disclaimer:  no doctors were actually hurt during the events described here.

I told the Rheumatologist that I had intermittent but increasingly frequent tingling and numbness in both forearms, and occasionally in my legs.  She sent me for a nerve conduction test, which was scheduled for this morning.  Now, I don't want to scare anyone who may have to have this test at some point:  it is not pleasant, but it is not the worst thing in the world.  We're not talking childbirth pain here, or dental drilling without anesthesia.  You get a bunch of electrodes taped on to your skin, and then a nerve is shocked, and the amount of time it takes to register is recorded; that gives important information.  The test was adminstered by a doctor, not a technician.  If you have to have it done, don't stay up worrying about it.  

I'm lying there on the table, all electroded-up, feeling like I'm in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, determined to get through the whole thing stoically, without yelling or, you know, biting the doctor.  And I am doing just fine and feeling pretty darn good about it - you know, getting ready to re-arrange my Superhero cape - when the doctor suddenly shakes his head and turns off the machine.  This is, you understand, 45 minutes into the test, and I was under the impression that we were nearly done.

"It's no good," he says.  "there's something interfering with the power to the machine and I can't get a steady signal.  We'll have to reschedule."  Yes, reschedule, as in, we're going to have to start over.  As it turns out, the entire building was having some kind of voltage surge problem (not really what I wanted to hear given that I had just been hooked up to electrical current).  At that moment, biting the doctor seemed like it might not be a bad idea after all.

The ONLY good thing about this is that there was an elderly woman scheduled to have the same procedure right after me, and she appeared to be in considerable pain.  (I'm just inconvenienced.)  If one of us had to do the stupid test and then learn it was a waste of time, I'm glad it was me and not that poor woman.

And he told me that there's definitely a problem showing up, even without complete data, so we're on to something here.  But here's the kicker:  I asked what might have caused the problem.  "It could be the RA,", he said, "or a side effect of the RA meds."

So it's the RA, in which case I need more meds or it's the meds, in which case I will need to cut back?  How on earth will that get figured out?

They just called - the electrical problem is fixed, and if I can get there within the hour they can do the test again today.  I would rather get it over with, so I said yes.

I hate this disease.