Mysterious symptoms

We’ve been trying to figure out the source of some mysterious symptoms that have dogged Susan for the past ten days or so. Her most persistent troubles are swollen and painful lower legs with pinkish skin that’s warm to the touch, along with the increased confusion that’s been a faithful sign something’s wrong. Her legs and feet were sore enough ten days ago to make walking painful. She also had some nausea and vomiting, rapid heart rate and slightly higher blood pressure, and no fever.
 

We saw her doctor last Monday, who ordered labs, a chest x-ray, prescribed antibiotics for suspected infection, and scheduled a follow-up for today. The x-ray ruled out pneumonia; blood work revealed a slightly low red count (anemia); and labs came back on Friday to reveal another urinary tract infection.
 

If she had an infection other than a mild UTI, we’d expect a fever. If she had kidney failure, we’d see it in her blood work. If she had congestive heart failure, we ought to see shortness of breath made worse when lying down (she’ll have an EKG next week to rule it out). Swollen legs and feet can accompany the steroid taper we’ve been trying, but her lower dose was too small a difference to cause such a withdrawal reaction. We haven’t ruled out blood clots; but she’s been too mobile for this to be likely.
 

Thankfully Susan’s nausea, heart rate and BP have normalized; and she’s feeling better in general – but leg swelling and confusion remain symptoms without a theme. We saw her GP again today, had a scheduled follow-up with one of her urologists at UCLA, and did another set of labs. With the new lab work, we’ll see her infectious disease specialist at UCLA on Wednesday and hope to know more about what’s going on. Meanwhile, we’re glad she’s improved and not worsened, and are always thankful to God for his love, grace, and presence with us.