Keep On Keeping On

After a battery of tests to see what is causing the heaviness in my chest we all agree that it is not heart or lung related issues. Therefore, my physicians feel that it must be a crisis located in my sternum. I found it hard to believe since this discomfort did not present itself as pain. Typically, my crisis does not last more than several days, yet this discomfort has lasted about 7 days although pain meds seem to help aleviate the heavy chested feeling.

Further analysis of my bloodwork did not indicate that I was too dry which throws me into crisis nor point out that I may be in Congestive Heart Failure. Everything so far is turning out normal. So WTF is going on?

One of the essential requirements for extending our life span is to have a team of Doc's who communicate not only with each other but also with the patient. Sometimes they may not know what is wrong with us. Our disease is so unpredictable that we must not let the unknown get the best of us. Believe me I've been tried. We must at some point have confidence in our team to come up with the right diagnosis and strategy. A good team of doc's will go a long way towards coping with the unknown.

With the rising cost of health care we must advocate not only for change but also being treated with the dignity and respect required for all illnesses. SCD is so misunderstood (to be discussed at a later time) it is my hope that blogs, websites, chats and other mediums can be used to get our stories out so that people can better understand our disease.

Oh, by the way here is a link to an article on the health care cost for those with SCD, http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5623EL20090703