A funny thing happened during my 18-mile run this past weekend. Somewhere around mile 8, I suddenly felt a sharp, lower abdominal pain that brought me to a dead halt.
I joked with my daughter that it must have been the Mexican food I had for lunch on Friday, but I was very careful to not have anything particularly spicy. This pain did not feel like gas, though. It was like a vice tightened around my lower abdomen, and every step was excruciatingly painful.
We were a good 3 1/2 miles from our cars, so we forged ahead. However, I was relegated to a snail's pace, trying to make it to our next main stop at least 1 1/2 miles up the trail. Well, so much for the remaining 9 miles.
Once admitted to ER, the attending physician had me hooked up to an IV, blood drawn and ordered a CT. The 3 possible issues she listed were a ruptured ovarian cyst (I said, okay, next), kidney stones (I said, nope, try again) or an abdominal issue (to which I said, I'll go with that one).
Well, the scan showed cysts on my right ovary, lymph nodes and liver; but she didn't think they were serious enough to cause concern; my white blood cell count was down, not unexpected, since I have lupus; and my body was colder than it should have been, odd, since she expected an elevated temperature.
The final diagnosis: mesenteric lymphadenitis, an inflammation of the mesenteric lymph nodes in the abdomen and that mimics appendicitis. Lymph adenitis is caused by a bacterial infection in lymph nodes. She said she sees this more often in teens.
OK, so my lymph node thinks I'm a teenager? Is that a good thing?
Here's what I could find about adenitis:
The Wikipedia definition
Mesenteric lymphadenitis, Mayo Clinic
Treatment (excerpt from MayoClinic.com)
Mild, uncomplicated cases of mesenteric lymphadenitis and those caused by a virus usually go away on their own within a few days or weeks. To help ease discomfort, over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers and fever reducers may help. Your doctor may prescribe antibiotics for a moderate to severe bacterial infection.