The Art of Rheumatology

Dr. Sally is also on vacation and a new doctor is assigned to us who seems reasonably smart. A Dr. Jack! "Based on your MRI I will be referring you to a rheumatologist but we don't have any in this hospital. You have to go out of town to see this doctor, the hospital in the city,"he says in conclusion.

"We will be going there during the winter vacation to see some family so we can go while we're there,"my mum says kindly. I nod. "Going as early as possible is always better especially when you don't know what it is,"he says seriously. My mum nods. When we get to the car and we're all buckled in, set for home, my mum asks, "So what does the test say?"

"It says...I'm not sure, it's hard to see in the dark,"I said seriously. "Ok I guess we'll just have to wait till we get to the doctor,"she said like we couldn't look at it at home. I nodded weirdly.

"I'm honestly worried mum,"I said honestly. "Why? It's nothing serious Raven! Stop worrying over nothing! We're doing this because your creating a scene,"she said seriously with anger clear in her voice. "Wow! So you just act supportive so I can be honest with you about my feelings and then you just slam it right in my face,"I said my anger rising.

She looks at me through the rear-view with anger burning brightly in her eyes. "Listen here young lady, I don't have to be supportive when you're making it all up! Those nurses in the hospital even noticed,"she said with anger showing clear in her expressions. I sigh and look out the window. Maybe I am making it all up! "I've always been a sick child, think about it,"I said my ears a dark shade of red, my eyes murderous and my palms sweaty as they always are but they've been heightened.

"Ugh!"I said in frustration. The next thing I hear a loud bang, I am sitting in the back seat behind my mother's seat. I hear the ambulance, the sirens blaring. People asking if I know my name, it goes dark multiple times. "She's going into cardiac arrest!"I hear someone shout loudly.

I then am taken into darkness again for a longer period of time. "Ma'am, sir, she's up! We will talk about medical things when the doctor comes back,"she said sweetly. "Honey are you ok?"my dad asked in a worried tone. "What happened?"I asked groggily.

"Your mum was in an accident, she's fine. You on the other hand, it's like your body is more fragile or something!"he said like a joke. "So how am I?"I asked curiously. This white room with bright lights becoming overbearing. "You're good! The doc will be in in a minute or so,"he said kindly. "Does mum or you believe me?"I asked just so I could have alittle hope. "Honey we don't want you to be sick, it seems you do,"he said while sighing.

I start crying uncontrollably. Literally knocking the breath out of me, I go into cardiac arrest for a second time, my hearts too weak to handle all this. "Raven!"he screamed as I went again. "She nearly died, we had to bring her back to life,"the doctor says worriedly. I woke up again at those words and everyone looked my way.

"So what now?"my mum said arrogantly with anger clear again. "We have to keep her and do some tests,"he said seriously with a no-question attitude. I sighed, at least I won't be home for a while. "Hello Raven! I've come to tell you that you won't have visitors for the time being since they seem to cause you too much stress, your heart can't handle it,"he said seriously with a big smile attached to his statement. I smiled brightly hoping my parents weren't right behind the doctor looking at my happy expression at their expulsion.

Finally free for alittle while! "Thanks doc!"I said happily. He chuckled loudly. "Ok we need to talk, your heart is having some problems. We need to do an echocardiogram, which will check your heartbeat and we will be able to see your heart too, to make sure everything is ok, and we need to check your aortic root, which the place closest to and attached to the heart. The aortic root consists of the aortic valve and the openings for the coronary arteries he said kindly," I nodded. "Am I going to die?"I asked worried. "No it's probably ok but have you been having any other problems that may relate to your heart,"he asked curiously. "Um...I've been going to the doctor for joint pain to check what's causing it but I've gotten nowhere yet,"I said sadly. He nods and says, "Unrelated I'm sure! So we will do the tests and see shall we."

The nurse came with a wheelchair and I sighed deeply. "You can't do too much till we know what's wrong,"he said kindly. I nod. I slowly get off my bad, a wave of dizziness takes over me, I collapse and wake up a few minutes later in a wheelchair. "Does that happen a lot?"the nurse asked concerned. "Yeah, why?"I said and asked still in a daze. He shook his head rather fast.

We went for the echocardiogram and we checked my aortic root but I've not been told anything. "Hey Raven! Ok! We have a few things we need to talk about it's a lot to discuss,"the cardiologist says seriously. I sigh deeply while I'm sitting in my rather warm and comfortable bed.

"What's wrong?"I said worried, my eyes popping out of their sockets from worry. "Um...you have a mitral valve problem, which controls the blood flow in and out of the heart, but that can easily be fixed with surgery and it usually doesn't affect much,"he said sweetly like it's nothing, "but you also have an aortic root problem which is what caused your heart attack and that means you have to go for surgery immediately!"

Now I was scared, absolutely terrified. "What will happen if I don't go?"I asked with fear clear in my voice. "I'm sorry but if you don't go you may not live another day and at your age that's really sad,"he said sadly. I nod. "Please tell my parents,"I said rather sadly.

I am distraught, I feel like I'm dying even though they're helping me live. I feel like life is pulling me down slowly and I'm drowning. I just started to sob, I feel unhappy and like I just want to die. The doctor said that he will explain it more in detail with pictures etc.

I know I haven't mentioned it a lot but my whole body throbs of pain, joint after joint is hurting. Like after exercise when your pulse be eats in your neck, that's how my throbs of pain rack my whole body. I realize now that it's not all new, some of it has been there since childhood. I've got so many symptoms that I could make a list so that's what I'm going to do.

List of Symptoms

1) Headaches

2) Chest pain

3) Either a low or high heart rate

4)Dizziness

5)Fainting

6) Fatigue

7) Insomnia

8) Muscle and joint pain

9) Shortness of breath

10)Back pain

11) Dislocations

That's all for now that I can think of but some things I've been living with for so long that I wouldn't know whether it is normal or not.