I'm home!!

My trip to see my brother was pretty uneventful. Flights on time, no problems with my meds. I was put to work on the reconstruction, but they didn't task me too hard!!

Jim did great on his own and was very successful in caring for the cats and giving Ennis his insulin shots. Of course, Ennis woke Jim up 2x/night for food. Jim went along with it. Ennis spent alot of time with Jim on the couch, but now he's relocated to my desk. Jim didn't tolerate Lily banging on the crack room door, and he got her so that he would put her in there in the morning and let her out in the afternoon without a peep from her. Of course now that I'm home, she's back to banging.

It reminds me of the Helen Keller story where Ann Sullivan finally learned to control Helen, but then Helen went back to her wild ways when reunited with her parents.

I have nothing planned this week. Jim has a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy on Thursday, and starts to adjust his diet today to eliminate fiber/roughage. Tomorrow clear liquids and the stuff he needs to drink to clean him out. This will be so pleasant!!

Nothing happening in the breast cancer arena until June 21--a meeting with the breast surgeon.

Take care all!

Not Looking Forward to Today

Psychotherapy at 10.

Physical therapy at 12.

Psychiatric intake interview at 2.

And these are an hour or more away from home. I have to start google mapping to find how to get from one to another.

Take care, all.

GYN appt

My GYN referred me to a 24-hour assessment and referral service that treats folks for, among other things, acute depression. GYN apparently refers other patients to this place because of post-partum depression. This was the first time he asked to look at my chest, though all these months of surgery, etc. He agreed I would need alot of scar massage on the right side to break up the "grip" the scar has on my chest wall.

I see my GP tomorrow. In an email today, my SSDI lawyer has strongly suggested that I try to get a neurologist to evaluate and maybe treat my neuropathy. So I will press my GP on a referral; Dr. Chemo won't do it. I have an appt with the neurologist, but she won't see me without a referral from another DR.

Lawyer also thinks my GP is kind of useless to the process. The more specialists that sign on, the better.

I told GYN that I hadn't listed him in my group of DRs on the SSDI form, but he did come up in the final remarks session for prescribing mammo and referral to Dr. Cutter. Therefore, he may be called upon to supply records. He said no problem. He would be happy to have his office send the appropriate paperwork.

My GYN is my favorite DR. He is cute and hugs me several times each visit. And always checks for how I am doing "overall." He was very surprised at Jim's recovery from liver failure. I think he and his nurse were expecting me to tell them that Jim had passed. Nope. He's down in the dungeon napping. I wish I could nap, but an occupational therapist is bringing a seat riser for my bathroom toilet this afternoon.

I need to call neighbor Curt again about putting some grab rails in my bathroom. I suspect that the message I left on his machine 2 weeks ago got "lost," what with a wife and 2 teenagers. Curt gave me his cell number because of problems like that.

Today's appointments

Jim had his GP DR this morning. GP said Jim's blood tests were "stellar." We didn't ask for a copy of the tests; we are suppposed to get them directly from the lab but that hardly ever happens.

Jim really wants prednisone for the arthritis in his knees. GP said no; nothing oral and suggested something topical that it looks like I can only get on-line. So a little Hocks shopping tonight. He will re-ask the GI DR when he sees him in 2 weeks.

SSDI application. We didn't have to wait too long after my appointed time. I was so nervous; I went through 1.5 bottles of water. The intake woman said it was the most complete and organized application that she had seen.

It's a little complicated being self-employed (and not keeping real good time sheets after starting the surgeries), getting her to agree to my statement about the last day I did any "substantial work." But she finally did, and hopefully the state determining agency will also. I have to do no substantial work until September this year to qualify for any retroactive benefits. But then, I probably won't know until after that whether I got approved on the 1st application.

Because I had documented pretty well, it only took about an hour. Gave us time for lunch before my intake for neuropathy therapy.

PT found that I have sensation in my arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet, and toes. The test? Touching me with a hard plastic "pricker." We then did some balance testing. She said I was having balance problems. No shit, Sherlock. I had shown her my arm bruise from falling last week.

She also counseling me on the normal things I get nagged about--taking my pills, eating, lowered alcohol consumption. She said all of those things can affect the neuropathy.

So we are going to try the Anodyne treatment for six sessions (3x/week) and give me hand, feet, and balance exercises. Also some leg strengthening exercises. I start that Friday.

Tomorrow is my every 4 month PAP smear. Joy! But the last once was negative for abnormal cells, so if this one is too, I only have one more 4 month PAP before I can go back to annual.

Friday is my GP. She is seeing me every 4-6 weeks now because of my depression. I have quite the list of things to talk about. The SSDI application, where I listed her as the lead doctor in knowing my symptoms and treatments. Wanting a referral to a neurologist, although I am starting to waiver on this because the PT today said a neurologist would not do much more in the way of testing than she did today and would have nothing in her/his medicine bag that I'm not already on. Wanting a referral to a psychiatrist. My psychotherapist is OK, but it would be nice to have an MD doing the counseling because the s/he also could manage my stress/anxiety/anti-depression meds. My GP seems slightly an amateur in that area.

Then Monday, the psychotherapy resident.

I so want all these appointments to stop. I want to go out and garden.