A Long Day At Doctors

After all my traveling, I realized that my body was not being very cooperative. I have increased knee pain (in the new bad knee, as opposed to the old bad knee), I have new back pain higher up than previously (it came and went for a few years but is not more there than not), and my neck and right shoulder have been giving me lots of problems.

So after waiting around for a few weeks, it became time for all my appointments. I had three different medical appointments, in two different facilities 30 minutes apart, yesterday. I started at physical therapy about my neck and shoulder. After speaking to the therapist, he did some stretching on my neck and gave me a  whole bunch of exercises. I will go back and see him twice a week for the next six to eight weeks. And its not that convenient a location.

Next I saw the nurse practitioner of my pain management doctor. She talked to me and pressed all sorts of painful places on my body. She upped my medications and sent me for x-rays. I am supposed to go see her again in three week to see where we are and see if I need an MRI or other imaging. I haven't had a spine MRI since around January 2009 and the question will be if my insurance will pay for it, if I really need it. 

I am kind of fed up with this doctor. He has said to me that even though he has been treating me for nearly 7 years, he does not think there is a need for any new imaging. Any new pains are only caused by my existing conditions. If I don't get anywhere with this NP and doctor this one last time, I will probably find a new one. A friend of mine also saw him for  years and then went to a back surgeon who told her she should have had surgery a long time before. This does nothing to my comfort level with him..

Then I went to X-ray for five pictures of my knee, four pictures of my thoracic spine, and three pictures of my lumbar spine. That was lots of fun. I am not good with the contortions required for some x-rays.

Finally I saw my orthopedic surgeon. My knee was back to its throbbing at night that I had experienced last winter and spring before he injected my knee. I hoped for a new injection which is what I got. But it made my knee really sore and I hobbled out to my car. I went home and took a 2.5 hour nap. I think I was a little tired.

Overall it was a good day, just very long for me. I am not sure I am up for a long day like that again. 

This is just a bit of my life with millions of doctors. At least I didn't see any oncologists. That part makes me happy.

A Post for Sick People

As a follow up to my earlier post for Friends of Sick People, here's a post for my advice for people who are sick.

As a patient with an icky medical diagnosis, you need to remember the most important person you need to take care of is you. I know you love your children, spouse/partner, and other people close to you but you need to focus on you for a bit. You will need more rest and care than usual. You will spend a lot more time at doctors and other appointments. Any time when you are not at work you will probably be focused on your (lack of ) health. Nap time!

You may find the need to set some rules and requests for other people. You are not being rude, you are letting other people know how they can best help you. You need to rest and take care of yourself, go to doctor appointments (and then recover from them).

Personally I decided I needed to limit social visits and phone calls. Newly diagnosed with cancer, and a cascade of additional medical issues, I decided I was not going to answer a thousand phone calls, texts, and emails asking the same (damn) questions and decided I would provide information for others in my blog. If anyone wanted to know how I was doing, they need to read my blog (unless you are my parents, they are allowed to ask me questions or my husband who went with me to all important appointments). If people wanted to come over, their visit had to be short.

People often want to be helpful but are unsure how they can help. If someone says anything about any kind of help, you can give them concrete ideas on what you need. A casserole for dinner? Help with laundry? Do you need someone to help get your children to school on some days or maybe even getting you to the doctor?

And its not just the physical issues but also your emotional self. At my second cancer diagnosis I decided I needed emotional support and joined a support group before my second surgery. I wasn't going to let cancer suck any more enjoyment out of my life.

If you feel you need more emotional support, start with your doctor or a social worker at your local hospital. They will have access to information on where you can find help. In addition, look for local support groups through your church or local support centers. And the stress? I'm not going there.

It is important to remember that the most important person, emotionally and physically,  is the one with the ailment.  Don't forget!

Annual Physical

I am just fine. I am damn happy. And perky! And feeling no pain. No that's a big fat lie. I have a lot of pain. I ran out of steam yesterday. I was very tired by the end of the day. Apparently I did too much. All I did was go to the gym. And then the library and one store. That was it. I was wiped out. I even took a break after the gym.

Next week I have my annual physical. I have two options: go in and lie and say everything is fine, or go in and tell the truth about how I feel. This could put me back on a medical roller coaster of a sort. At this point I am not concerned with out going back on the medical roller coaster as I am with being as healthy as I can.

I do not think I have something bad going on. Its just my annual chance to sit down with my primary care physician and go through how I am feeling, what are my concerns, and what we can do to make me do better, or even improve my health - now that's an interesting concept.

Now I just have to make a list of what I want to talk about. Damn.

My Mini Vacation is Ending

I have enjoyed a few weeks without a doctor appointment. I have had 22 appointments so far this year (I have a spreadsheet of doctor appointments to keep track of my co-pays and out of pockets for taxes.) Then I haven't had an appointment for two weeks and don't have one for another week. So its been a three week break. I like that.

Then next week I have three appointments followed by six more in the next six weeks. That's more normal for me. Last year the magic number of appointments was 67, the year before 58.

So if I go to the doctor so often, shouldn't I be healthier?

How strong is that 'little voice'

Tomorrow I have a doctor appointment. Its not a big deal, just a follow up with my rheumatologist, including a discussion of my blood work last week. On the surface its not big deal. I don't expect any big news. Maybe a little tweak in my medications at the most.

But there is always a little (tiny cancer 'what if') voice in the back of my head at every doctor appointment. The question is always 'what if' something isn't right that leads to more testing that leads to something else which finds something 'bad'.

I can't help it. That little voice is an evil thing. Learning how to balance that evil voice is a lifelong journey after cancer. It never goes away. Keeping it quiet is the challenge.

When I had my hysterectomy before breast cancer, nearly 25 years after thyroid cancer, I was compelled to ask my surgeon if there was any chance of cancer there. I couldn't stop myself from asking. She assured me that they would 'slice and dice' to make sure there was none.

And there was none.

After breast cancer, that evil little voice reared grew in volume again. With a vengeance. Its only been over 8 years but that voice tends to sneak into the back of my brain. It tries to tell me that some ache or pain could only be 'really bad'. I can't let it run my life.

But I will go to the doctor tomorrow and tell that stupid little voice to keep quiet. I hope. Maybe if I could leave it behind that would be better.

Maxed out

Every year it has happened since 2007 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer - we max out our health insurance out of pocket expenses. I just found out when I went to pick up some prescriptions the other day and figured out we hit our max on Dec 11. This is much later than recent years.

I didn't have any surgeries or anything major happen this year - except my knee injury. I had a total of 58 medical visits - this does include eye doctor and dentist - plus an additional 10 or so separate trips for blood work. This is the most appointments in at least five years. And I do hope this is not a new trend.

This is one measure of how (un)healthy I am. I go to the doctor at least once a week. So far I only have 13 appointments scheduled for 2016 - and I am sure this number will grow. In January, I have four scheduled appointments - that's one each week on average. Its a good thing I stopped working so I have time to go to the doctor.....

My medical finances may be maxed out but I think my tolerance for doctor visits is maxed out as well.