Ariel's Two Cents

 On September 5th, I had a Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) to monitor for any lung involvement with my Scleroderma .  I am supposed to have this testing done at least once a year, but I waited over four years to get it done again.  When I got it done last time, back in 2021, the respiratory therapist was absolutely awful to me.  She was rude and disrespectful and did not have any care or concern for my issues.  I dreaded going back to the same office for this test, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a completely different respiratory therapist performing the test this time.   When Nina, the respiratory therapist, came to get us for my test, I started our interchange by advocating for myself, which is exceedingly difficult for me to do, but I persevered, just the same.  I explained to her that I have a lot of anxiety, claustrophobia, mental issues and past medical and sexual trauma.  I further explained that I am not trying to be dif...

 As you know, I have been working on getting all of my yearly Scleroderma tests done and taken care of.  It's not been easy for me to get these done with my extreme medical anxiety.  The most "normal" test will give me days and days of anxiety, even if I know it's going to be a simple and painless procedure.  Poor Michael doesn't know how to calm my anxiety down, so he does nothing at all, which makes it a bit worse.  At least he tries to be there for me.  That's more than some people in my life will do for me. The HRCT scan was scheduled for August 15th.  I had to reschedule it several times over the last month due to my anxiety and scheduling conflicts.  I finally got it done on that date.  It was a day that I had therapy group prior to my scheduled test.  I went to group and hardly said a word the entire time, mainly because my anxiety was through the roof.  I'm good at masking, so most people don't even know to ask me if I'm o...