Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Unplugged and hittin' the wall

so the "permanent" tear duct plugs fell out in less than 9 days. I have to say, it was a relief to have them outta there. Stupid things made me miserable the entire time they were in. But, I'm not sure if the doctor wants to replace them or what...haven't heard back from her office and it's been 6 days now. Honestly, I'm not sure I want to have them replaced. I'm using eyedrops now and if that's what I have to do all the time, well, it's a whole lot better than having my eyes bug me all the time.
I'm not in a very good place today. Truthfully I haven't been in a very good place since last Wednesday evening. I think that's when I lost the plugs....from crying too much.
I was on the computer and I went to YouTube to see what they had in the way of stuff on PBC. I found a video from one of the doctors in San Francisco and decided to watch it and see if it offered any new little tidbits of information. She had a really nice power point presentation and one of the slides was about all the basic tests that should be done on a patient with PBC to use as a baseline for future tests. I haven't had any of them. As I looked at this guideline I became so angry...so hurt...so lost. How is it possible that I have THREE doctors who are supposed to be taking care of me and not one of them has mentioned this to me? I'm almost 55... I should probably be taking a calcium supplement for osteoporosis anyway. People with PBC have a 440% increase in developing osteoporsis due to this liver disease. I need a bone scan...who will order that for me? I don't metabilize vitamins A D E or K properly. I need to be on those supplements and have a baseline blood test to measure my vitamins A and D. Who is going to order those tests and tell me how much of these vitamins I need to take? I have edema in my legs. Never had it until recently and the liver specialist just said, 'It's not related to your liver." that was it...so who am I supposed to ask about that? ::sigh::
I feel very strongly that patients need to be knowledgable in regards to their medical condition. Having said that, I don't feel that a patient has to Google or YouTube their disease to find out if they're being treated adequately.
Anyway, I had a complete melt down for a little while and cried like it was my job. I'm so angry...I'm so tired...I'm so frustrated. Just order the freakin' tests that need to be ordered!!!
Nevermind the fact the my primary care physician's office called me recently and said I needed to call my GI doctor and ask if I can take "X" instead of "Y" and to let them know. Umm, his office is 3 doors down from yours and in the time it took you to call me, you could have called his office and left that sweet message yourself. I just don't get it.
After the tear duct plugs were shoved into my eyes, I was told to ask the liver specialist about using Restatis. Then I see the ad on tv for Restatis and the information at the bottom of the screen said "not to be used with tear duct plugs" WTF???????
I have an appointment Thursday morning for my contact lens follow-up which should be fun. They're great for close up stuff but the distance is whacked. This is my second pair, wonder if he's going to try for a third or just call it a day and tell me I need to wear glasses. At this point, I don't care. THEN....later in the afternoon I have an appointment for a cardiac stress test. That sounds like more fun than I can even imagine. Maybe the cardiologist will be interested in my swollen legs. Then again, with my track record...maybe not.

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