So where we left off--Thanksgiving was a hit, always is, and in the end I'm glad I do it. The end of the old and beginning of the new year brought with it a phenomenal trip to Asia, and despite gastroenteritis and being stoned on scopalomine, and having my joints GROUND AWAY by all the walking and stairs, it was an amazing, amazing trip.
I got back in the office on January 11th, and I decided to try and find my pink unicorn I have been looking for, forever: a DO (doctor of osteopathy) who is an internist (vs one who is in sports medicine). And my glorious pink unicorn is three blocks from my office, and she takes my insurance. I set up an appointment for the following week to establish myself as a new patient.
The first visit went well, and I arrived well prepared to have an actual discussion on things I wish to accomplish this year: get an ortho consult to see if I can start the process to replace my knees, get a gastro consult to see if we can find out the cause of the RLQ pain I have endured 5 out of the 7 years since my bypass, and the last issue is whether or not I need to get a new endocrinologist, or can she monitor my bloods and send me out for thyroid ultrasounds, to monitor my nodules in my neck.
The first visit, she knocked everything out of the park on one go. I got my referrals for the ortho and gastro, and she said she could handle monitoring my nodules. And before we concluded the visit she asked if there was anything else I needed. I said how I thought I saw on their site that they had an acupuncturist in their office, and she responded in the affirmative, and I promptly scheduled my first acupuncture visit for the following week.
The next week came the ortho consultation. And right now, they are not in a rush to get my knees replaced, and there was mention that if I DID get my knees replaced, perhaps a partial (where they replace the knee cap) would be better for my situation. My physical therapist suggests no, due to my pain being all on the outside of the knees. Follow up on 2/28 w/the NP at the ortho's office for a Rx for more PT, and give it one more month until another discussion and assessment.
Along the way, the Maharajah started to get anxious about this mole on his shoulder, and said how he said it felt like it has "changed," which immediately gets me anxious, and we scheduled time for him to get in to see the doctor--I thought she'd give him a referral to a dermatologist--but no! She was able to figure everything out for him in one go. She assured him the mole was a keratosis, nothing to worry about. She had him provide a stool sample because he was having problems with his gut since our trip, and while he was there, she gave him a flu shot. Yet another HOME RUN my "Pink Unicorn" knocked right out of the park, again!
Last week was the gastro consultation. And I knew I was in the right place, as he made very quick work with figuring out what my pain is, as neither my bariatric surgeon, nor my former PCP (who is a gastroenterologist!) were able to figure this out, especially given when they do their examinations, they NEVER ONCE removed my surgical gown to see that the very site of my pain (and it's deep in the meat/fascia) is directly beneath a puncture/incision site for my bypass.
Turns out whatever pain I have been experiencing is not something wrong with my cecum or appendix, but is NEUROLOGICAL pain, as the nerve that is right there must have been nicked during the surgery. The pain comes and goes and isn't a persistent-every-moment-of-every-day type of pain, and yep, YOU GUESSED IT, there is nothing they can do for it. But at least I know it's nothing more serious than a damaged nerve. That aside, we have scheduled an appointment for a colonoscopy (FINALLY!) to take place in about two weeks.
The only little red flag that has popped up so far is, I scheduled a day off to accommodate what should have been my annual check up (fasting included) as well as the gastro consult--and Pink Unicorn had to reschedule. The rescheduled appt is this week sometime, so let's see if she is able to keep that appointment, or if I'm going to have to rethink things. As it stands, it's pretty inconvenient to go to the Pink Unicorn, as the office does not have evening or Saturday hours, and I have to schedule time from the office to BE THERE.
To have appointments rescheduled can really mess me up--and given that the appointment I originally had was a 9 a.m., with the gastro guy being at 2, Pink Unicorn pretty much blew a hole through my morning. So, only time will tell if it was a "one off" type of thing (that happens to everyone, from time to time), or if it will be a thing that defines her character. Hurry up and wait.
And not to be outdone, I've been pretty pleased with the MD who does the acupuncture. I've seen her 2x thus far (with a third time to be on the same day my annual physical takes place with the Pink Unicorn), and I find it hasn't helped much overall, but it has helped the bursitis in my right hip a smidge.
My medical insurance will cover acupuncture for up to 12 visits, so I'll ride this out until the end of March, by which point in time, it should be about 5-6 visits into this relationship. During the first visit, while I am prone on the table with needles sticking out of me like a porcupine, she asks, "Have you been screened for fibromyalgia?" And I have to admit, that NO, I haven't, and it would upset me immensely if I get that as a diagnosis.
And the last thing to be addressed on my "list of three" which I presented the Pink Unicorn in my first visit, will be getting my thyroid monitored. She'll run a thyroid panel with my CBC and Chem7, and hopefully I'll walk out of that office with a Rx/scrip to get the sonogram done.
Once March is over, I can coast until almost the end of May when I see my kidney guy again for a routine visit (I go every six months), and I have scheduled a consultation with a rheumatologist at that same practice (to keep all the information in one place, and hopefully whatever the rheumatologist thinks will complement or enhance what the nephrologist thinks. I'm already being monitored for gout/pre-gout, and given that one of my MRIs had some notation of CPPD or chondrocalcinosis, the possibilities are endless right now about what might be causing my pain: gout, pseudo-gout, pseudo-RA, pseudo-polymyalgia-rheumatica. And depending on how the rheumatology consult goes, I hopefully can coast on through until December without seeing another doctor.
*ETA 2/12/19: Pink Unicorn or no, scheduling is a huge issue for me, and I'm at the point in my life where I shouldn't have to work hard at scheduling appointments around a very limited office schedule--Pink Unicorn doesn't have evening or Saturday hours, so it's a challenge to schedule to get in to see her around MY work schedule. Pink Unicorn or no, I'll need to find an internist who actually will play nice with MY schedule.
I got back in the office on January 11th, and I decided to try and find my pink unicorn I have been looking for, forever: a DO (doctor of osteopathy) who is an internist (vs one who is in sports medicine). And my glorious pink unicorn is three blocks from my office, and she takes my insurance. I set up an appointment for the following week to establish myself as a new patient.
The first visit went well, and I arrived well prepared to have an actual discussion on things I wish to accomplish this year: get an ortho consult to see if I can start the process to replace my knees, get a gastro consult to see if we can find out the cause of the RLQ pain I have endured 5 out of the 7 years since my bypass, and the last issue is whether or not I need to get a new endocrinologist, or can she monitor my bloods and send me out for thyroid ultrasounds, to monitor my nodules in my neck.
The first visit, she knocked everything out of the park on one go. I got my referrals for the ortho and gastro, and she said she could handle monitoring my nodules. And before we concluded the visit she asked if there was anything else I needed. I said how I thought I saw on their site that they had an acupuncturist in their office, and she responded in the affirmative, and I promptly scheduled my first acupuncture visit for the following week.
The next week came the ortho consultation. And right now, they are not in a rush to get my knees replaced, and there was mention that if I DID get my knees replaced, perhaps a partial (where they replace the knee cap) would be better for my situation. My physical therapist suggests no, due to my pain being all on the outside of the knees. Follow up on 2/28 w/the NP at the ortho's office for a Rx for more PT, and give it one more month until another discussion and assessment.
Along the way, the Maharajah started to get anxious about this mole on his shoulder, and said how he said it felt like it has "changed," which immediately gets me anxious, and we scheduled time for him to get in to see the doctor--I thought she'd give him a referral to a dermatologist--but no! She was able to figure everything out for him in one go. She assured him the mole was a keratosis, nothing to worry about. She had him provide a stool sample because he was having problems with his gut since our trip, and while he was there, she gave him a flu shot. Yet another HOME RUN my "Pink Unicorn" knocked right out of the park, again!
Last week was the gastro consultation. And I knew I was in the right place, as he made very quick work with figuring out what my pain is, as neither my bariatric surgeon, nor my former PCP (who is a gastroenterologist!) were able to figure this out, especially given when they do their examinations, they NEVER ONCE removed my surgical gown to see that the very site of my pain (and it's deep in the meat/fascia) is directly beneath a puncture/incision site for my bypass.
Turns out whatever pain I have been experiencing is not something wrong with my cecum or appendix, but is NEUROLOGICAL pain, as the nerve that is right there must have been nicked during the surgery. The pain comes and goes and isn't a persistent-every-moment-of-every-day type of pain, and yep, YOU GUESSED IT, there is nothing they can do for it. But at least I know it's nothing more serious than a damaged nerve. That aside, we have scheduled an appointment for a colonoscopy (FINALLY!) to take place in about two weeks.
The only little red flag that has popped up so far is, I scheduled a day off to accommodate what should have been my annual check up (fasting included) as well as the gastro consult--and Pink Unicorn had to reschedule. The rescheduled appt is this week sometime, so let's see if she is able to keep that appointment, or if I'm going to have to rethink things. As it stands, it's pretty inconvenient to go to the Pink Unicorn, as the office does not have evening or Saturday hours, and I have to schedule time from the office to BE THERE.
To have appointments rescheduled can really mess me up--and given that the appointment I originally had was a 9 a.m., with the gastro guy being at 2, Pink Unicorn pretty much blew a hole through my morning. So, only time will tell if it was a "one off" type of thing (that happens to everyone, from time to time), or if it will be a thing that defines her character. Hurry up and wait.
And not to be outdone, I've been pretty pleased with the MD who does the acupuncture. I've seen her 2x thus far (with a third time to be on the same day my annual physical takes place with the Pink Unicorn), and I find it hasn't helped much overall, but it has helped the bursitis in my right hip a smidge.
My medical insurance will cover acupuncture for up to 12 visits, so I'll ride this out until the end of March, by which point in time, it should be about 5-6 visits into this relationship. During the first visit, while I am prone on the table with needles sticking out of me like a porcupine, she asks, "Have you been screened for fibromyalgia?" And I have to admit, that NO, I haven't, and it would upset me immensely if I get that as a diagnosis.
And the last thing to be addressed on my "list of three" which I presented the Pink Unicorn in my first visit, will be getting my thyroid monitored. She'll run a thyroid panel with my CBC and Chem7, and hopefully I'll walk out of that office with a Rx/scrip to get the sonogram done.
Once March is over, I can coast until almost the end of May when I see my kidney guy again for a routine visit (I go every six months), and I have scheduled a consultation with a rheumatologist at that same practice (to keep all the information in one place, and hopefully whatever the rheumatologist thinks will complement or enhance what the nephrologist thinks. I'm already being monitored for gout/pre-gout, and given that one of my MRIs had some notation of CPPD or chondrocalcinosis, the possibilities are endless right now about what might be causing my pain: gout, pseudo-gout, pseudo-RA, pseudo-polymyalgia-rheumatica. And depending on how the rheumatology consult goes, I hopefully can coast on through until December without seeing another doctor.
*ETA 2/12/19: Pink Unicorn or no, scheduling is a huge issue for me, and I'm at the point in my life where I shouldn't have to work hard at scheduling appointments around a very limited office schedule--Pink Unicorn doesn't have evening or Saturday hours, so it's a challenge to schedule to get in to see her around MY work schedule. Pink Unicorn or no, I'll need to find an internist who actually will play nice with MY schedule.
