You Are What You Eat

 Where to start? The two are sort of connected and yet could be so far apart? Who knows for sure, because neither the doctor nor dentist are of any help.
Last Friday night I started getting sick. Fever at night. 101.5 No cold, no flu, no pain, just fever. Woke up totally wet with my fever gone. Weird. Feel fine the rest of the day. Saturday start feeling more tired and grumpy. Go play Bunco. Everyone notices I don’t look right. Go home and fever 101.5 again. Next morning the same thing. Sunday did a bunch of running around, then came home. Late at night same thing.

Monday, I call the doctor. They can’t get me in and suggest Urgent Care. So, I go to work. Work on 3 clients. Go to Urgent Care. My blood pressure is 149/92. I typically run very normal, so that was high. Doctor sees that my throat looks a little red. Asks me if it hurts. I said, no. Then he looks in my sinuses. All clear. Then he looks in my ears. Says I have a slight ear infection. Asks me if it hurts. I tell him I have a tooth problem (root canal gone bad), and figured the “slight” pain was that. He then has me do a urine sample. It comes back with blood in it. He asked when my last period was. I told him I had a hysterectomy in 1997. He says, “Oh.” Then he asks if I have any lower back pain. I said no. He figured maybe I had a UTI or kidney infection. I know what a UTI feels like and I know it’s not that. I doubt I have a kidney infection because I’m having no such pain. I did say in 1988 I had a liver infection and the only thing I feel occasionally is that same pain, but not as sharp. Also, I recently had my liver panel come up with the numbers very high, but all that had subsided. He ignores all of that and just gives me an Rx for Z-PAK.

You know, give the patient something so they’ll stop complaining sort of remedy. I realize I’m not going to get anywhere with more testing on what is REALLY wrong with me so just take the fucking Z-PAK. At this point my fever is now at 102 and I can’t wait at a pharmacy, so I go the next day and have it filled. That night my fever went up to 103.

I start on the ZPAK. I’m feeling slightly better. It’s now Tuesday and I have an appointment with the Endontist at one of those dental clinics. That’s whom our dental insurance is with. They’re going to do a root canal. My daughter brought me because I’m too sick to drive. She drops me off. After 30 minutes PAST my appointment time the Endo looks at my x-rays and says, the tooth is no good, needs to be pulled. Come back tomorrow for the oral surgeon to pull it. The root canal was done 2 years ago by a private practice dentist and never healed. We had changed insurance’s after that root canal, and I prolonged seeing a dentist because I don’t like these clinics. I did see one about 6 months ago, but that’s a story in itself. Bottom line, I changed to a Corona Clinic.

Okay, so it’s now Wednesday and I see the oral surgeon. The assistant sits with me and asks me which tooth is it that needs pulling because they have 3 different teeth specified to be pulled. I think she said 17, 19 and 29. Whatever. I looked at the x-ray and pointed to the tooth. She said, “Hmmmm…I don’t see why a root canal can’t be done, let me talk to the surgeon.” So here comes the surgeon. He says, “I’m not an Endo, but I don’t see why this tooth can’t have a root canal. Let me recommend you to a friend of mine whom I’ve known for 15 years. He’s in Rancho Cucamonga.” So he proceeds to call his friend who says to give me the phone number and call him to make an appointment. This friend is a private practice. There is no other Endo in this clinic. I can’t hop around to different clinics. It’s much more involved than this and takes about a month. The tooth is infected. I don’t have that kind of time. Oh, and I was on amoxicillin for a week prior to my fever for the tooth infection. Just figured I should throw that info in here.

I ask the surgeon if he thinks I should go back to the private practice dentist and he says no.  He proceeds to show and tell me with his hands and a pen what that dentist had done wrong.  It’s awful!  I knew that root canal wasn’t right because I had more pain after than before it was done.  I did tell this to the dentist at the time, oh for about a year! He said it takes time for nerves that go sideways to die down.  The oral surgeon said, that’s not right, and it shouldn’t have been ignored that way.

I’m at a point of not knowing what to do.  I don’t trust any of them at this point.  For all I know, he’s sending me to his buddy because his buddy isn’t doing well.  Why should I trust this stranger?  So, I’m not going to his buddy.  I’m wanting to look around, but I don’t know where to start.  I need to know who’s dealt with a dentist and never had a problem with a “root canal.”  I feel like I need to interview the patient before I see their dentist.  In the mean time, Jen’s going to try to change insurances at work to a PPO. It’s not looking positive though.  So, whomever I see needs to have a damn good payment plan.  Like one of those free for one year.  No payment till January 2009.  Hey!  If they’re good they aren’t hurting for money and can do that!  Right?  I do stuff like that all the time with my clients!  Anyway, I’m at a loss right now with the whole dentist situation.

So now it’s Thursday.  I have a hell of a day.  My first client calls at 7:00 in the morning.  She can’t make it.  Well, I don’t mind that, I can sleep in a little more.  I didn’t, I got up and showered.  I have an 11:00 men’s haircut to do.  And a client who cancelled the night before because she can’t wake up to be at her appointment at 11:30 because her job kept her up late.  I had her booked for 2 hours!  That means go in and do a haircut and sit around for 2 hours now.  Okay, I’ll lie down and rest I guess.  Next client is late, of course.  I’m done by 5:30 and I’m exhausted.  I didn’t even work that hard!  But the fever’s starting up again. 
That night it’s “only” 101.  Took the Tylenol PM and slept great!  Woke up soaking wet though. 

Friday: Called the doctor first thing in the morning.  They can get me in at 2:50, but not with my doctor because she’s not here.  So I see Dr. Albert Lee at Riverside Medical Clinic.  He’s one of these doctors with attitude.  You know what I mean.  I’ve lived in my body for 49 years, how the hell can I know anything about it?  He’s been doing this for 10 years or maybe more, so he knows my body better than me. ROFLMAO!!!  He’s such an ass!  Blood is still in my urine.  Fever is 100. I tell him I’m having pain like I did back when I had a liver infection, only much more mild. I should have lied and said it was intense. Then maybe when I asked him if he was going to do a liver panel he would have!  He totally ignored that because of course I know shit!  Let’s just forget that I had Hep C and now have the antibodies. Let’s forget that I had a liver infection in the past and know what feels like.  No, let’s just “GUESS” it’s a kidney infection.  I mean, the fact that I have no lower back pain must be that I don’t feel it.  UGH!!! I also have a tooth infection. Ignored.  It’s not his job, why should he care.  I’ll keep that in mind next time someone comes in and shows me a bald spot, I’ll still do their color.  Yeah right.  I’m much more professional than that!  Much more professional that this stupid ass doctor!  So they did a CBC/diff  (I looked)  and more intense lab tests on my urine. I was just about out of urine for the lab because I had just given it to the doctor.  I guess they can’t use the same stuff.  Whatever.  He writes me an Rx for Cipro. He says he’s going to treat me for a kidney infection.  Yay!  Let’s give me more stupid antibiotics for FUO.  Woo Hoo!  Go medical professional!! Of course I got generic because I have an HMO and they aren’t going to pay for the real stuff.  I don’t care at this point because I’m so disgusted.  Cipro covers more ranges of infections.  Hmmm…why didn’t the urgent care doctor give me that then!!! THEY ARE IDIOTS!

I was told to come back in 2 to 3 weeks to follow up with my doctor.  If I’m dead by then I’ve left behind this story for a great lawsuit.  At least I can leave my family something! 

In the mean time, my “LIVER PAIN” is getting worse.  I may end up in ER just sitting around for 5 hours while patients with much more important problems are taken.  Hmmm….I could fake a heart attack.  That’s what I’ll do!  I’m just a little pissed.  Can you tell? 

I’m going to start this blog by introducing myself before we get into the whole thing about diets or eating or whatever people are calling it these days to make themselves feel better.

 I’m a 49 year old, very overweight (aka fat)  lesbian, atheist.  Did I scare you away?  Oh, c’mon!  Stay on this journey.  It’ll be fun.  You know you want to hear more! 

 I was raised in a Sicilian-Catholic house.  I had a great childhood.  The best parents in the world.  Great schools and teachers.  Loved my life.  And of course, loved food!  Who wouldn’t love food in a Sicilian house!  One would be crazy not to love it!

We ate.  No matter what the day was like it revolved around food.  Mom loved to feed us!  And she was great at cooking, of course.  I was her best eater.  My brother and sister were much more picky than I ever was.  If Mom put it in front of me, I didn’t ask what it was, I consumed it.  Dad’s the same way.  I must take after him.  I never made those faces.  You know!  The what-the-heck-is-that face! 

I wasn’t a skinny child, nor was I chubby.  I was just right!  Although my godmother always made me feel like I was a fat child.  She would always slap my butt and/or thigh and say in Italian, “What a beautiful butt.”  I used to hate that!  She would hit me hard. Sometimes she even left a handprint on me!  I think she was jealous of me because I was so beautiful and her daughter was a scrawny kid.  Whatever!

By 8th grade I started getting that I-think-I’m-fat complex most girls that age seem to get.  You know, because we aren’t scrawny, like my cousin!  LOL   Why do we as girls/women want to have the body of a teenage boy?  I did once, but then I figured a board with boobs wasn’t that attractive.  It took me many, many years to realize that.  That doesn’t mean that I think fat is attractive, well, most of the time.  Sometimes fat isn’t all that unattractive.  And why do men like women who look like little boys with boobs?  Can someone say pedophile?!?

 Moving on… 

I’ve tried every diet in the world.  Most of them really do work if I can stick to it long enough.  Problem is I get bored and want all the rich foods I love.   I love anything with fat. Sweets are great, but if they have fat!

I’m on Jenny Craig right now, for two weeks.  I’ve lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks!  Yay me!  I’ve done this program before but stopped before I lost all the weight.  Mainly because I started on Meridia and kind of went off the program because I wasn’t that hungry.  So in the long run it messed me up. 

So here’s to healthy eating!  This time it’s all the way to being fit!