More HOPE!

Heads Up - as with the posting from July 30th, 2010,  this particular posting is going to contain an update on my medical condition(s). So, any of you whom are not interested in that info., will probably want to skip reading this particular posting. Just thought I'd let you know up front.  ;-)


    Last Tuesday I received a phone call from the neurologist office. They had received the referral from my doctor and were calling to schedule an appointment. The thing was, their first available appointment wasn't till September 28th. :-(  Ever so disappointing! But I was nice to the lady. It wasn't her fault they didn't have any sooner! I just explained the reason I was so disappointed was due to having had the vertigo so long and all. She offered to put me on the cancellation list. I chuckled and said, "fine, but it will depend on if I can get a ride on short notice, seeings how due to the vertigo I haven't been driving."  She thought that was wise.
    That call had come in early morning. In mid-afternoon she called back. While they didn't yet have an appointment available with the Dr. himself, there had been a cancellation for the (forgetting the technical name for the position .... it's sort of like they are a Jr. doctor or something ...) __. The now open appointment was for the next afternoon. She reassured me that this person would thourally discuss my situation with me, do all kinds of physical tests, etc. AND that afterwords the person would meet with the Dr. and go over everything. Also in the mean time, this person could order any further testing I might need, and get me started on any prescriptions they thought might help. That way, by the time of my appointment with the Dr. himself, I'd have all of the preliminary stuff taken care of. :-) I took the appointment.
     I called Brian and left him a message about it. He decided to take the day off and take me himself. :-D !! I was so relieved! He was there for all of my testing at the Balance Clinic, so he can fully discuss all of it. He's seen me during my various symptoms and stages of dealing with this Vertigo. And best of all, when my brain gets 'fuzzy' trying to do recall, he can help! :-)
     The person we saw was a lady. A VERY nice, thoural, knowledgeable, friendly lady. She put me so much at ease. While going over the papers that we had had to fill out she had questioned something. When Brian said that he had written that because... she questioned why he had filled it out instead of me. I explained that I can only do so much of that type of reading before the letters start dancing on me, but that Brian had asked me all of the things off of the paper. She jotted down a note.
      She questioned about where I had written I get migraines. Then later I had mentioned how I seem to be 'fuzzy brained' a lot with this vertigo. She had smiled big and said that it's because I have ____ . The base of which, is that I have interlaced vertigo and migraines. Which is most likely the reason I haven't been able to shake off the vertigo. AW-WW! That sure makes sense!  She went on to say that she gets migraines herself, and asked about different symptoms of mine. How often? Do hormones or weather affect or trigger them? Does light, sound, movement seem to worsen them? Etc. She then said that sometimes the day after having had a migraine, she feels like she has a 'migraine hang over'. The pain is gone, but her brain is just in this fog ... . What relief! She totally 'gets' what I'm both talking about and dealing with. Thank-you Lord!!!
     She had me cover one eye and read a chart. Walk a line in the flooring. Hop on one foot, then the other. Crouch low and then spring up. Stand with my arms straight out and close my eyes. Etc. Then she tested my eyes with the bright light, and tested my knee reflexes, and the bottom of my feet, and my arms, and asked me lots of questions, and felt my lympnods, and felt the length of my spine. She went over and checked every-thing! The whole time asking us questions intertwined with fun conversation.
    She decided that my current symptoms did warrant a newer MRI, and that insurance probably wouldn't buck it seeings how it was a Neurologist office that was ordering it.
    She wanted me to start on a new prescription. One that should help both the migraine symptoms as well as the vertigo ones. :-)   At least three different times she warned that this medication would take at least three weeks to really start taking affect, and then apologized. I told her that after seven months of being this way, three weeks seemed like a short do-able span of time! I am to take that medication before going to bed at night so hopefully it takes affect quicker, and doesn't make me even more off balance during the day. And I am to stay on the "camouflage the symptoms" medication too. :->
   She reassured me that she would be going over everything with the Dr. himself (poor guy - she took TONS of notes!! ;-p). "In-fact, I'm having dinner with him tonight so we'll probably be discussing your case then". I said that that wasn't necessary and she laughed and said, "Oh we're nerds like that".
    I walked out of there feeling ever so much more HOPE!!! They hadn't belittled anything we had mentioned. She seemed to catch on to and ask about things we hadn't even mentioned. There was great Hope that they would not only get to the bottom of all of this, but also be able to help me with all of it. ALL of it. Even my migraines!!!!! I truly have hope that I might really be able to go back to being a 'real person'. A-n-d, that it might not be that far in the future when it happens!!!! Woo-Hoo!!!!! :-}  Thank-You Lord!!!!!!!
   Due to some diagnostic something or other she had written on my MRI request, I got moved to the front of the line. My MRI was done at 7 a.m. Wed. morning. Holding still inside that machine, was nothing compared to the pain the radiation vibes make inside your head. Still dealing with traces of that.
   But the testing is already done and I've already started on the new medication. Side note here ;-p  She had inquired about my high level bowl disorder. She knew Dr. Figg whom I will again be seeing in two weeks. One side affect of my new medication, can be constipation. With me, that might actually work out to the point of removing a lot of my diarrhea issues. Bonus! We had both laughed. She also knows my lung specialist. With everybody knowing each other and working together - what Hope!!!!