Blah 2

Wednesday was miserable. Along with sinus and lung problems, I was miserable with twitching, restlessness, tingling limbs, headache, dizziness, and the sense that the room was trembling, even though it know it wasn't. At 8:30 I called my doctor about the symptoms, but the receptionist failed to report it to the nurse. The nurse called be back fairly quickly after I called again around 11:30. My afternoon was spent reporting symptoms and waiting for the nurse to relay the questions to my doc then call me back. In the first of three calls she made to me, she told me that the doctor didn't think my symptoms were related to my new med and asked if I wanted a neurology referral. After I made it clear that I was not going to take the med that I felt was making me sick ever again, she said she would call a different antibiotic in to my pharmacy.

Yardboy was really helpful. Even though he had a full and stressful day, he took time off to pick up Tater and Little Man. I was in no shape for driving. Around 6:00 that evening, Yardboy stopped by the drug store to get my new med, but they had no record of it being called in.

That was the last straw! I managed to hold off the tears until after the kids were in bed. It is so frustrating to have something wrong, have excellent insurance, and still not get the help needed. I cried while Yardboy listened and then I called my brother, Cabbage Head, a third year medical student, to see if he had any ideas. He got to hear me cry too.

After talking to my guys, I had a plan. I decided to get ALL of my records from ALL of my specialists and take them to my primary doc. I planned to share my frustrations with him and ask him to review my records and try to put the puzzle pieces together.

I called my doctor for an appointment first thing Thursday morning and then set out to get as many of my records in hand as possible. Before arriving at the appointment, I managed to get my pulmonology and emergency room records. I also requested my urgent care records, but I was told that it takes three to five days to get those.

I didn't get a warm reception from my doctor's LPN. She is usually very bubbly and friendly, but seemed really agitated to have to deal with me again. However, my doc was kind. He spent an hour and twenty minutes with me, while I poured tears of frustration. Poor guy. I'm sure I didn't make his day great.

There was very little resolution to my concerns, but he did listen to me, and seemed to genuinely care. He personally sent my new prescription to the pharmacy andmade yet another referral. This time he referred me to Shands.

The problem lies in our medical system. General Practitioners can't afford to take phone calls, because they can't bill for them. GP's also don't make enough to hire a RN to triage calls for them either. So, they end up having a Medical Assistant or LPN play messenger. The GP is often the only one in the office that has enough clinical knowledge to actually understand and help. He can't deligate any decision making. He has to do it all himself.

Oddly enough, in all of my calls, my nurse never offered an appointment with my doc. I guess I should have specifically asked for an appointment instead of saying, "What do I need to do?" Next time I'll skip the nurse and just make an office visit. It seems like a total waste of resources, but I guess that is what it takes to get my questions answered.

Toddlers engage in parallel play. They will play side by side, doing the same activity, but not actually communicating or playing WITH each other. I feel that is what my primary doc and specialist are doing. They do their little parts and send in reports (sometimes, if they aren't afraid of HIPPA) to the primary doc. Then, the primary doc sometimes reads the reports. They never actually have conversations. I believe that my doctors could figure out a solution if they could all sit down together and talk it out. My doctor said that just never happens. Are they all overgrown toddlers?

On Friday, my mom came over to spend the day with me. We went to a bookstore, to lunch, and back home. She watched Baby B while I napped and even cleaned my kitchen. It was wonderful to be cared for. I love my mama.

I made it to Celebrate Recovery and actually lasted until 9:45, or so. I enjoyed hearing Johnny Baker's pre-recorded testimony. Small Group was good and talking with friends at Solid Rock was even better. When I coughed, people looked at me with fear and disgust. Admittedly, it does sound pretty horrible.

I spent most of the weekend piddling around the house. On Saturday, we watched Legends of the Guardians (great movie) with the kids, then I took a long nap. Yardboy and I took the curtains out of our bedroom, washed all of the bed linens, put away winter clothes, and loaded the back of my car with clothes to donate. I ran out of steam and breath when all of that was done, so I sat on the couch for the rest of the day. Around 8:30 pm (still in my Sponge Bob pj pants) I went to the gas station near our house to return Legends of the Guardians and pick up Inception (maybe I dreamed that part). I'm still wondering about the ending...

Sunday morning was almost as relaxed as Saturday morning. I made almond butter cinnamon toast and the kids gobbled it up. Yardboy headed to church to drum for the 11:00 service while the kids and I headed to Wal-Mart. We got allergen pillow covers for my bed, organic veggie seeds, one of those up-side-down tomato planters, and a pizza to take home and bake for lunch. The kids were whiny and fought the whole time we were in the store. Grrr.

After lunch, I took a much-needed nap and we got ready to go to our church's new 5:00 pm service. Yardboy had to drum at it too. I really like the idea of going in the evening rather than in the morning!

When we were at church, I realized just how sick I was. I tried to sing, but just didn't have the breath. I used my rescue inhaler four times in two hours (yes, that was more than I'm supposed to take). I made it through the service (which was beautiful and will be the subject of a later post) and asked Yardboy to get the kids from Sunday School.

Once we got loaded up, I told Yardboy that I needed to go to urgent care to get a breathing treatment. We picked up dinner at Wendy's and headed home. After dinner I drove to urgent care.

My oxygen saturation was great at 98-99%, but I was doing a lot of wheezing. The ARNP ordered a nebulizer treatment and wrote a prescription for oral prednisone. She said to go to the emergency room if my symptoms got bad again. Two and a half hours later I returned home, breathing a lot better, but still not great.

I slept reasonably well and called my pulmonologist as soon as his office opened this morning. I'm still waiting for a call back from his nurse. I asked for an appointment. We will see if they give me one. I think I'll call my primary doc and make an appointment for this afternoon, just in case.

If I'm up to it today, I plan to go grocery shopping and drop by my allergist's office to order Tater's shots and discuss my shots (I can't take them when I'm wheezing and have fallen behind).

Keep me in your prayers.