The weather has been cold compared to what we have experienced livening Saudi Arabia. The morning temperature was 8 degrees C (48 degrees F) with the high of 21 degrees C (70 degrees F). It is cold enough for a heavy jacket outside and a light jacket inside.
I started back on my low calories diet (750/day) about two weeks ago. Gordy and I did some exercise and in two weeks I went from 204 pounds (92.5 kg) to 198.4 pounds (90 kg). In looking at what my goal should be, the ideal weight would be a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 25 which for my height, my weight should 175 pounds. My new goal is to lose 23.6 more pounds and go from a 38 waist to a 34 waist. I am hoping when I am home to be at this weight so I can try on some of my cloths and see if they still fit.
A few weeks ago someone commented about my cheeks looking red. I had notice some redness and flaking of skin around my nose and on my cheeks. I went to the dermatologist who did a series of blood tests. Those results were on the border of being normal. I skin biopsy was the next test to determine what was causing what is called a butterfly rash (malar rash–flattened areas of red skin on the face that resemble a sunburn). With the results of the blood tests and the biopsy, I have a form of Lupus called, acute cutaneous lupus erythematous (ACLE).
Cutaneous lupus accounts for about 10% of all lupus cases. The Lupus Foundation of America estimates that 1.5 million Americans, and at least five million people worldwide, have a form of lupus.
Besides the rash I do not have the other symptoms such as: Photo sensitivity, dry eyes, severe fatigue. What I do have is pain at night in the legs and arms. I have had this pain since 2007 and it was diagnosed as Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) which I have been taking medicine. Sometime Lupus is caused by long time use of some medications and maybe the medicine I am taking might has caused the Lupus. The medication has not been a cause for other people but maybe I am the first. I am trying to get off this medication and maybe the Lupus will go away.
I have been seeing several doctors here in Bahrain. I was hoping that one will look at all of my symptoms, make a determination what I might have and then provide a treatment. I had pain in the ankles and went to a sports medicine doctor. He noticed I had edema around the ankles and sent me to the heart doctor who notices my blood pressure was over 240. I also mentioned I had headaches. His conclusion was hypertension and I was put on a pill to bring down my blood pressure. After his diagnosis I still had pain in the ankles. Now I am thinking the pain in the ankles, the headaches, the weight gain and the edema all were related to Lupus and not the high blood pressure.
This diagnosis was when I was at my heaviest of 240 pounds. I have lost 40 pounds, my blood pressure is 120 to 130 ranges and my medication has been reduced. I still had the edema and my still my legs hurt but I was on medicine to control my blood pressure.
Concurrently with my blood pressure issue, I was having urinary tract infections and finally went to the doctor. He said I had a bacterial infection that did not respond to oral antibiotics. He said I need injections twice a day for seven days to get rid of the infection. I drove to the emergency room before work and after work to receive the injections. While the injections were a pain in the x@#, it did cure what I had.
Once the infection was gone, he said I needed an
operation to remove some of the scar tissue that had occurred because of the
infection. Last week (3 December 2017) I
went in for outpatient surgery but due to my age, it was required that I spend
a night in the hospital. The operation
went without incident. I did develop a
fever and due to a new infection, I had to spend three more night in the
hospital in order to receive antibiotics by IV.
Gordy accompanied me to the hospital and remained by my side until I was
discharge. She slept on the couch.
Gordy and I have a thing going for the Bahrain
Specialist Hospital, every Saturday we will go to the hospital and see a doctor
or the dentist. On some Saturday one of
us would have at least one appointment sometimes two appointments. After our appointments we will meet in the
coffee shop for a cup of cappuccino, or hot coca, and maybe something sweet for
Gordy to keep your going.
After our weekly
doctor’s visit, Gordy and I will go out to the local market, souk, mall or
other location as we like to explore Bahrain. The problem we have found that we
find something we like in a store and would like to buy again but cannot recall
which store it was first purchased. One
mall was so busy on Friday and Saturday that we decided to divert to a new mall
that we had not previously visited. The
mall name is the Avenues Mall and it had a very good Chinese Restaurant (PF Chang's). This mall is
part of a change of Avenues Malls back in the US.
