Out with the Old .. In with the New
Well folks, I’m going to be starting anew with my medical care.
New Physicians
You know, it’s so hard to get good medical care these days.
My first former General Practioner, Dr. Bee-ach from Hell misdiagnosed me for almost 6 weeks. I ended up in the hospital with Renal Failure and Congestive Heart Failure thanks to her guidance. So I switched to Dr. Hokey.
Don’t get me wrong, Dr. Hokey is a good doctor. He listened and cared. He is also a professed Christian and treats his patients with faith and medicine; however, I found that every time I saw him, I got put in the hospital. I fear he was afraid of me and my FSGS. And quite frankly, neither my bank book or my veins could afford the constant hospitalizations.
In March 2012 (a year ago), I was admitted to Doctors Hospital (because of Dr. Bee-ach from Hell) and assigned a Nephrologist, Dr. Asshole because I was in complete renal failure. And even though we clicked in some areas, he was lacking in the whole confident doctor realm when it came to my FSGS. He has admitted to me and my husband on numerous occasions that he doesn’t have a lot of experience with FSGS and that there is not a lot of information out there on it. So I think it’s time that I find someone with more experience.
So effective May 1, I changed ALL of my doctors. My new Primary Care Physician is Dr. Quack, Terry’s doctor. I chose him because….well truthfully, I didn’t have anywhere else to go.
Last week, I had my first appointment with Dr. Quack and asked him for a referral to a new Nephrologist. I actually asked for a particular doctor. He’s been in Nephrology for 29 years so I know he’s very well versed in FSGS. I’m still waiting to see if he will accept me as a patient, so I’m going to hold back on providing his nickname just in case I have to find someone else.
Current Condition
In the last month, I have been struggling quite a bit medically.
I saw Dr. Asshole about three weeks ago. My protein levels went up BUT he decreased my Cyclo. WTH???? Confused me too especially since he was talking about switching me over to Cellcept. He even had me fill out all of the paperwork and releases.
I currently have three infections: H Pylori bacterial infection in my stomach and bowel, an infected cyst on my back and a damned yeast infection. I don’t know HOW I got the yeast infection either. I haven’t had one of those since I was in High School more than 20 years ago. Go figure.
My blood pressure has gone nuts too. I can’t seem to get it under control. I’m on Lisinopril, so it should be controlled, but here lately, I’ve been sporting BP’s of 156/110 and 143/101. Please take note that that may not sound so bad, but I’m usually a 110/78 kinda girl. This new development is quite disturbing to me since BP can cause kidney failure.
The Cyclosporine has made it so that I don’t like to eat very much anymore. A few bites and I’m done, whereas the Prednisone made food taste out of this world….the Cyclo kills any appetite I had. I’ve lost about 25-30 lbs in the last 2 months.
And I don’t sleep. I’m exhausted ALL the time, but can’t seem to find that good deep sleep anymore.
So that’s about it for now.
Realization
I will say this….I fought and fought about leaving my job. I didn’t want to lose that independence, the money, and what I felt like was my identity, but I can say this…it’s been nice to know I don’t have to get up in the morning to be somewhere when I’ve been up all night in pain or sick. It’s nice to not have to worry about disappointing my boss or co-workers by not carrying my half of the responsibilities or worry that the department is getting behind because I’m out all of the time.