It all started with an itch…
Sunday, September 9, 2012, Mike and I put Fischer (who was almost 11 months old) in the stroller, grabbed Baxter and went for a family walk around our neighborhood. We stopped at several little neighborhood parks along the walk and got out in the grass to play. By the time we got home, it was time for me to nurse Fischer. I was terribly itchy though, so I decided to shower and rinse off before I fed the little guy. I just assumed that playing in the grass made me itchy and rinsing off would make it go away.
By Wednesday afternoon, I was still so itchy that I couldn’t take it anymore. I am not a “go to the doctor” kind of gal, so it takes quite a bit to get me to pull the trigger and actually go, but I was so annoyed and uncomfortable by my all over, constant itching that I called my general practitioner to get an appointment. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see me until Friday. I was thinking (which is SO funny now to think that I thought this…little did I know what was to come), “Friday?! There is no way I can keep itching all week and wait to get relief until Friday!” After work, I went and saw Mike and he went with me to Urgent Care. Since I didn’t have any visible rash or irritation, they treated me for an allergic reaction, gave me a steroid and off I went. The steroid helped, but the second it would wear off I’d be itching again. I still saw my general doctor on Friday, and she said the same thing, “it must be some type of allergic reaction.” My head was reeling…what have I changed? Laundry detergent, lotion, soap, dryer sheets, air freshener, shampoo? Anything? Nope. Nothing. I’m a creature of habit, and I couldn’t think of one thing I had changed.
The steroids would wear off, and I’d continue itching like a crack head. I felt like a crazy person! I went back to see my general practitioner and she got out her computer and searched her doctor’s version of Web M.d. We went through EVERYTHING that it could possibly be. We ruled out STDs and HIV because I just gave birth less than a year ago, so this would have been discovered already. We ruled out allergic reaction because the given treatment wasn’t curing anything, so all we were left to try is testing my blood for the off chance that something was up with my liver. We drew blood, ran tests, and what do you know? My liver enzymes were through the roof! I was immediately scheduled to see a GI doctor and a biopsy of my liver was scheduled as well as an ultrasound and all sorts of other tests. We had some answers…something was up with my liver….or so they thought.
I only know of you as a Falcon Cheerleader alum, but I’m blessed to read your posts. I will pray for you often. ’75-’76
Thanks for the prayers, Rhonda! All prayers are welcomed!