hey I've got joint pain, can we set me up to see a Rheumetologist?" and who knows how long it would have been before we found out.