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I'm a "hapa" which is a term for mixed-raced. My mother is Japanese and my father is Italian/German. I have 2 sisters, one older & one younger. I have a dog named Peeps. He's a white fluffy dog who looks like a marshmallow, and tastes like one too. (jk)

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I'm 28 years old living with my perfect match in central New Jersey. I'm a musician at heart. I play the sax, viola & piano. Finally starting to teach myself guitar. Music is a hobby right now, and telecom is the industry I'm working in to pay the bills. I hope to get back into music performance again sometime in the near future. ~~Gettin'~~ hitched October 3, 2008.

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A Happy Heart...

Saturday, January 19, 2008

I started wearing a loop recorder for my heart about a week ago.

I am wearing it b/c I started getting palpitations about a month ago that became more and more frequent. Docs think it's either b/c of anemia (b/c I changed my diet to vegetarian) or could be hormones or could be any other number of things.

I don't get pain when I have the palps. but I can't breathe when they happen...and it's just kinda annoying.

I wear the recorder with electodes under my right collar bone and one under my left breast.

They are wired to a looping recorder that constantly records 1 minute and then re-records over it...

When I have a palpitation I push a button on the recorder so that it records 1 minute before pushing the button and 40 seconds after. After recording, I call a number and transmit the reading through the phone. It's strange... somehow it sends an EKG through the phone that can be read on the other end...

Interesante...really it is.

Anyway, this is similar to the Holter Monitor which is worn for 24 hours, but Holter Monitors are good for people who have their symptoms daily so that it is almost guaranteed that they will be able to record their symptoms within the 24 hour timeframe... The benefit to the Looping monitor that I wear, is that since I do not have my symptoms everyday, I can wear it for longer than 24 hours, upping my chances of being able to catch and record my symptoms when they happen.

The downside to the Looping recorder is that I have to wear it for 30 days, and I am allergic to the electrode pads sticky stuff. They supplied me with hypoallergenic ones as well, but I am also allergic to those.

They are shipping me out some pediatric pads so I can try them out... It's soo itchy and painful. I get welts after taking the pads off, and they get itchy and start to blister. Above is a picture of one of the welts that has reduced significantly (is no longer raised) and it's funny, b/c it looks like a smiley face.

I guess I have a happy heart - :)

Labels: health, photos, thoughts

posted by Typette @ 4:37 PM 0 comments

Ow.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I'm really feeling the joy of all that is Fibromyalgia tonight.

I don't understand, I have yet to figure out a pattern to the pains I get.

I used to keep a log. What day it was, what time, what the weather was like, what part of my body was hurting, how long it hurt etc...

No pattern.

Sometimes I would ache a day before a storm, and some days I wouldn't. Sometimes I wouldn't get any aches until after a storm, and sometimes I wouldn't get any pain at all.
Sometimes when it's a beautiful perfect day, I ache.

I believe it has something to do with a change in barometric pressure, for better or for worse. Whenever theres a big change (i.e. bad weather to good or vice versa).

For years I thought I had RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis)...and so I was told by ppl for so long. But after many blood tests, the RA factor was low. There was no test actually proving to me that I had it. Finally, my wonderful, out of the box thinking doctor referred me to a Rheumatologist. Seems like common sense, but I had no clue what was wrong with me.

I had this tender points test given to me, and I was tender in 15 of the 18 points. It was really strange, b/c when the doc would push on those points it hurt really bad. Like someone digging their finger into a pressure point on your body. After lifting his hand from the tender point I would have a lingering feeling as if he was poking a bruise. I thought this was normal and that everyone felt those pains. I was wrong.

Anyway. I have learned to manage and deal with the pain. It can be debilitating at times, but I take pain meds (such as Tylenol etc...) to help and heat always works really well for me.

When it's really bad, I prefer to sleep through the pain so I don't have to deal with it, so I pop some Tylenol PM or Flexiril and out I go.

My fibromyalgia keeps me up most nights. I never really get a good nights sleep. I am out for at least 8 hrs each time. But according to a sleep test I took, I get less than 30mins of TOTAL cummulative REM sleep. Ah well - I'm alive and still kickin'.

I can deal.

I think the whole point of writing this was to express how happy I am that Tylenol PM was invented. I just popped a few and can't wait to get to sleep.

Off I go.

Labels: fibromyalgia, health, thoughts

posted by Typette @ 10:01 PM 1 comments

CT Lung Biopsy

Friday, February 23, 2007

This past wednesday (21st), I had my CT Lung biopsy. I got myself so worked up for this and was scared that if it was ANYTHING like the bone marrow biopsy, I would probably faint. They told me I had to stay awake during the procedure b/c I had to follow certain breathing instructions so my Gen. Pract. doc prescribed me some sedatives to take some of the anxiety away. I think it helped....

I got this biopsy done at NY Presbyterian and the appt was for 8 am, which means we had to leave our house no later than 6 am to make it there on time.

The radiologist was the one performing the biopsy because they had to use a CT scanner to pinpoint the right area to go in and he is the one who can read the CT scan real well..

It was a tough procedure in that I had to lay completely still in one position for 1 hour straight. One little movement and they would have to start all over from scratch. I tried my best to lay still, but since they went in through my back, I had to lay on my stomach, and any woman will tell you, it's not comfortable when you have a 'chest'... It was very hard to breath.

They injected lidocaine into my back to numb the area where the needle was going in... The MOST pain during the procedure I felt was when they injected that. It was a pinch and some burning. Not much... He must've injected me a total of 6 times during the procedure...GOOD THING.

Anyway, the doc told me that people usually do not complain of any pain from this procedure, but in some rare cases some patients feel pain in the front of their chest, and that's because the nerves wrap around from the back to the front...even though there's nothing wrong there, it still hurts. (if that makes sense)

Anyway, go figure, I had that pain, and it happened during the last 20 minutes while I was laying on the CT Table. It was quite unbearable. I'd say pain was a 9 out of 10... if it was a 10 I would've passed out completely. Knowing I had to stay completely still or go through another hour of pain, I tried my best to just try and breath through out.

Through out the test they did CT scans to make sure the needle was in place and to make sure my lung did not collapse.

They wound up having to go back in a second time, which my doc said is the average for this procedure...to make sure they have enough sample to biopsy.

Afterwards, I continued to have pain everytime I breathed in or out, it was horrible, and I was getting cold sweats and felt like i was going to pass out. I couldn't cry b/c when I tried a little the pain intensified.

After about an hour or 2 in the recovery area along with some tylenol, the pain started to fade away. Then they took another XRay to check again to make sure the lung had not collapsed.
They told me the feeling I had was the same feeling as a collapsed lung and they were concerned, but the x-rays and CT scans showed that everything was okay. I was happy to hear that, and figured I could handle the pain knowing there was nothing seriously wrong to be causing the pain. Just my damn ol' sensitivity.

When I left the hospital, the pain was about a 6 out of 10.

The following day, I was back at work, pain at a 2 out of 10...

I was shocked and amazed at how well the procedure actually went considering all my worry.

I think I have more 'pain' with procedures just because I have Fibromyalgia...

NY Presbyterian has some really good doctors and I DO trust them... it just sucks that they are so far away from me...

I should find out the results of the biopsy Monday.
(They biopsied the infiltrate fluid, they did not take a piece of my lung)...

Labels: health

posted by Typette @ 8:49 PM 0 comments

It's late & I'm still awake.

Monday, January 29, 2007

It's been awhile since I've stayed up past midnight. Usually, Mike and I are asleep by 10pmish..

Maybe since Mike is away for the week, I feel like rebelling? Nahhh..

I caught up on some much needed sleep this weekend, and got to have my dog with me to keep me company. He's such a great companion.

2 more days alone, and then I'm off to Savannah. I checked the weather yesterday and today and so far, it looks like there's going to be some rainy weather most of the days I'll be there.
I'm not going to get bummed out though...there are lots of things I've planned to do that are mostly indoors ;)

Anyway... I'm nervous as hell to find out the results from my latest pulmonary appt that I had on Thursday.

The last test I had done was a bone marrow biopsy in November and those results came back negative.

This past Thursday I had a follow-up CT scan of the chest done. The lymphnodes on my lung haven't changed much but the infiltrate has gotten bigger. I retook the PFT (pulmonary function test) and my results (usually being borderline normal) are now above normal. GOOD NEWS!!!
I also had some blood tests done. I'm not sure what tests exactly were done (i should ask more questions when I'm there)...but I think they are repeats of things that were done in the past, plus some.

My pulmonologist was a little concerned with the infiltrate getting larger, since I had a broncoscopy at the end of last year to flush it out. The results from whatever fluid was taken during that procedure...came back negative as well... Not exactly sure what they were testing for though. I guess just any sort of abnormality.

Anyway... My pulm told me they need to be more aggressive now, b/c there is something wrong, we just don't know what and we need to find out. So that day, I went and got a PET Scan done to see if the infiltrate area is 'active'. It was an interesting procedure. They had these nice little private rooms with leather lazy boy recliners, a flat screen wall mounted tv and a remote... I guess they provide these rooms b/c the prep time for these test is kind of long ... (1-2 hours).

I had to drink this huge waterbottle full of Barium (eck - 'cause it was warm) and then they injected me with a radioactive sugar. The scan itself too about 30 minutes. They did the scan from the hips up.

I finally finished all my testing late that night ... having started at 9am after a 1.5 hr commute there and home.

Anyway - I still have to clean up the place before I leave, and still have to pack.
Babysitting my niece tomorrow night so I wonder where I will find the time.

Peace...

Labels: health, thoughts, trips

posted by Typette @ 12:30 AM 0 comments

some updates

Friday, January 19, 2007

So, we're going to Italy in April. The money for the trip is due in February. Ugh.

I still have to get a passport, since I've never had one before.
I should really get on that, I think haha.

Mike and I are going to Italy with the Italian/American Club. We don't belong to it, but some relatives of him do and when we found out about their trip to Italy, we couldn't pass it up!

I'm excited, I've never been out of the country before. I guess I'm a little nervous because of that too.

It finally snowed, If you can really even call it that. There's a dusting on our cars this morning. I'm surprised seeing as it's still in the 40's.

I decided to start up sax lessons again, and I'm going to try this music school around the corner from my house. My first lesson is on Saturday morning. I wonder if it'll be good. I think they think I'm a beginner, but I've played sax since I was 10 years old...(16 yrs total I guess that would mean), but I haven't performed in about 6 years... AHHH!

Mike starts his voice lessons tonight. He is going to be instructed by a Vocal Teacher from Princeton University. (was one of his Christmas gifts from me).

Finally got a response back from my Pulmonologist's fellow. We've been communicating via email for over a month, which started back when I asked -- what's the next step.

Each email she told me how she either couldn't get in touch with the Doc, or he hasn't been able to respond yet. I didn't think it would be that hard to say... "No next step" or "come in for follow up".

Anyway, I got frustrated and let her know. She responded saying that my Doc wants me to come in for Follow ups and repeat lab tests and CT scans. I wonder if the lymphnodes have changed at all.

Still having nightsweats (less frequently though), having dry cough (could be related to onset of chronic sinusitis), ear infections, sore throat etc...

Seeing an ENT to get allergy tested, hopefully that's all it is.

Got paid today - YAY!... It's a hefty check this week, b/c I forgot to hand in my time sheet for the week of christmas and didn't get that in my last paycheck. AHH

I love Affinity FCU as a bank. It's so much better than Commerce, seeing as Commerce likes to charge ppl for random things.

Gotta leave for work, not looking forward to the snowy car I'm going to have to clean off.

Labels: health, money, music, thoughts

posted by Typette @ 7:41 AM 0 comments

About Me

when i have nothing
better to do, i blog