Pre-Trip Part IX: A Few Bumps in the Road
Trip Start
Jul 08, 2005
1
9
42
Trip End
Aug 06, 2005
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
We're all falling apart. Two years ago mom's side of the family all went to Chuck E. Cheez for mom's cousin Amy's son's birthday party. My cousin Matt won a basketball and in the parking lot my Uncle David threw the ball to mom. She wasn't expecting it and she turned the wrong way and hurt her back pretty bad. Lately her back has been bothering her again.
Then dad has been getting pretty frequent kidney stones for the past ten years or so. He had a few when I was younger to the point where he needed surgery, and he's had a stone or two every two years or so ever since. It's horrible! When he went to the doctor he found out that he had high blood pressure and other problems that may be due to kidney problems. So he went to a urologist for information and testing, and he wound up being OK. He got his blood pressure way down and he and mom are at the doctor right now for his follow up. I hope everything's ok.
Next is Mike. Michael hurt his shoulder a while ago and it really started bothering him last year. He has a torn labrum but there was no trauma to his shoulder, so it was most likely something he was born with and progressed throughout the years. If he moves his arm too fast in any direction, even just a slight movement, it very easily pops out of the socket. He's planning on having surgery for it this August, a few days after we get back. Also, last year he was at a car show with my parents and cousin Ryan when he got weird pains in his lower stomach. It wasn't a stomachache but muscle pains. He was going to go to the doctor but it went away and hasn't come back since... until now. Before mom and dad left he said that it had come back. He could have pulled something or just have some sort of intestinal bug or something, who knows. He's going to rest and go to the doctor if it doesn't go away by Saturday.
Then comes Oreo. Michael was petting Oreo before when he realized a small ball over her right shoulder. It felt like a gland at first, but when I felt the other side I felt something similar, but not sticking out as much. Who knows what that is now. I don't think it's anything serious but mom will look at it when she gets home and probably take her to the vet.
Then, when it comes to me, my head still isn't 100%. What happened was I'm a nervous wreck all the time, especially when it comes to anything medical. Two months ago my throat was bothering me really bad. I thought it as just allergies, though, so I let it go. However, I was a still a little nervous about it and when I'm nervous I clench my teeth. Then we were watching American Idol one Tuesday night and my throat starting closing up so I freaked out! It went away, though, and the next day I went to the doctor. It wound up being strep throat, and a really bad case of it.
Then I started getting weird headaches. It started in the back of my head and top of my neck, so I thought it was tension. The it moved to the front of my head, between my eyes and around my nose, so I thought it was sinuses. I would just get random pains around my head and again I was a nervous wreck and would constantly clench my teeth. I went to the doctor and wound up having a bad sinus infection. With ten days of medication the head pains went away greatly. However, then it turned into something else. My scalp felt sore if I touched it and my head felt very prickly and pinchy if I moved my hair around. Again I thought it was all from sinuses but when I went to the doctor she said she didn't see an infection and put me on a new allergy medicine and new nasal spray.
The prickly feeling soon went away but I'm still getting headaches. Then I realized that when I open my mouth my jaw clicks a lot. Sometimes it's just a click and sometimes it's a loud pop. So I went online and looked up TMJ and I had pretty much all the symptoms, except for one or two. TMJ is a jaw problem that causes jaw clicking and tightness (check), headaches and scalp soreness (check), neck pain and tension (yes), pains around the eyes and temples (yep) and even pressure and a tingly feeling in your arms and fingers. This one freaked me out, since once in a while I get that and thought it was a circulation problem or something. So now I know what's been causing my problems and I have to see what to do about it.
Wow, we're a MESS! With only three and a half weeks until the vacation I really hope everyone gets well soon...
