I wish this was an April Fool's post · 6:08pm Apr 1st, 2014
(UPDATED BELOW)
… but unfortunately, I'm writing this as part of a slow and casual saunter toward the emergency room.
Late last week I developed little microbruises over both my legs. The urgent care clinic ran a battery of blood tests, which all came back negative (supposedly ruling out the scariest of the acute stuff), but today the bruising is spreading, including to my lower arms, along with fatigue and joint pain.
I probably don't have Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which even with modern antibiotics has a 3%-5% mortality rate. (This is the curse of the information age: google will cheerfully tell you plenty of things which match your symptoms regardless of how farfetched and/or terrifying they are.) I expect to survive the month, even if my fears haven't quite caught up with my intellect, and it goes without saying that I hope for a diagnosis free of complications. But right now I'm feeling a little alone and scared and I would appreciate some good wishes to get me through the moment.
My writing may or may not have to go on indefinite hold. It's certainly going on brief hiatus. With all the health issues swirling around, I haven't gotten a new word out in over a week, but right now ponyfic is my biggest island of stability in an increasingly fucked-up life, so I'm not going to leave unless they drag me away kicking and screaming. Or pry my cold, dead fingers off.
I'm sorry for the downer, and I hope all of you are having a much better day. The few pranks I've seen have been delightful, though pointers to others would be awesome so I can catch up on my reading later on.
Best,
Bax
=======
4/2 UPDATE: The doctor says, and I agree, that it appears to be some sort of autoimmune response rather than an infection; so while it's important to figure out long-term where it's coming from, I'm not in immediate danger. Tests bear this out. More details. They put me on a steroid (immunosuppressant) for short-term management and I have some follow-up appointments to dig in a little deeper. Thank you again for all the good wishes.
Damn those pixies!
Damn those pixies all to hell!!
Good luck with everything, and I hope you pull through whatever this is.
Your words are always an inspiration, and you generally come across as an amazing human being. Anyways, I'll be thinking of you. Best wishes.
Ha! Oh man, human suffering is absolutely classic as a source of comedy. A bit dry for an April... fools...
...oh.
Seriously, though, feel better. Yes, googling vague symptoms and looking what what they can be signs of is an excellent way to add 'panic attacks' to the list. Hope it turns out not to be anything too serious.
Well, that sucks...
Here's hoping it turns out to be something boring and easily fixable. Here's hoping that a lot. Please take all the good thoughts I can give you.
(Also, you can probably figure out who this is if you haven't yet)
If you die, I call dibs of the unfinished manuscripts of My Harshwhinnial and Hard Reset 2! I will store them in a chest for decades and then "re-discover" them to the wonderment of geriatric bronies who thought themselves robbed of closure by your untimely demise.
jkjkjk
Seriously, I hope everything turns out alright. I know how health issues can be a huge weight on an already messed up living situation, let alone the toll it can take on one's writing schedule. Hopefully it is something innocuous and benign(if annoying) and you will be the perfect specimen of youthful exuberance in no time at all!
tl;dr: Get better, but should you fail that, send me your stuff.
Ouch. Certainly hope it turns out not to be anything too serious. Keep us updated...
--arcum42
That's not good!
Be well, dude.
Shit. Good luck.
If you need anything that we can help with from elsewhere on the Internet, be sure to let us know.
Get better soon!
*hugs*
fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/201/8/c/sweetie_belle_nya_by_pupster0071-d6ebukx.png
--Sweetie Belle
Damn, man. Good luck.
I hope you set your loop point appropriately.
<hug>
I hope you get well. We'll be here when you need us. Or, lestways, I will be.
Take care,
Ghost
I hope for a lack of permanent injury.
Gosh darn, why do bad things happen to the most awesome people? I hope you get better soon!
Oh my...
I wish you well! Try not to worry!
Luck on figuring it out and make sure to let us all know how we can help even if it's just sending sending encouraging words.
Fuck I hope you're gonna be ok man, this world desperately needs you to be in it. *hugs tight* hang in there yo!
Be well. I'll be praying for you.
I truly hope you get well soon.
I think I speak for everyone here when I say, I hope it's nothing serious and you get better soon.
ponybot.net/pix/9082.jpg
I'm sorry to hear that you're sick, but I'm confident that you'll be okay. You'll be in my thoughts.
Not sure if there's anything more material I can do for you other than just sending positive thoughts your way, but if you think of anything, let me know.
Jeebus, I wish this was a joke too! :(
Get better soon! *sends more positive thoughts*
1973774
I'm in the ER as I type this into my phone, waiting for test results. This whole thread has been exactly what I needed but it was the "collective internet hug" that made me lose it. I'm actually crying. Thank you. I needed that. And thank you to the rest of you as well.
Words currently inadequate.
No clotting in my leg veins, at least. The ultrasound turned up clear. And literally right now the doc showed up to say the basic blood tests are ok; no elevated white cells or low platelets or anything. He's leaning toward this being the aftermath of a viral infection & thinks it will clear up with some steroids. Some name like verticulitis was tossed around, will have to get spelling and look it up.
Get better!
Get well soon!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasculitis
Be stubborn. Get well.
Honestly, for the 3%-5% mortality rate, these are weakened and/or very young or old patients.
There's hardly anything to worry about if you're a healthy individual between 20 and 50. And that is if you *did* have RMSF, which you don't.
Best of luck! I hope everything works out for you.
1973964
This sounds like good things. Best wishes.
1973964
No problem, you said you were feeling down and I can't really think of anything that would get my spirits up quite the same way as a collective internet hug.
That's terrible news, but it's good to know you're getting looked at. I sincerely hope you feel better soon and they know what this is, and that it's easily treatable. Your writing will be here when you get back; your health is more important.
I hope you feel better.
Make sure to have some Vitamin C, but not to much. If your busing it could be a result, though they would probably already have tested that, so in this case I just want you strong so you can get better.
The common things on that wikipedia list of causes are Bartonella, CMV, and Rocky mountain spotted fever.
Look into their treatments. I think Bartonella treatment is similar to Lyme:
If your docs don't come up with a diagnosis within the week, start dosing yourself with doxycycline and/or cipro or azithromycin. Doctors will act as if this is a big deal and you shouldn't take antibiotics unless you have a definite diagnosis. In the case of something like Lyme, where you have a couple of weeks to catch it with a few pills, after which it becomes a lifelong incurable condition, that's bullshit. DO NOT TRUST DOCTORS. EVER. Listen to them, but also do your own research. Western blot and ELISA tests are not as accurate as doctors pretend they are.
If it's a tick-borne disease, odds are good that you got undetectable co-infections anyway. Me, I'd immediately order some doxycycline from Mexico and take 100mg/day for 2 weeks as soon as it arrived. Have you been in the woods lately? Are you on the west cost?
*joins the warm Internet hug pile*
Hope it's nothing nasty, and that you're in tip-top shape in no time!
1973964 You'd better get well quickly, BABScon is only a couple weeks away, and I expect to see you there!
Seriously though, I know this must be a nerve-wracking time. Hopefully it continues to be the "minor thing" it's starting to sound like, but my thoughts and best wishes to you regardless. Keep us apprised?
I can relate to medical issues appearing out of nowhere. Remember, a positive attitude can really help to see you through things like this.
Hang in there, man. We're all pulling for you.
That doesn't sound fun at all, hope things clear up soon!
I wish you well, my friend. May you heal swiftly.
Whoa, mysterious idiopathic illness, that sounds really annoying and stressful.
I hope your doc asks around and someone has a bright idea to track it down. Failing that, I hope it vanishes in a few days as quietly as it appeared. Above all, take care of yourself first right now and be well. The world would be that much more boring and less colorful without you happily spinning stories. 
Belated message of support and virtual hugs. Sorry I've been offline since very early this morning for travel reasons. Wish I'd have been more timely.
Hang in there! Hope this all clears up soon so you can get right back to them words!
Hope you get better soon.
1975141
I've spent most of the night on medical research after hearing the preliminary diagnosis, going over the symptoms myself. I definitely appreciate the backup, but for the moment I'm going to tentatively agree with the doc.
Normally I'm something of an outdoorsman but I've been a complete shut-in this winter. One thing I didn't mention is that I did first get some strikingly similar (but less severe) leg spots about two weeks ago, which at the time I wrote off as a combination of tight clothing and heat rash from sitting too close to the space heater. That strongly suggests a systemic rather than acute infectious cause, though this might be a relapse of whatever originally happened.
I made certain to get a copy of my labs over the weekend (I'm trying to get one from the ER visit as well); one of the first things they did in both cases was to run a CBC. Twice in a row now, ~24h after Friday's spots appearing and ~24h after Monday's, the bloodwork has shown insanely normal levels of white blood cells, lymphocytes, etc (along with everything else — platelets are neither high nor low, red blood cells normal, and chemical levels normal too). This all but rules out acute bacterial infection, since my body would be trying to fight it off if so. It's also a contraindication for acute viral infection. The ER took a second sample for a blood culture, which would be more definitive, but it will take 72 hours for those results.
What they're proposing is hypersensitivity vasculitis (which seems eminently reasonable based on matching symptoms, and the lack of fever/diarrhea/etc), perhaps as a recuperative effect of the body cleaning up in the aftermath of a viral infection (I'm less certain of this, but I did catch the flu earlier this season and had cold-like symptoms last week right before this started). I've scheduled a followup appointment with a dermatologist who should be able to drill down into it a little more specifically, and plan to continue exploring whether there's any internal contributing causes.
In the meantime they have me on a short-duration run of prednisone, since this appears to be an autoimmune response and an immunosuppressant would help curb that. You'd better believe I'm watching myself like a hawk to see if that triggers any worsening of conditions. I'm also photodocumenting the petechia extent and have traced outlines on my skin of the areas of larger bruising so I'll know if they grow. I'm not done with this by any means but I feel like I'm making forward progress.
Well, I'm glad I checked back! Sounds like they have a pretty good handle on what this is, and now it's just down to treatment. Great news!
I really hope this gets better soon.
Good luck, Horizon! I hope it does end up being a minor issue in the long run. In any case, thank for keeping us informed as you learn more.
When you said you were lagging behind on the drastic life-altering changes, I suppose I should've seen something like this coming. Well played, sir; you win this round. But seriously, I'm glad you're not dead.