Bad news following good

My lab results came back - everything looks good except my potassium is low. I have to eat bananas, spinach and fish. That's not so bad. My white cell count is a hefty 2.1 and although my liver enzymes are elevated - apparently my doctor is not going to be on my back about that. Yay!
Bad news - just got back from the eye doctor where I was told I have "a slight, slight cataract." Great. I always knew I'd get one earlier than normal, but not this early. That sucks. There's nothing to do for it right now, although if it grows, I may need to get it taken out. I think the only thing I can do to prevent it from getting worse is to keep my sarcoid in check so I don't have more flare-ups. The only time I've been successful in doing that is when I wasn't working. I am now going to go part-time. It's very odd. I've been working my butt off for so long getting through school and working, and now I'm scaling down just so I DON'T get sick. I feel like such a baby, but I'm trying to remember that taking care of myself is no less important than if I went part time to take care of a kid. Right?

Liver

Went to the doctor - just for a check-up. Overall, I seem to be pretty healthy. She took blood to check my white cell count and liver enzymes. My liver has always had elevated enzyme levels, and I've been going back and forth with my doctor about this. At one point I had to see a specialist, but he didn't see a problem, so that got her off my back for a while. Lately she's been starting up again and I just haven't had the energy to deal with it on top of everything else. But, since I would like to have kids in the next 5 years, I agreed to follow up if they come back elevated again. Hopefully they won't, and this whole issue will be moot. I'm curious to know what my cell count will be. I haven't had it tested in a while. The "normal" level is 4000 to 10800 cells per microliter of blood. Even on a good day, mine don't get over 3000. As long as it doesn't dip below 1000 - I'm good.

Clearing up

I think things are clearing up. I have a few more eye dr. appointments, but I can already tell the difference. I started a new yoga class today that I think will help with stress and stretching and just keeping me relaxed. The irony is that I'm still training for a 10K, but I have no problems kicking that to the curb if my health turns sour.

retina specialist

I saw her today. She was very nice (as usual) and her accent didn't disappoint. I never noticed that she had a hearing aid - which is neither here nor there except that she seems too young for that. It kept beeping or something through the exam. So, they dilated my eyes and then shined a bright light through a lens into my eye. Ouch. The good news is that I seem to be responding to the drops (which I have to continue (unfortunately) so there's no need to get an injection of steroids. Did you catch that? Injection in my eye. Double ouch. She said the injection increases eye pressure and puts you at risk for cataracts. Great. Can't wait for the day when I do need that. I'm starting to seriously consider going part-time at work. A couple of years ago I took a year off and had no health problems. I know I run myself into the ground, and I think it's time to force myself to cut back somehow, somewhere.

The eye(s) have it

Sure enough, flare up of sarcoid. The "funny" thing is that it's only in one eye. I think it's not too bad, but it's deep - which hasn't been the case for a while. I'm on prednisone eye drops - 6-8x a day. This is annoying, b/c it makes my face break out and I get a little sore in my nose from it. BUT - much better than taking steroids orally long term. Hopefully it'll do the trick. I think it has helped because I don't see as many floaters in my eye. They look like tiny black dots that move when your eye moves.
Because it's deep, my eye doctor wants me to see the retina specialist this week to make sure nothing else is going on. That's fine with me, even though those exams can be painful. She presses on your eye and at times you feel like she's going to pop it out of your head. Over the past few years, I've REALLY come to value my eyesight, so I'll do whatever it takes to keep them as healthy as possible. Keep your fingers crossed.