Gout....

After 6 days of pain, and watching my ankle swell to the size of a small beach ball, I went to the doctor today.  For those of you who don't know, I have gout.  Gout is a concentration of uric acid that forms crystals on your joints that are like shards of glass.  You think I am making that up, but I swear to you that is how the doctor described it to me when I was first diagnosed two years ago.

It is painful.

For those of you who have read previously blogs of mine, let me put it into perspective:  even my dad would be in pain if he had gout.

Gout is a hereditary disease.  No one else in my family has ever had it.  Crohn's is a hereditary disease.  No one else in my family has ever had it.  Mom, Dad....do you need to tell me something?

The short version of my visit to the doctor is this;  After looking at my foot and ankle, the doctor exclaims...that looks like it hurts.  I am not sure if it was his Harvard education, or the fact that I was sweating profusely, had an ankle that was swollen to the size of Mount Rushmore, or if it was the little whimpering noises I was uncontrollably making that helped him form this conclusion...but I was impressed.  

Regardless, he gave me oodles of drugs including starting with prednizone to act as an anti inflammatory, something that starts with a C and sounds like and Italian mob boss Cicatone or something like that that sucks the uric acid out of a body and most importantly, vicotin for the pain.  Because I literally have slept 6 hours in the past three days without pain medicine...I quickly asked him to become my family doctor of record.

I went to the doctor because I have watched my wife take care of my kids for the last 5 days without my help.  I literally could not stand, I did nothing to help get them fed, get them in bed, get them dressed, well...anything.  My wife took care of it, and not once did she bitch about it.  I know she wasn't happy about it....but if I  were a single parent to a one and three year old while my other half was sitting on the couch I would have complained.

So, I had to get in to try and get this fixed.

Happy to say that after taking 7 of the ten pills prescribed to take, I am on the upswing.  I even bathed the kids tonight.  

For so many reasons, I am most likely not going to win father of the year this year.. but I still think my wife might have a shot in her category.

Because they still smile and give me hugs even when I can't walk.....I love my girls.