So remember last week when I mentioned I had a couple of big appointments to go regarding my IIH?
Well they’re done and dusted and I have three things to tell you.
First Thing: Food Nazi Appointments Are Right Up There With Timeshare Seminars and Those Annoying Phone Calls From People Trying To Sell You Something.
So no offence to any timeshare lovers or call centre peeps out there, but if I want that sort of information, I’ll happily go and seek it out myself, you know?
It’s the same with food. I’m only seeing the Food Nazi because the Endocrinologist is making me. It’s honestly the most boring 30 minutes of my life and if I could be bothered I would totally hit the books and become a food nazi myself just so I could teach other food nazi’s how to not be so bloody boring!
Last week TFN talked at me for a solid 15 minutes about the joys of Twinings Tea and how I really should give up my one cup of coffee a day in favour of a soothing cup of Twinings. She crapped on about how there are all sorts of flavours (“Pomegranate, for example”) when all I really wanted to know was a) is there a vodka flavoured tea? and b) when will this nightmare end?
Long story short, if you are reading this and you happen to be a food nazi, please don’t be a boring one. Eating 1,000 calories a day is boring enough as it is. We don’t need boring lectures about fruit based tea thrown into the mix as well!
#nottwinings
Second Thing: Botox At Your Eye Appointment Is Totally A Thing!
If you follow along over on the blog’s Facebook page, you’ve probably already heard this story, but when I was at my Ophthalmologist appointment the lovely receptionist stood up from behind her 1987 inspired counter (it’s peach, there’s not a computer in sight and they’ve JUST got an EFTPOS machine…it’s VERY exciting!) and said, “Excuse me Kirsten but are you having botox today?”
I replied with, “Um, no. I’m just getting my eyes checked, but if the doc would like to jab some in my forehead, I wouldn’t say no!”
And with that, the receptionist laughed and sat back down.
This left me a little confused, because a) I had no idea Botox was an optional extra when getting your vision tested and b) did this mean I would be getting a new forehead?!
#endlessreadingoptions
Third Thing: WE HAVE GOOD NEWS! I REPEAT, WE HAVE GOOD NEWS!!
While I didn’t come home with a new forehead, I did come home with best news I’ve had in months.
After giving my eyes and optic nerves a thorough going over, the doc told me that my right eye is now normal (HOORAY!) and that while my left eye is still a bit dodgy (optic nerve still has some swelling), the weight I’ve lost has done the trick.
This means the pressure/excess fluid inside my head has reduced, the optic nerves are settling and I can start to come off the Diamox!
Honestly, you could not wipe the grin off my face when old mate told me that news. He then went onto say that he wished every patient was as good as me at losing the weight, which shocked me a bit.
I replied with, “Well there’s nothing like being told you could lose vision in your left eye to make you stop eating cake!” to which he laughed before saying, “You’d be surprised how many patients I have who don’t stop eating the bloody cake!”
I then told him I haven’t stopped with the weight loss and want to lose a bit more. He raised his fairly hairy eyebrows at me before saying, “Medically speaking, you’ve lost enough to solve the optic nerve issues, but you should know that if you put any weight on, this IIH thing will return and you’ll be straight back on the Diamox, so keep that in mind.” Right, so there’s no pressure to maintain things then. Got it.
#nopressure
It’s going to take a good 6 months to get off the dreaded Diamox completely and that painful bout of unrelated Epiploic Appendigitis is still lingering, so I’ve got a long road ahead of me, but by my birthday next year (March), I should be almost cured and off almost all of the medication I’m currently taking! HOORAY!!
Finally, thank you to each and everyone of you who has left comments here, on the Facebook page or Instagram feed and/or emailed me whenever I’ve mentioned my health issues in recent months. Your kind words of support and encouragement have been amazing and I’ve read every single one of them (and tried to replied to them all…forgive me if I’ve missed replying to someone!) It’s such an awesome community we’ve got going on here and you are fabulous x
But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. Have you got some good news to share?
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