Going Back To Work...Kind Of...

     Well, after much clawing and gnashing of teeth (mostly done by Dr. She Who Will Not Be Named!), I am somewhat semi returning to work on Friday!  I have been released to return to "light duty", which essentially means I will be stuck in the office reading cases or doing Quality Assurance reading...BUT...I WON'T BE STUCK AT HOME!!!  There truly is a God.  LOL

     As you might imagine, after being sentenced to a home bound status by my symptoms well over a month ago, I've grown a bit "buggy".  So, the idea of returning to a place that has actual people and people I LIKE just thrills me.  And on top of that, my job is really something I enjoy...even though I've not been released to actually DO my job yet!

     "Why?" you might be asking.  Why am I not being allowed to return back to full status?  Well, here's where I have to admit to "all y'all" I might have been a tad bit off on my earlier theory about my dizziness.  It is TRUE, I did feel some fairly immediate relief of the constant dizziness and nausea I had been having once I started the antibiotic.  But, I still have some vertigo (especially looking up or to the right) that makes driving a hazard.  I still think my constant dizziness WAS/IS some sort of infection...but I have to hang my head and admit my VERTIGO (AKA, spinning sensations) may be a symptom of my MS...two completely different factors.

     Then there's also this problem I'm still having with running a low grade fever in the afternoon and evenings...that does NOT seem to be affected by the antibiotic unfortunately.  Lab work I had drawn on Friday of last week looked pretty normal, except for something called an ESR (we used to call it a SED rate...it measures inflammation in the body, but it's not a specific test for anything) which was elevated.  These are concerning factors and I am now scheduled to see an ENT doctor (at the suggestion of my primary care nurse...I don't see a primary care doctor!) to see if there might be some truth to the idea I am having some kind of sinusitis or ear problems along WITH MS.  Because we all know, ya can't blame MS for EVERYTHING!  LOL

     The problem that occurs in the afternoon and evening when I am running a fever also is my gait changes.  I imagine this is simply from the fever affecting my nerves in my left leg, but I get more "stumbly" and forget to pick up my foot...my balance gets worse and I have an increase in left-sided neck and shoulder stiffness/headache...oh, and there's that little thing called "fatigue", too.

     So, as you can see, I'm STILL falling apart but maybe at a slower pace!  LOL  But staying glued with my arse to the couch no longer seems like effective treatment either...AND, it has really messed up my Feng Shui in my living room!

     It feels "right" to give this going back to work thing a try at this point.  After all, I've got to figure out at some point whether or not I can do it, so why NOT now?  And it will do my mind a wealth of good to be around the people I feel most supported by...my good-natured coworkers.

     So, that's the plan as I know it today...I have no idea how Meha (kitten) will react to being home alone again.  I just assume she will resume her plans of taking over the world with national leaders...