The human body is complex and doesn't give up its secrets easily.
For quite a few months, I've had an elevated CK level along with muscle pain that doesn't correlate to overuse or apparent injury. The CK level (creatine kinase) is the measure of an enzyme that shows up when there's been muscle damage. Normal readings top out at 200 or so. Mine has been been in the 700-800 range. We've ruled out the more common causes, such statins.
Last week, I met with a neurologist who prescribed a number of blood tests (five vials worth) as well as arranging for a surgical consult. This afternoon, I'll have a muscle biopsy. The muscle tissue may reveal more of what's going on than the doctors can find out by triangulating through lab tests. In a couple of weeks, I'll meet with the neurologist again to review the results.
Armed with a copy of my blood test results from last week and an hour or so with Google, I have a couple of ideas of what might be afoot. Nothing really bad jumped out. It'll be interesting to see how a Google-powered amateur compares to a professional.1
1My doctor's diploma from Harvard is English. She graduated in 1995. My diploma, from a nu, is in Latin. When I was sitting with a group of friends after our graduation, we discovered that none of could read our diplomas. Finally, the father of one of the other graduates, a classics professor, translated it for us. I wonder if colleges are still using Latin on their diplomas.
For quite a few months, I've had an elevated CK level along with muscle pain that doesn't correlate to overuse or apparent injury. The CK level (creatine kinase) is the measure of an enzyme that shows up when there's been muscle damage. Normal readings top out at 200 or so. Mine has been been in the 700-800 range. We've ruled out the more common causes, such statins.
Last week, I met with a neurologist who prescribed a number of blood tests (five vials worth) as well as arranging for a surgical consult. This afternoon, I'll have a muscle biopsy. The muscle tissue may reveal more of what's going on than the doctors can find out by triangulating through lab tests. In a couple of weeks, I'll meet with the neurologist again to review the results.
Armed with a copy of my blood test results from last week and an hour or so with Google, I have a couple of ideas of what might be afoot. Nothing really bad jumped out. It'll be interesting to see how a Google-powered amateur compares to a professional.1
1My doctor's diploma from Harvard is English. She graduated in 1995. My diploma, from a nu, is in Latin. When I was sitting with a group of friends after our graduation, we discovered that none of could read our diplomas. Finally, the father of one of the other graduates, a classics professor, translated it for us. I wonder if colleges are still using Latin on their diplomas.
2 comments:
I can testify to the fact that some colleges (read: Mount Holyoke) do indeed still use Latin on their diplomas. We translated ours in one of my Latin classes. My Latin professor was the one who got to "translate" the English words into Latin in the first place, so when we translated back, he was forced to admit to all of the things he'd made up. Many of the phrases the college wants on the diploma do not translate grammatically or aesthetically well into Latin.
Yes, my diploma from the late 80s is in Latin. An almost graduate of the Classics department translated for the assembled class at a commencement rehearsal. The most amusing part of the scene was the rumor that started swirling through the crowd that the diploma had a misspelling. Sure enough, the college name had an extra "I". We never would have known if we had not been able to compare the headings on the diploma to the same word carved into our college rings.
The misspelling wasn't noticed by administration until too close to ceremonies so it would have been impossible to get timely replacements. The class continues to have diplomas with a misspelling. From Wellesley.
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