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Monday, December 29, 2003
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. . . health
Invariably included in holiday greetings are hopes for peace and prosperity, health and happiness. I've always wondered why send health along with the rest of it. It's easy to see why it would take a hope or a wish to achieve peace, prosperity, happiness, but health seems much more within reach. Eat right, sleep right, stay active, and you'll have health. Easy. It doesn't take a wish or a hope to achieve health, does it?
My MRI results came last Dec 17, the last week of class for 2003. (Elsewhere in this blog is the entire medical history. That's the bad news.) The good news is, someone finally thought the cost-benefit ratio worth a try at an MRI. It was found that I have carpal tunnel syndrome because I have tenosynovitis of the flexor digitorum superficialis. Being an "-itis"/inflammation, not a mechanical compression, I didn't have to spend the holidays in hospital getting surgery. The nodules are nonspecific, possibly scar tissue.
So what do I think now? Does it take a wish or a hope to achieve health? Sometimes it does. To the people in Pillbox: Peace and Prosperity, Health and Happiness this coming year!
By mjc @ 9:05 AM
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Wednesday, December 10, 2003
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Clinical Impression
Last week I was confronted by sudden worries about our exams and a series of phone calls from my mom. For two weeks my mom has been experiencing nonspecific symptoms. It started out as a mild epigastric pain which my mom thought was attributed to hyperacidity. So I advised her to stop drinking coffee, carbonated drinks and tea and refrain from taking NSAIDs which she takes during her long travels (it gives her headaches and dizziness of some sort). Her stools were fine, no apparent food intolerance, no fever, vital signs were normal. After 2 days, this became accompanied by some myalgia, malaise and arthralgia. Being the workaholic that she was, my mom insisted on going to work despite this. Until finally she decided to consult her gastroentrologist (she sees this dr. quite frequently since my mom had a previous lap chole, so any GI symptoms really upset her).
After the consultation, like what I previously thought, the doc diagnosed her with hyperacidity and was given a proton pump inhibitor. HEr symptoms did not improve and she sonsulted another doc after 3 days. Again, same diagnosis but she was asked to take Maalox this time. My mom claimed that she felt a little bit ok after that. But after 3 days, while doing her hobby of going to the grocery, my aunt noticed her to have icteric sclerae. They both panicked and they rushed to the hospital. Upon seeing the doctor, giving her history, and undergoing some (and not the thorough) physical examination that we are thought to do, the doctor wrote requests to a radiologist and lab tech for some tests. The doctor is considering the possibility of Hepatitis A infection (upon referring to my book, my mom indeed has the classic presentation of Hepatitis A: an prodromal preicteric phase followed by an icteric phase). She had a liver ultrasound and a liver function test which both had significant results. So now, the doctor's clinical impression is somehow confirmed. However, to arrive at a definitive diagnosis, the doc requested one more test: an Anti-HAV IgM titer.
It's amazing how one's clinical judgment
By Jitney Girl @ 11:53 AM
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