Cleveland isn't intimidating AT ALL

Back from the Cleveland Clinic and my visit didn't go too badly at all. It was surprisingly easy to find and navigate. There is a lovely shopping plaza on Cedar as you're coming into the city called Legacy Village - WOW. We (my husband and I) stopped to eat at the Cheesecake Factory before my appointment. That really helped to settle my nerves a bit but proved to be a detriment later.

My appointment was at 1pm and we got to the correct building/floor at 12:30. Surprisingly, we were taken right back to the exam room. After vitals and cursory questions were asked the nurse left and my DH and I were just sitting there looking at each other. Thank goodness the doctor came in soon. He was super thorough and very efficient. I was really very pleased with the visit. He did say that the tests that were run by my local hospital/lab corporation were done in a way that "bothers" him. He said that they used a method he's not familiar with to run my Anti Double Strand DNA test - he was being polite and trying to not say it was antiquated. My ANA test was also defined as Low and he didn't like that either so he decided to re-run all of the blood tests and expand on a bunch more.

The funny thing was, he also ordered a CAT scan. Now, those who know me, don't make jokes lol. I've always said there was something wrong in my head so you don't have to. He just wants to make sure my headaches aren't being caused by something else. To be honest, I think he was kind of doubting the results - that he thought I didn't really have Lupus after all. I asked him what could cause the muscle pain if it wasn't Lupus and he said there isn't any other good reason for it. I was joking about making him place a bet and he wouldn't take me up on it.

Lupus is one of those issues where it is hard to pinpoint. The symptoms can be annoying, hide behind other problems and mislead. The ANA test is the first step to diagnosing. My level was read as 1:40 - anything under 1:80 is considered a negative test. Generally when someone has Lupus their numbers are in the 1:720 or 1:360 range. However, my mother also has this disorder so they ran the Anti DS DNA test which is more exact. The DNA test is way more exact on picking out Lupus. The ANA can bounce around and it can also change depending on what lab is used. Very annoying. I was told there is a 50% chance of the ANA having a false negative or false positive - GREAT. However there is less then a 10% chance of the DNA test being a false positive. So, until he gets my results back in 2 weeks I'm in another holding pattern.

I go for my CAT scan next Monday. That's the part I alluded to earlier. If I had known that I was going to have a CAT scan I wouldn't have ate lunch at 11:3oam. You can't eat for 4 hours before the scan. I could have had it done yesterday if I'd know that and had been better prepared. Good thing is, I don't have to drive 2 hours back to Cleveland. I can take it in Niles which is more like 1 hour away.

So, overall not a bad experience. I don't like having to go back in 2 weeks to go over my results again but you'll have that. I'd rather be sure about what we're dealing with.