The medical mystery...possible solution tomorrow.

Still more pain today...but I had it managed with Vicodin, so it wasn't as bad. I also took the Ativan last night. I just decided that I will go ahead and take the sleep pills and pain pills as I need them until all this gets worked out. Because I do need my rest. So if that means taking a pill each night to help me get it, then I'll do that.

I was telling my husband last night that I felt like we were working on a puzzle and that there was one very important piece missing. And if we could just find that one piece, that one bit of information, then we could figure out what was wrong with me. I just feel like all these symptoms are connected, and that all these little actions...pain killers, special mouth rinse, migraine medicine, antibiotic for my earache, etc...all these solutions to deal with each individual problem is not the answer.

My husband said that one of the reasons why no one has figured out a solution yet is because I haven't been consistent in describing all of my symptoms to my different doctors and to him. That's because I have so many different symptoms, I would forget things when talking to the doctor. Or the doctor would just focus on my pain and was mostly concerned about making me feel better, rather than trying to find out the reason behind my pain. Or I'd just address what was bothering me the most at the moment, fearing that I was sounding like some crazy hypochondriac. When I thought about it, my husband was right (he'll LOVE that I just wrote that).

My husband said that by not telling it all, I was making it difficult for any doctor to address my problems. So yesterday my wonderful mother (who has all my appointments and phone calls laid out on organized spreadsheets) typed up a list of all my symptoms. If you're a doctor, feel free to get out those gigantic medical books and do some research. A gold star to anyone with the right answer! Here are the symptoms:

Unbearable pain on upper right side of head.
Unbearable pain on the lower right side of head.
(Note, my surgery sight was on the left side of my head)
Head pain worsens at night or when I'm really tired.
Right eye pain
Right ear pain (no ear infection)
A little dried blood from right nostril when blowing nose.
Right neck hurts...I think around glands.
Feels like sores on right side of tongue.
Right side of tongue a little numb and I keep biting it...ouch!
A little difficult to swallow on right side and hard to move food around in my mouth with my tongue on the right side (I know that sounds silly...but it's true).
Pain on right side of back
Trouble falling asleep
Trouble staying asleep

Okay, now go for it. Any ideas? Come on...you know you need a gold star!

Possible Answer: Once I went over everything with my husband, he immediately said something about Cranial Nerve #7....or maybe it was #6...I can't remember. But it had to do something with the nerve. Which makes total sense to me. I had nerve pain (see Sept. 19 2007 post) after my mastectomy that we dealt with with medicine, and it eventually went away.

Today, my husband was actually able to talk to the neurologist who my surgeon initially referred me to (not the one I went to yesterday). So I'm hoping tomorrow to have some answers...and to be on the pathway to being rid of all this ridiculous pain.