Onto Another Week

Onto another week..hopefully getting closer to a solution:

My appointment with my family practice doctor went well last Monday.  Although my kids have gone to her in the past, I decided it was time to go and I’m glad I did.  I think in this world of “specialists,” we forget how important it is to have someone behind us, that can handle everything from a “general” perspective.   She actually offered to act as my voice…getting in touch with the surgeon and other specialists that are handling my care when I have a question or need something and I can’t get in touch with them.  She is working with my other doctors now on pain management and coming up with a better solution to make me a little more comfortable in the mean time, until they figure out what is going on.  She’s actually on my side..it feels like I’m not quite alone anymore. If you’re not seeing a family practice doctor, I recommend it. 

She ordered a ton of blood work, which I had done Monday afternoon.  My surgeon’s office requested for her office to order a list of stuff, that unfortunately had not been checked in a couple of years.  When you have bariatric surgery, they are supposed to check everything from vitamin levels in the blood, for anemia, etc.  Plus she added a few extra tests, like for my thyroid and to check me for celiac disease.  The results aren’t back yet, as of this morning, but I’m not truly surprised….they took over 12 vials of blood and actually had me drink orange juice before I was allowed to leave.

My appointment with my gynecologist went okay too.  At least she didn’t yell at me J.   With everything going on, I had put off seeing her, getting a mammogram and a pap smear.  And yes, I know it’s important, but I can only handle so much.  She’s convinced the cyst that was showing up on my other tests is completely normal for my age and nothing to worry about.  I do have to go have a pelvic ultrasound done, which I’ll schedule for sometime this coming week, but it’s just her way of being thorough for the surgeon, since he was the one that insisted I go see her.  As for the pap and mam, I have to go back in December to see her and she’ll get me caught back up then for my yearly visit.

The EGD was Friday and unfortunately, I’m still sore from it:  sore throat and my jaw actually hurts, where its turning black and blue, since he must have had a hard time getting the tube down my throat…ugh.  I saw the surgeon before the test, but not afterward…he did talk to my husband though, while I was in recovery.  He said I have a very large hiatal hernia, which will definitely have to be taken care of surgically.  He isn’t quite sure why it was ignored by my old doctor, but it is big enough to be causing a good amount of my problems.  But, as usual, he isn’t done with tests yet.  He told my husband he wants to schedule me for a lower gi now, so that is to come. He needs to be sure he fixes everything within one surgery, since I have such a high rate of adhesions. So tests, tests and more tests, but at least he found something.