What the f**k is “GCA?”

I always had visions of myself as a timeless, ageless woman, who would grow old effortlessly and gracefully.  You know the type; the woman who glides into old age with neither a care nor a worry.

I envisioned my older, confident self as fairly attractive, healthy, and on the enlightened side; a more mature version of my younger, “truer” self.

Almost unnoticeable to the outside world, I would move smoothly through the decades, seemingly untouched by the ravages of time… and then, I’d die.

Easy peasy. No muss, no fuss. Gone. Done. Over.

That was the plan.

I never considered or even begun to prepare for a long and/or arduous ageing process. And for some reason the thought of dealing with any type of debilitating illness was, well… quite frankly, inconceivable! 

Ahhh, but the gods, they do love to interrupt our silly, fanciful, mortal “plans” don’t they?  With a nod of the head, or blink of an eye, our cleverly, crafted schemes are so very easily thwarted.

In the last month, I have seen my perfect “vision” of growing old gracefully (and healthy)  crushed like a tiny, insignificant, bug!  I think I may have actually heard the unnerving “splat,” as the maceration took place!

In an instant the visions of me, as a “goddesslike” creature, slipping away gracefully into the gentle arms of old age and eventually death, were exterminated.

Instead, it appears that I may very well be, perilously, skidding (head first) into that noxious mixture of fire and brimstone, that so many people find “is” their experience of old age and poor health.

Seriously, “WHAT THE F**K?”  …does nobody have any respect for a finely tuned, well thought out plan?

Monday, November 13th started out like any other day… I worked a 7:00 to  3:00 shift (on the Bristol Ward) at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. It was busy and somewhat stressful, but really just a normal day.

I realised, as I took my seat on the bus, that I had a raging headache.

“Hmmm? stress,” I thought.

As the Number 7 bus plugged along Western Road, I became more and more aware of this excruciating pain in my head and an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion.

No matter, the day was done, I was on my way home and relief was in sight… or so I thought.

No sooner had I arrived home, I hit the couch and passed out.  I awoke, about and hour and a half later; in a dark, quiet room, disoriented and still in pain.

I will spare you the boring, twisted details of the events that followed, because really it was just more of the same  (wake up, headache, lay down, fall asleep, wake up, headache, lay down, fall asleep, repeat), but just to be clear, the exhaustion and excruciating daily headaches have now returned each day for exactly 29 days!

There have been 4 trips to the GP;  who has sent me, not once, but twice to A&E, where I sat for more than a total of 15 hours. The first time I was told it was a migraine and given Paracetamol.  The second time, a week later, they took a bit more interest!

The exact diagnoses is still not 100% definitive, but “they”  (the powers that be) are leaning towards a diagnoses of something called Giant Cell Artiritis. (Not to be confused with arthritis, which is a disorder that affects joints.)  

“What the hell is GCA,” I hear you say?

My thoughts exactly.

Giant cell arteritis is defined as an auto-immune condition in which medium and large arteries, usually in the head and neck, become inflamed. (Remember when “inflammation” became a thing?)  It’s sometimes called “temporal arteritis,”  because the arteries around the temples are usually affected, creating the feeling that someone’s put your “head in a vice grip.”

{Ohhhh, what was that?   Oh, just my dreams of growing old gracefully, flying out the freakin window!}

Basically, inflammation of these blood vessels causes the main symptom, headache.  Swelling also causes narrowing of the blood vessels, which, in turn, results in diminished blood flow into the brain, eyes, ears, etc.  Sounds good so far! Count me in!

The ONLY treatment seems to be long term, “high dose” steroids; and unfortunately, if you decide not to treat, you risk almost certain blindness and a possible stroke.

Sooooo, not a lot of choices really.

This disease is not curable, but is treatable; it usually lasts between 2-5 years and the steroids are administered throughout; although they continually try to taper you down, to lower and lower dosages, until you’re eventually off.  That’s the goal anyway.

Do you know anything about steroids?  Not the kind the body builders use to get  pumped and buff,  but the legal and more common, corticosteroids?   I didn’t either, so let’s take a look at some of the more common side effects, shall we….

• confusion
• excitement
• restlessness
• headache
• nausea
• vomiting
• thinning skin
• acne
• trouble sleeping
• weight gain
• Oh… and my personal favorite, excessive growth of body hair!  

What was that about growing old gracefully, you ask?  Ahhhh, yes, “gliding into old age with neither a care nor a worry.”

It would seem, that is not going to be my path.

I have been on 60 mg of Prednisolone a day, for 9 days.  No bearded lady gig offers yet!

The headache has (for the most part) subsided).  The exhaustion and lethargy have not.  I am able to do a few chores around the house, take a shower, eat lunch and that’s pretty much me for the day.

The couch and I seem to have melded together in an indistinguishable mass of purple leather, arms, legs, pillows and blankets.

I will see a Rheumatologist (“Oh my God do I actually have a Rheumatologist now?”) on Tuesday and hopefully she will help me piece together the shards of shit that life seems to be hurling at me.

Sooo, I  shall leave you here, hanging on the edge of your seat…  or, more probably, “NOT.”   Perhaps you too are as bored and disinterested in all of this as I am.

For now… you need to know one thing.  Please know that if I have not returned a phone call, a Facebook Message, or an email;  if I’ve cancelled a planned dinner, lunch or coffee date…  if I have been rude or dismissive of you in any way… please know that it’s not you, it’s me.  I’m not purposely trying to be an jerk,  it’s just that there are circumstances far beyond my control and I must devote all my time and attention ME. 

Watch this space.