Wednesday, July 16, 2014

You're just gonna hafta read it

    7-14

    I guess I'm supposed to take the bad with the good but today about stretched that line to the limit. When you call in to make an appointment you get a recording like in a lot of other places nowadays. The big difference here is that the recording tells you that if you are feeling depressed or maybe thinking of suicide etc. you should call an 800 number that they give you. We went to the clinic in Ft. Worth today to see my primary care doctor. Mine is a woman, which I have no problem with the gender. What I don't suffer well though is someone that does not listen to what you are saying and continues to repeat the same crap over and over. One of my complaints today was my right shoulder that has a really tight knot in it, I can't lift my arm over my head, and is painful if I lift it over my head which I have to do with my left arm. When I had my PET scan the other day I had to keep my arms over my head for a little over 20 minutes. By the time I got out and was able to move my arm down I was almost ready to cry. They talk about your pain number all the time. At that time it was somewhere around an 8 or 9. When I talked to her about this her answer was to take more pain meds. Gee, and I always thought that when you told your dr. about some pain their first concern was what was causing it. No, it's take more pain meds. Who knew ? She went on to say that it was not her concern, it was the ENT clinic. If I remember the song right “ The shoulder bone's connected to the neck bone “ which means it's the ENT clinic's problem. With that logic my swollen knee is their problem too. I told her my knee was swollen and hurting and she said take more pain meds. I'm beginning to think what she's trying to get me to do is call that 800 number and tell them I'm about to murder my doctor. Either that or she's trying to turn me into an addict. Well, good luck on that because I haven't met the pain med yet that I could get addicted to. Don't get me wrong, there are several I like because they do the job that they're intended to. But the side effects of most of them are worse on me than the temporary pain relief. I have a fairly high tolerance for pain but along with that comes a high tolerance for drugs that relieve pain. That is, it takes a lot to do the job. And I'm not one that enjoys the doped up feeling when you take enough to feel high.

    7-16

    On to a better day. I went to the ENT clinic today and they gave me the full results of the PET scan. ( Is everyone holding their breath ? It's OK you can breath now. ) After getting through all the mumbo jumbo of technical medical jargon it seems I'm fine now. They aren't ruling out future problems mostly due to what the radiation may have done. But for all intents and purposes I'm in the clear. I have to go back for monthly checkups for the first year and every two months after that for the next four years. Another PET scan will follow in a few months. Thankfully the ENT doc listens and is willing to talk about your problems and offer any guidance necessary. She also agreed with me that more pain meds is not the answer to the problem with my shoulder and that it's not related to the neck. She said I may have to go for physical therapy to get my shoulder back to normal.

Well I know this has been a short one but I wanted to get the news out because I know a lot of people wanted to know. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. Please keep them coming “ cuz I ain't outa here yet .”

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