DOCTOR #5

The next day on June 19, 2007, I had a recheck with my eye doctor, Dr. B. There was no change in my optic discs and he discussed with me his concerns about possible MS. I could feel another Google session coming on. Next stop was my first appointment with the rheumatologist, Dr. M. I won't bother to name him because he left the island shortly after seeing him. He acted like a 'short timer' and his follow-up and treatment of me during that time reflected his poor attitude. At that point, my differential diagnosis included Lupus and Sarcoid. He wasn't particularly interested in addressing Sarcoid because I wasn't 'African American'. Apparently, Sarcoid is primarily an African American disease. He ordered more lab work including Lupus panel and Rheumatoid Arthritis panel, 24 hour urine, and repeat of inflammatory tests. My ANA had Doubled to 640, ESR went to 35 and my ACE was 174. No wonder I felt so crappy. Good news that my liver functions were going down. He referred me to the one Neurologist on the island for a MS consult and since I had 2 out of 5 bad experiences in the last three weeks with doctors, I wasn't looking forward to the appointment. But, my Dad had seen him for his Parkinson's and liked him so I tried to keep a positive attitude. My parents weren't backing down and they were going to get answers if they had to wring it out of them. I was exausted and I would soon find out this was not going away anytime soon. Side note: The 24 hour urine test was interesting. They give you this huge container like a gas can and you have to collect all your urine in a 24 hour period. If you can even visualize this process, it's not pretty. It's not just a little sample you have to catch a little in a cup. They want ALL of it. Think about or don't, but that was something I had to be very creative about and it made me very cranky for a day. I guess I still have a little fight in me. This week I think the Prednisone started to kick in a bit because I started eating, and eating, and eating. I felt like cookie monster but my eating habits deserve a whole other post. We'll talk about that later...