My Health Situation

Good news. I can stamp my heart out because:

As some of you know, I have been struggling since Christmas with my eyes beginning with a bout of pink eye followed by other eye problems. About 7 weeks ago I started having bouts of mild to severe hoarseness. The eyes got better and are worse again now. I developed dry mouth and a salivary gland problem during this time period. I possibly have Sjogren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disease---not the worst one to have, but certainly very uncomfortable for eyes, mouth, and breathing passages. It is treatable but not curable. Dr. feels we need to rule out some other things first, and since my situation in the last 12 hours has become more urgent we will be moving on that soon.

This morning I had a bout of being unable to breath at all for a few very panicky seconds (not sure how long), it happened again at school but not as severely--just split second, and providentially it happened in his office when I tried to swallow a pill. He said that my airway and esophagus are so irritated that my epliglottis goes into spasm and shuts me down completely. Best case scenerio is what happened today, that it stops on it's own. Sometimes a person passes out and it stops. It is very remotely possible that even passing out won't release the spasm and we do not want to risk that as you can probably figure out where that would lead.. Not likely though, not to worry. I will be seeing an ENT ASAP (hopefully within a few days as they promised I would get the next cancellation they have). They will be putting me under to look at vocal cords and other areas to see if my acid reflux has burned me, if there are tumors or nodules, etc. If they find nothing, I will be going to Seattle to Virginia Mason to begin trying to rule out/in autoimmune diseases.

As it stands he has put me on medical leave from work until he agrees I can go back. He said that much talking, voice raising, etc. will only increase the risks. I am not allowed to whisper at all. Basically I can talk very quietly at my discretion, when my vocal cords feel relaxed, but only very softly and only when I feel all the signs are right so that I can proceed without spasm. He also said I need much rest and only to do what I feel up to doing each day. This means I am on medical leave from work as long as needed to get this all diagnosed and under control as far as the throat/hoarseness goes.

I will be fine-stamping, reading, sleeping, and taking a much needed rest.