This morning I completed my “Tour of Ologist Consults” with allergy (seemingly all hope and an diagnosis had been put there) and it wasn’t the grand finale with much aplomb and fireworks I’d expected.
Quick Recap
Endocrinologist: Your serotonin levels aren’t high enough to indicate Carcinoid–and the scan is completely clean.
Gastroenterologist: It’s systemic, don’t spend your money here.
Dermatologist: (consulted with department chair) You need to see allergy, but start out with Allegra and Benadryl. Do you want some cream for rosacea?
Neurologist: There’s nothing neurologically wrong with you…but we can do an MRI.
Gynecologist: No problems here. Would you like to participate in research?
Allergy: (consulted with department chair) It’s not Mast Cell Disease (beginning of the Trail of Tears)…a bone marrow biopsy is the only test you haven’t had to test for that. I’d go with the Allegra and Benadryl suggested by Dermatology. More crying and a snuffled reply, “I can, but the dosage is A LOT lower than I’d been taking.”

Next, I had blood drawn and it was all I could do to not ask the tech what was being tested…there was a tube that was one that I’d never seen before and the tech carefully placed it in a little black box and closed the lid. How can an extremely inquisitive girl not be curious about the vial of blood in a mysterious black box!!!

I have yet another breathing test tomorrow (had one today after the blood draw), the technicians always look at me quizzically because I’m usually the only one in pulmonary testing not toting oxygen. Because I’m around another day I checked to see if my doctor had an opening for a followup: No. I asked how long I should wait to hear something and my nurse coordinator suggested two weeks–more crying ensued.

It hurts when hope is snatched away, so I had to recognize the good:
God is faithful.
My doctor is the department chair, he’s consulting colleagues and ordered more tests for me when I wasn’t at the clinic.
The allergy doctor was super compassionate, grew up in Marshalltown and had gone to Tulip Time.
I had coffee with a long-time friend (her fiancé just got home from over two weeks at Mayo)
“Hope shines bright in the trenches of adversity.” Sarah Young (Jesus Today) I picked this book up at Barnes and Noble moments ago because the intro describes her struggles with being chronically ill since 2001 and eventually coming to the US from Australia to endure 12+ weeks of intensive treatment.

An answer will not be soon…who knows where the blood in the mysterious black box needs to be sent.