Latest Doctors Visit

****Hmmmm For some reason this didn't post when I wrote it and post it, thankfully it did save though so I can post it now************

This was a very big appointment.  This was my first appointment with my GP (Dr. B) following the 'retirement' of my rheumatologist (Dr. W).  Sadly Dr. B did confirm that Dr. W did in fact have a stroke.  Thankfully though he said Dr. W was getting around better now, had plumped up and gained some weight and seemed to be in good spirits.  He also acknowledged that we now had a serious problem now that he was not around to treat me.  There were a few different issues that I needed to go over and since some of them were quite important my mom decided to go to the appointment with me (he seems to listen to my mom's account of what goes on a bit more than what I tell him).  As I can't remember the exact order of things, I will break it down by 'issue' that we were dealing with.

Depo Shot and Medications refills - Got my shot and no problems at all with the renewing of three of my medications.  I even weighed a lighter weight than I was at my last appointment so that is a good thing too :) Strangely though my BP was slightly high (a lot high for me).  He even made sure that I had adequate pain medications!!!  Big big thing with him!

New doctor - Surprisingly he already had an idea as to who to send me to.  Thankfully it is a doctor that is in my area and is an internist, geriatric specialist and rheumatologist so hopefully will be able to help me.  Dr. B went through my chart and printed out a pile of reports to be sent to this new doctor.  He printed out the last few appointments with Dr. W, a report from the neurologist that I saw last year, a few reports from my internist Dr. C and my most recent set of bloodwork.  He went to print off a report from the clinic I went to about my knee earlier in the year, then asked what happened and when I said that they wouldn't do anything he ripped up the paper and said he didn't want anything negative to be sent with the referal.  He wants me to get in and see this doctor before going in to more details about the frustrations and hard aspects of treating me as a patient.  Unfortnatly when my mom asked if there was away to contact this doctor first to ask about him and his knowledge / experience with EDS he says that can't be done but that I should bring as much information that I could to the first appointment.

Osteoporosis - I was slightly concerned about the medication that I have been taking for the past year.  The muscle pain the day after the medication has completely resolved thankfully!  However, I have been getting very very bad heartburn for about a week after taking the medication.  Dr. B went through the other options that I am on but that the only other medication that is better for me is not covered by insurance.  He did suggest I look into them and I am going to see if it is feasible to just pay out of pocked for them (one is a yearly medication, the other twice a year).  The pill I am on is the best and most safe choice for me.  He was very very adament that I really really need to be on medication for it as take the EDS, add in the meds I am on and that is not a good combination but none of those meds can be changed around at the moment.  He is going to allow me to take my losec (perscription strength proton pump inhibitor) as needed during those periods that my GERD gets out of control.  (Of course, I took my month's pill yesterday and have not had any heartburn at all from it lol).  This is showing that my GP is finally accepting that I can be 'trusted' to regulate some of my medications.

Barium Swallow - The main reason for this appointment was actually to go over the results of the barium swallow test I had done last month.  Unfortunately it has led to no real answers, just more tests.  There are 'things' in my stomach that can be one of two things - 1) Food particles embedded in my gastric wall or 2) Polyps.  Because I had been fasting for the test, and the fact that this 'things' didn't move, even if it is 'just' stuck food, that food shouldn't be there.  And we all know the things associated with polyps.  In the test itself it suggested that there was no reason they could see for the swallowing issues, but that it was evident that I had severe (their world) acid reflux.  The test suggested that an endoscopy could be done to biopsy these 'things' so we could figure out what they are and what we can do about them.  This is when we find out that my internist / cardiologist is also apparently a gastroenterologist!!  Mom and I are so very confused now as she (Dr.C) had the test suggested from a neurologist she refered me to but she had wanted my family doctor to be the one ordering the test.  We have no clue why that happened.  She is one of the doctors in the area that actually do the endoscopy test so I am to contact her about scheduling the test (Note - left a message a week ago and still have not heard back).  This conversation did however lead to one of the greatest quotes of the appointment.  Dr. B had asked about Dr. C doing the test and what she had to say about it all and mom told Dr. B that she seemed most concerned and interested in the fact that I appeared very depressed.  Dr. B quickly replied "If she had half the things wrong that Stacey did she would be severely depressed too!"

Autoimmune - I had breifly mentioned this at the beginning of the appointment but it got 'lost' in all the other questions going on and I wasn't sure if Dr. B really heard me.  Later he did try to tell me that the off values where from EDS until I told him that they weren't.  I then told him that, even though I have been tested for atutoimmune once or twice a year for a long time, this was the first time that my ana was actually positive.  I told him that Dr. W (my rheumy) always felt that there was something autoimmune going on but could never figure it out.  Leading to the second best quote of the appointment "Well we have the proof right here" that there is something in the autoimmune realm going on.  He doesn't know much about these illnesses and asked if I had other symptoms (which I do) and asked that I talk to Dr. C about it as well as brining it up with the new rhuematologist I would be seeing.  He said he could do more bloodwork but would prefer to just leave it to the new doctor and see what he thinks.