Day 8. Blood and Guts

Welcome! You may want to start at "Day 1. Drugs and Boobas" otherwise you might be lost.

I don't really have a problem with getting my blood drawn. In fact I'd rather have a needle in my vein then in the tissue of my bicep (flu shots hurt like hell!). They took my blood today to test for whatever it is they need to test for in order to see if my body will be able to metabolize the Imuran. They were going to do this at the same time as my first "liver-check" blood draw which isn't until the end of this week but insurance companies are a pain in my ass (long boring story) so i have to do it today which means I'm having two blood draws this week...lame

I also had an Echo Cardiogram today. This was my second Echo Cardiogram and although they are painless for the most part, they're really weird. I've decided I don't like watching my heart pump on a screen with a stranger manipulating my chest with a gooey cold mechanism while laying on a bed made for someone half my size in a position that makes every part of your body fall asleep simultaneously. On the up side, it was warm in the room and I got a nice older lady this time. She had a pretty string of pearls for her eye glasses to hang on, you know, so she doesn't loose them...what the heck is that called? Eye glass string thing? Anyways..

The reason for the second Echo Cardiogram was to establish if Pulmonary Hypertension (high blood pressure in my lungs) is present. They do this by measuring the blood flow through my heart into my lungs and vice versa (or something like that) The UW's Pulmonary Hyp Dept already ruled out Pulmonary Hypertension back in 2008 when I saw them, we are double checking just for the sake of chance. I told the woman the important number from the last time it was done, "33" (which was average but a tiny bit high) she told me she didn't think we were going to get up to "33" today (which is good if you don't want to have hypertension but bad if you'd rather have that then shrinking lungs). She couldn't tell me the exact number because it's against the rules. RULES ARE MADE FOR BREAKING!!!

I see the Pulmonalogist next Friday so stay tuned in for what he says. He's a new Dr, I'm still shopping around for one I like...maybe he'll just send me to the UW like the last one did. Maybe I should just go back down there, they're super nice and smart, but I'm worried that Group Health won't pay for as much of my treatment since it's "out of coverage". They have given me a referral but that doesn't mean they'll pay for everything. It's such stress trying to deal with all the insurance bull crap.