I see that there are, but no one wants to comment. That's ok. This is for my benefit anyway. Meant to give me something to do when I end up on bedrest eventually. It's an outlet for me as well. Foot feels much better today as long as I take the lortab for it. If I go too long between doses (supposed to be every 6 hours,but if I got about 8-9 hours) ohhh watch out. Getting the boot tomorrow so it should start to feel much better without a shoe strapping it in or walking on the hard ground with a sock on.
I can't believe in 6 months we are going to try again. It seems like an impossibly short time. I keep flipping from whether to try in August or in September. I have to factor in the delivery between 35-36 weeks thing here. I am terrified. I have been trying to lose weight but it is not happening. I keep getting roadblocks thrown in my way. First the accident. Then the bad news about my knee. Then my shoulder and neck. Now my foot. It is extremely frustrating. But if I have to well I guess I can still be overweight when I get pregnant. Doctor said it wouldn't make a difference in my case. But at least I would feel like I did something. So we'll let my foot heal for the next 4-6 weeks per the doc. Then get back out there and try again. Till the next thing happens. I am terrified of coming off the Loestrin, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
Too doo loo for now. I have to get ready for work tomorrow.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
What sweet relief it is!
Ok, so an update on last night's post. I was miserable the entire night because the pain was so bad. I havn't slept in a week. I have been sleeping on my back on the couch (which is the most comfortable couch in the world!!) so that I could prop my foot up. Called the dr's office this morning and the secretary offered to have the doc call me. I said no I think I really need to come in because I have questions and stuff. Doc saw me. We are now back to it being fractured but not showing up on xray. She said clinically it is fractured. I asked about it showing up on xrays and she said it doesn't show up till it starts to heal. That takes about 3 weeks. She had ordered Ultram because there was miscommunication that the Lortab was not working. I said no it was working but wasn't killing all of the pain. So she upped it to 10mg to make me more comfortable. She also ordered a boot to immobilize it. We are going to treat it as a stress fracture now. She said a tendon/ligament would be healing by now and the pain less. My pain is right where it was on Monday. So we are working on that. I will call in a couple of weeks and get an xray. If the xray is still negative, then get a bone scan. She said that 50% of them never show up in a study. MRI would not be appropriate because it won't show it. So I have got much better pain relief. The 10mg of Lortab ARE working. My file was marked for an adverse reaction to Ultram. I get a boot on Monday to immobilize it. I call in a couple of weeks for xrays. I am a much happier person now. It was just some misunderstandings with third party communications.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Frusrated
So after my post about my wonderful pcp the other day, she hasn't been so wonderful the last couple of days. I am so frustrated. My dr called me Monday night after going to the hospital to look at my xrays and said my metatarsal was fractured. I had a stress fracture. The degree of pain that I have been having, I totally agree with that. Then the next day I called her because no one had called me from ortho. It is now NOT a stress fracture but ligament/tendon damage. WTH???? I explained to the nurse that this is excruciating pain. She knows. So they call my ortho the next day. Their plan is for me to WALK on my left foot because of the surgery I had on my right knee. They do not want me favoring the left foot at ALL. They are EXTREMELY worried about my right knee which I had surgery on in Dec. So after the nurse told me this I seriously asked her could I please get a shot of painkiller in my foot? Well didn't you get a painkiller? Um no because I had some leftover Lortab. I had 15. Now I have 7. Been taking it about every 6 hours. Ok. I'll talk with the doc. So the nurse calls back the next day (Thurs). She said they called in Ultram. Go look it up and it is for use in moderate to severe pain. Somehow I must have missed the allergy to codeine label but I found that out later that night.
Pick it up at the pharmacy. Immediately take one at 5pm. About an hour later, nauseated and NO relief from pain. Take another at 630pm. Could take 1-2 every 6 hours. Bad idea. It just made me tired. Then I threw up a couple of hours later. Did NOTHING for the pain. Took another one at 1130pm. Same thing. Tired, dizzy, threw up a couple of hours later.
The next day (today - Friday) call the office. medicine makes me tired, dizzy, does not work for pain, and oh it makes me puke. No one returns my call. So, I take it again. This time 2 at once. Maybe I need to take it more and get used to it. Again same thing. Absolutely no pain relief and vomiting. Lesson learned, no more of this med. Check google. Do not take if you have an allergy to codeine. GREAT. I am allergic to codeine. For some reason I could take Lortab (synthetic codeine). It looks like Ultram is a synthetic codeine. But apparently not the same as Lortab as it makes me puke.
Then tonight at dinner, we went out for pizza. Dh hits my foot which led to an involuntary scream by me. Yes, a scream. How embarassing. That's how bad you know it is is when you scream when someone accidently taps it. He was mortified because everyone stared at us. I couldn't help it. Did he think I like screaming for the heck of it. No. He tapped it. It was excruciating and bam scream came out. He says everyone is staring at us. I said sorry it's not like I could help it. Now do you believe me that this is extremely painful.
Why the heck when I describe the pain as excruciating that my dr orders something akin to super Tylenol???? I mad because I paid for a rx that didn't help one iota. Made me puke (which I hate more than anything) , and I am having to bug the daylights out of them to get something. NO ONE called me backed today. I called several times, left one message, and no one picked up on the nurse line. I am considering making an appt for tomorrow so I can get this resolved. I am extremely frustrated at this moment. I think maybe getting an appt tomorrow will be the best thing. But I am getting tired of seeing the doc. Maybe I'll move my office there. I also read that stress fractures do not show up till 3 weeks after the injury. It shows up when it starts healing. So it is entirely possible that I do have a fracture that is not showing up. I don't think it is ligament/tendon issue. I have torn both before and they were never excruciating as this. I really think I need a rexray in a couple of weeks and just give me something for pain. I hate taking pain meds, and I hate asking for them, but this time it is really needed.
But please pray that this gets some resolution. It has been almost a week of excruciating pain with no relief.
Pick it up at the pharmacy. Immediately take one at 5pm. About an hour later, nauseated and NO relief from pain. Take another at 630pm. Could take 1-2 every 6 hours. Bad idea. It just made me tired. Then I threw up a couple of hours later. Did NOTHING for the pain. Took another one at 1130pm. Same thing. Tired, dizzy, threw up a couple of hours later.
The next day (today - Friday) call the office. medicine makes me tired, dizzy, does not work for pain, and oh it makes me puke. No one returns my call. So, I take it again. This time 2 at once. Maybe I need to take it more and get used to it. Again same thing. Absolutely no pain relief and vomiting. Lesson learned, no more of this med. Check google. Do not take if you have an allergy to codeine. GREAT. I am allergic to codeine. For some reason I could take Lortab (synthetic codeine). It looks like Ultram is a synthetic codeine. But apparently not the same as Lortab as it makes me puke.
Then tonight at dinner, we went out for pizza. Dh hits my foot which led to an involuntary scream by me. Yes, a scream. How embarassing. That's how bad you know it is is when you scream when someone accidently taps it. He was mortified because everyone stared at us. I couldn't help it. Did he think I like screaming for the heck of it. No. He tapped it. It was excruciating and bam scream came out. He says everyone is staring at us. I said sorry it's not like I could help it. Now do you believe me that this is extremely painful.
Why the heck when I describe the pain as excruciating that my dr orders something akin to super Tylenol???? I mad because I paid for a rx that didn't help one iota. Made me puke (which I hate more than anything) , and I am having to bug the daylights out of them to get something. NO ONE called me backed today. I called several times, left one message, and no one picked up on the nurse line. I am considering making an appt for tomorrow so I can get this resolved. I am extremely frustrated at this moment. I think maybe getting an appt tomorrow will be the best thing. But I am getting tired of seeing the doc. Maybe I'll move my office there. I also read that stress fractures do not show up till 3 weeks after the injury. It shows up when it starts healing. So it is entirely possible that I do have a fracture that is not showing up. I don't think it is ligament/tendon issue. I have torn both before and they were never excruciating as this. I really think I need a rexray in a couple of weeks and just give me something for pain. I hate taking pain meds, and I hate asking for them, but this time it is really needed.
But please pray that this gets some resolution. It has been almost a week of excruciating pain with no relief.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Wonderful drs
I absolutely love our pcp. You see I always hated drs. You couldn't get me to see a dr to save my life. I grew up in the military healthcare system. I was born in a military hospital. I had never seen a civilian dr till I was pregnant with K. Then that dr was Belgian and I totally lost my trust and faith in her. She didn't do what she should have done. She didn't run the tests for pe. She told me I was ok. That the military drs were wrong. Then the crap hit the fan. Had she have run all of the tests and watching me like a hawk, would I have gotten as sick as I did? Not one blood test. Not one 24 hr urine. Not one NST. Not one doppler blood flow study. All of these tests are tests that are REQUIRED for pe, pih and hellp syndrome. I had none of them till she dumped me in the hospital for "observation". Only to find out I was delivering soon and I was a very very sick momma. So you can understand the mistrust that I have had for drs over the years. I never saw the same military dr twice (except when pregnant with K). A military dr diagnosed me with indigestion when it was really hellp syndrome with K.
It took me 5 years to take the plunge for S. I just dove in. I had a pcp that was ok. But I didn't really click with her. I am sure she is great for some people, but we didn't have that thing. I changed drs shortly before getting pregnant with K. It went from bad to worse. This place was awful. Lots of charity care, the office was dingy and dirty, staff was cold, and the dr was arrogant. However, I saw my ob's office most of the time when pregnant. I did get lucky, they sent me to my obgyn that I think is fabulous.
My obgyn was awesome when I was pregnant. He had very little to work with. Just a discharge sheet in French that said severe pe at 35 weeks. Delivery at 36 weeks. 5lbs 1oz. That's it. He took my word that I got very ill and watched me like a hawk. He sent me to a fabulous peri, Dr. W. Even though she graduated from Clemson University (die hard University of SC fan here), I forgave him for it. She was fabulous. She was my advocate. She was the one that called it quits when it came time for delivery. She knew that I was not done with having babies yet before I did. She was one that told me it was ok. My ob, is really great. He cares about his patients, he still gets a thrill when your baby kicks at the doppler. Did you feel that, that's really neat. He includes your children in your visit. He tells you it's ok to feel the way that you do after having a baby (major anxiety and ppd issues here when S was born). He had the nurses call me at home to check my bp numbers (and sometimes to make sure I was in bed!). He was kind. I went through a lot with him. A high risk pregnancy. A severe uterine and ecoli infection the week after S was born. An emergency d&c to remove an infected amniotic bag that stuck to my uterine wall. PPD. He saw me for 4 months after S was born for my bp. He told me it was ok to want another baby after everything we had gone through. He also let me know how scared he was that something could go wrong. Let's face it, I was running a bp of 160/120 while on strict bedrest with 2000 mg of Aldomet and 60mg of Procardia a day. He delivered at just the right moment. He ran interference with the nurses and tried to do the worrying for me. I also went through endometriosis with him. he let me know that I could call anytime from whatever state I was traveling in if there was a problem. I had a lap with him and he took down adhesions. He has been working with me on getting things taken care of before ttc the next baby. Which most of his nurses think I am crazy for ever considering. He has a great sense of humor to top it all off with. I know that I want him to take care of me the next time too.
Then there is my pcp that I have now. I switched to Dr. L after S was born and the nurse for my obgyn said that my pcp would be following my bp. I didn't like my previous pcp. He was arrogant. Showed off and everything. I just hated going there. I immediately liked Dr. L when I met her. Her offices were clean, new, well decorated. Her staff extremely friendly. Dr L came in and took her time with appts. She makes you a partner in your healthcare. If I ask questions from things that I have researched. She knows I have researched them well in advance of me asking them. She doesn't belittle the oh you got that off the internet. She says I am sensible about such things. While she doesn't agree with me trying again. She has figured if you can't beat them, join them. So she is working with Dr. E this fall to help me. She will be working on changing the bp meds and monitoring them. Then when I get a positive test, Dr E will take care of all that. Dr. L takes her time with you. She thoroughly explains stuff to you. She also will explain why you need this test, etc. I liked her so much that my dh switched to her. I thought with my girls, I really wanted her to take care of them because she was the one I trusted. Dr L is a family practice dr. She knows I know how to manage my daughters asthma meds. She doesn't take over that, she guides it. She knows if I call and say K needs prednisone, K really does need it. She precepts med school students and I like that she gives back to the community. The best part is that my girls LOVE Dr L. She is the first dr to give them shots where they don't cry. None of the peds in the city use that freezy stuff like her. When D gives the shots, she cries and asks if they still will be her best buds. M is a nurse trying for a baby too. S has 4 children of her own. I really enjoy our talks when we come in. She thinks it is really cool that I can go and negotiate things. I think it is cool that she is such a special dr.
I was in a car accident where a 17 year old kid hit me and totaled my car and his. My knee went into the dashboard and was bruised and cut. I saw Dr L the next day due to my husband's urging. I thought I was just a little sore. Hah, she said you are going to be hurting bad by the end of the week. She was right. I ended up having to do PT and robaxin for my shoulder and neck. It got somewhat better but still hurt. My knee progressively got worse. When it started giving out and I started to fall down. I went and saw her. She immediately said I had a torn meniscus and sent me for a MRI. The MRI place messed up (so much so that my ortho now sends MRIs to be read out of town). It was read as normal. Dr. l said I believe you have this pain that you are saying. PT made it worse. So she tried a nerve blocker which helped. When no fault started denying claims, she went to bat for me. Finally I requested as a last ditch effort to see an ortho. He immediately did an arthoscopy and my knee was totally torn up. Plica was irritated and inflamed and removed. Meniscus was torn and partially removed. The cartlidge underneath my kneecap was shredded. It had to be debrided and removed. Last my knee cap was totally offcenter and not in the groove. So I had about a 5 inch incision made arthroscopically in the inside of my knee to cut through the tendons to free my kneecap. Dr. L was right and believed me when I said something was not right. Had the MRI been read right we would have been on the right track. I don't blame Dr. L for that at all. I have just completed over 4 months of PT for my knee.
Which gets me to what I love about Dr. L. She knows me well. She knows I am a mother bear to my girls. She knows that I am stubborn and active and have a hard time taking it easy. She knows that I negotiate for a living so she tries to work with that (she has been working hard on me to try and do work from home at work). She knows I will research whatever is going on. Last Sat night while turning off the lights to the house, I tripped. I didn't fall on my butt. I honestly I don't remember how I landed. I just know that the outside of my foot (where the first metatarsal is) hurt. It was more of an annoyance than anything else. I was off work for Monday because it was my birthday (I don't work birthdays). I ended up being off work cause S was sick from daycare. Weds - Fri I worked but was firmly planted at my desk. Sat I worked all day and was planted on the couch on my laptop for work. Sunday was a beautiful day and I decided to take S for a stroller ride (she thoroughly enjoyed it). I however started having pain in that foot. I thought I might have overdid it. I am still recovering that knee you know. It got worse and worse throughout the day. By nighttime it was excruciating and I was near tears. My foot hurt so bad. I ended up at 130am this morning taking a 7.5mg Lortab from my knee and 800 mg of motrin. I elevated it. I iced it. But still bad pain. I went to work. I couldn't wear my shoe so I walked in my sock foot. I called the office and made an appt to be seen this evening (mondays are evening hours). When I called S asked so why do you need to be seen. I broke my foot. Seriously. Yes. Tell her patient was stupid, tripped over S's toy, and broke her foot. S laughed and said see you tonight. I get there tonight near tears because the pain was so bad. I tried to elevate and ice it at work. But it still hurt really bad. D&M come out to look at my foot. I threaten them with death if they tough it (jokingly of course). Dr L comes in and immediately says yes I think you are right, it is probably fractured. I even had the bone and everything nailed too (confirmed by xray). Dr L was fabulous. She sent me immediately to the hospital to get an xray. The xray tech when I asked if it was fractured said I am not a radiologist but yes it appears that way. Come here and see. There it was. A dark line on my first metatarsal. She called Dr. L because Dr L had called ahead and said she wanted the results asap. Dr L had told me what my options were probably going to be if it was fractured. Phalanges get taped together. Metatarsals get a soft cast with boot or a hard cast walking cast. She knows I loathe crutches. So She said I could probably get away without them. So the tech calls her and they send me home. The plan was if it was fractured to see if my ortho was on call. She wanted to talk with him only because she was concerned that now that my foot was fractured that I would be putting all my weight on my bad knee. Seeing that I had been walking on it all week, a little sleep on it was not going to hurt it. I get home, and D calls and asks how late can Dr L call. I said she can call anytime. She says Dr L is going to the hospital to review your films!!! How many pcps go and review a patients xray. Sure enough she sees clear as day, the fracture. She made some calls. One to the radiologist. The next to see if my ortho was on call (he wasn't). She made arrangements for tomorrow. My ortho does surgery on Tuesdays. So she is calling him first thing to see what needs to be done (cast or boot). He will call her back and review my films between surgeries. In the meantime, ice and elevate it. Yes I can go to work if I do those things. Good thing I have a desk job. She asks if I have enough Lortab. Um yeah I have 15. Enough to get me through a week at least. She said it was ok to take for my foot. She went above and beyond. She spent about 20 minutes on the phone answering different questions I had about options. If I get a hard walking cast can I bear weight on it? How long for it to heal? Will it need surgery (it was a clean break, YEAH). She has listened to my hopes (healthy girls, baby, and family). She has listened to my fears (can we get meningitis from mil, what if I die from HBP, what about stroke). I changed my girls to her cause I trust her. If something were to go wrong, I want her to be the one to tell me. If I have another baby, I want her to be checking my baby out. She is fabulous. She is a wonderful dr. I appreciate how much she took care of me tonight. I mean how many pcps run out to the hospital from their office to personally look at xrays???? I can 't think of one that I have had yet (except Dr E who wanted to know about the US when I had the emergency d&c and talked with the radiologist). How do you thank someone that takes care of you. That tells you when your child gets a mysterious illness right after your mil gets deathly ill and tells you you have every right to be concerned. She has never poo pooed me.
I am sure she gets her crazy patients. I always thought I was one of them. But she says no. I really appreciate my pcp, my obgyn, my ortho (although it took me a while to warm up to him), and my peri. You guys are the best. You have sucky hours, deal with difficult patients, get sucky reimbursements from insurance companies. But yet you soldier on and provide loving, nurturing care. It is one of the reasons that I even though I am a southern girl, probably won't move. I have never had drs that have cared for us like this before. To find 4 drs in different specialties is a rare and beautiful thing. So my hat off to you.
And Dr L, thank you for jumping into action today and making things happen. I was worried that I was overreacting a bit, but I also knew it was broken. You never once said nope, not broken. You sent me in for an xray, called to let people know you wanted results. I really do appreciate it. I am glad that I and my family are your patients.
It took me 5 years to take the plunge for S. I just dove in. I had a pcp that was ok. But I didn't really click with her. I am sure she is great for some people, but we didn't have that thing. I changed drs shortly before getting pregnant with K. It went from bad to worse. This place was awful. Lots of charity care, the office was dingy and dirty, staff was cold, and the dr was arrogant. However, I saw my ob's office most of the time when pregnant. I did get lucky, they sent me to my obgyn that I think is fabulous.
My obgyn was awesome when I was pregnant. He had very little to work with. Just a discharge sheet in French that said severe pe at 35 weeks. Delivery at 36 weeks. 5lbs 1oz. That's it. He took my word that I got very ill and watched me like a hawk. He sent me to a fabulous peri, Dr. W. Even though she graduated from Clemson University (die hard University of SC fan here), I forgave him for it. She was fabulous. She was my advocate. She was the one that called it quits when it came time for delivery. She knew that I was not done with having babies yet before I did. She was one that told me it was ok. My ob, is really great. He cares about his patients, he still gets a thrill when your baby kicks at the doppler. Did you feel that, that's really neat. He includes your children in your visit. He tells you it's ok to feel the way that you do after having a baby (major anxiety and ppd issues here when S was born). He had the nurses call me at home to check my bp numbers (and sometimes to make sure I was in bed!). He was kind. I went through a lot with him. A high risk pregnancy. A severe uterine and ecoli infection the week after S was born. An emergency d&c to remove an infected amniotic bag that stuck to my uterine wall. PPD. He saw me for 4 months after S was born for my bp. He told me it was ok to want another baby after everything we had gone through. He also let me know how scared he was that something could go wrong. Let's face it, I was running a bp of 160/120 while on strict bedrest with 2000 mg of Aldomet and 60mg of Procardia a day. He delivered at just the right moment. He ran interference with the nurses and tried to do the worrying for me. I also went through endometriosis with him. he let me know that I could call anytime from whatever state I was traveling in if there was a problem. I had a lap with him and he took down adhesions. He has been working with me on getting things taken care of before ttc the next baby. Which most of his nurses think I am crazy for ever considering. He has a great sense of humor to top it all off with. I know that I want him to take care of me the next time too.
Then there is my pcp that I have now. I switched to Dr. L after S was born and the nurse for my obgyn said that my pcp would be following my bp. I didn't like my previous pcp. He was arrogant. Showed off and everything. I just hated going there. I immediately liked Dr. L when I met her. Her offices were clean, new, well decorated. Her staff extremely friendly. Dr L came in and took her time with appts. She makes you a partner in your healthcare. If I ask questions from things that I have researched. She knows I have researched them well in advance of me asking them. She doesn't belittle the oh you got that off the internet. She says I am sensible about such things. While she doesn't agree with me trying again. She has figured if you can't beat them, join them. So she is working with Dr. E this fall to help me. She will be working on changing the bp meds and monitoring them. Then when I get a positive test, Dr E will take care of all that. Dr. L takes her time with you. She thoroughly explains stuff to you. She also will explain why you need this test, etc. I liked her so much that my dh switched to her. I thought with my girls, I really wanted her to take care of them because she was the one I trusted. Dr L is a family practice dr. She knows I know how to manage my daughters asthma meds. She doesn't take over that, she guides it. She knows if I call and say K needs prednisone, K really does need it. She precepts med school students and I like that she gives back to the community. The best part is that my girls LOVE Dr L. She is the first dr to give them shots where they don't cry. None of the peds in the city use that freezy stuff like her. When D gives the shots, she cries and asks if they still will be her best buds. M is a nurse trying for a baby too. S has 4 children of her own. I really enjoy our talks when we come in. She thinks it is really cool that I can go and negotiate things. I think it is cool that she is such a special dr.
I was in a car accident where a 17 year old kid hit me and totaled my car and his. My knee went into the dashboard and was bruised and cut. I saw Dr L the next day due to my husband's urging. I thought I was just a little sore. Hah, she said you are going to be hurting bad by the end of the week. She was right. I ended up having to do PT and robaxin for my shoulder and neck. It got somewhat better but still hurt. My knee progressively got worse. When it started giving out and I started to fall down. I went and saw her. She immediately said I had a torn meniscus and sent me for a MRI. The MRI place messed up (so much so that my ortho now sends MRIs to be read out of town). It was read as normal. Dr. l said I believe you have this pain that you are saying. PT made it worse. So she tried a nerve blocker which helped. When no fault started denying claims, she went to bat for me. Finally I requested as a last ditch effort to see an ortho. He immediately did an arthoscopy and my knee was totally torn up. Plica was irritated and inflamed and removed. Meniscus was torn and partially removed. The cartlidge underneath my kneecap was shredded. It had to be debrided and removed. Last my knee cap was totally offcenter and not in the groove. So I had about a 5 inch incision made arthroscopically in the inside of my knee to cut through the tendons to free my kneecap. Dr. L was right and believed me when I said something was not right. Had the MRI been read right we would have been on the right track. I don't blame Dr. L for that at all. I have just completed over 4 months of PT for my knee.
Which gets me to what I love about Dr. L. She knows me well. She knows I am a mother bear to my girls. She knows that I am stubborn and active and have a hard time taking it easy. She knows that I negotiate for a living so she tries to work with that (she has been working hard on me to try and do work from home at work). She knows I will research whatever is going on. Last Sat night while turning off the lights to the house, I tripped. I didn't fall on my butt. I honestly I don't remember how I landed. I just know that the outside of my foot (where the first metatarsal is) hurt. It was more of an annoyance than anything else. I was off work for Monday because it was my birthday (I don't work birthdays). I ended up being off work cause S was sick from daycare. Weds - Fri I worked but was firmly planted at my desk. Sat I worked all day and was planted on the couch on my laptop for work. Sunday was a beautiful day and I decided to take S for a stroller ride (she thoroughly enjoyed it). I however started having pain in that foot. I thought I might have overdid it. I am still recovering that knee you know. It got worse and worse throughout the day. By nighttime it was excruciating and I was near tears. My foot hurt so bad. I ended up at 130am this morning taking a 7.5mg Lortab from my knee and 800 mg of motrin. I elevated it. I iced it. But still bad pain. I went to work. I couldn't wear my shoe so I walked in my sock foot. I called the office and made an appt to be seen this evening (mondays are evening hours). When I called S asked so why do you need to be seen. I broke my foot. Seriously. Yes. Tell her patient was stupid, tripped over S's toy, and broke her foot. S laughed and said see you tonight. I get there tonight near tears because the pain was so bad. I tried to elevate and ice it at work. But it still hurt really bad. D&M come out to look at my foot. I threaten them with death if they tough it (jokingly of course). Dr L comes in and immediately says yes I think you are right, it is probably fractured. I even had the bone and everything nailed too (confirmed by xray). Dr L was fabulous. She sent me immediately to the hospital to get an xray. The xray tech when I asked if it was fractured said I am not a radiologist but yes it appears that way. Come here and see. There it was. A dark line on my first metatarsal. She called Dr. L because Dr L had called ahead and said she wanted the results asap. Dr L had told me what my options were probably going to be if it was fractured. Phalanges get taped together. Metatarsals get a soft cast with boot or a hard cast walking cast. She knows I loathe crutches. So She said I could probably get away without them. So the tech calls her and they send me home. The plan was if it was fractured to see if my ortho was on call. She wanted to talk with him only because she was concerned that now that my foot was fractured that I would be putting all my weight on my bad knee. Seeing that I had been walking on it all week, a little sleep on it was not going to hurt it. I get home, and D calls and asks how late can Dr L call. I said she can call anytime. She says Dr L is going to the hospital to review your films!!! How many pcps go and review a patients xray. Sure enough she sees clear as day, the fracture. She made some calls. One to the radiologist. The next to see if my ortho was on call (he wasn't). She made arrangements for tomorrow. My ortho does surgery on Tuesdays. So she is calling him first thing to see what needs to be done (cast or boot). He will call her back and review my films between surgeries. In the meantime, ice and elevate it. Yes I can go to work if I do those things. Good thing I have a desk job. She asks if I have enough Lortab. Um yeah I have 15. Enough to get me through a week at least. She said it was ok to take for my foot. She went above and beyond. She spent about 20 minutes on the phone answering different questions I had about options. If I get a hard walking cast can I bear weight on it? How long for it to heal? Will it need surgery (it was a clean break, YEAH). She has listened to my hopes (healthy girls, baby, and family). She has listened to my fears (can we get meningitis from mil, what if I die from HBP, what about stroke). I changed my girls to her cause I trust her. If something were to go wrong, I want her to be the one to tell me. If I have another baby, I want her to be checking my baby out. She is fabulous. She is a wonderful dr. I appreciate how much she took care of me tonight. I mean how many pcps run out to the hospital from their office to personally look at xrays???? I can 't think of one that I have had yet (except Dr E who wanted to know about the US when I had the emergency d&c and talked with the radiologist). How do you thank someone that takes care of you. That tells you when your child gets a mysterious illness right after your mil gets deathly ill and tells you you have every right to be concerned. She has never poo pooed me.
I am sure she gets her crazy patients. I always thought I was one of them. But she says no. I really appreciate my pcp, my obgyn, my ortho (although it took me a while to warm up to him), and my peri. You guys are the best. You have sucky hours, deal with difficult patients, get sucky reimbursements from insurance companies. But yet you soldier on and provide loving, nurturing care. It is one of the reasons that I even though I am a southern girl, probably won't move. I have never had drs that have cared for us like this before. To find 4 drs in different specialties is a rare and beautiful thing. So my hat off to you.
And Dr L, thank you for jumping into action today and making things happen. I was worried that I was overreacting a bit, but I also knew it was broken. You never once said nope, not broken. You sent me in for an xray, called to let people know you wanted results. I really do appreciate it. I am glad that I and my family are your patients.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
I am such a slacker lately
Oh my where do I begin. Life has been extremely busy. I have been working a ton of OT due to short staff and lots of projects. So I have been getting home much later at night. Throw in PT twice a week, chiropractor appts, S getting sick, mil in the hospital, and well you can see why my poor blog has been neglected.
Mil came down sick with strep pnuemo meningitis two weeks ago. Two nights later, I pick up S from daycare and she was running a high temp. I never did get an accurate read on her because she would not cooperate. But suffice it to say that it was 100.7 on Tylenol in the ER and dropped to 100.3 with Motrin and Tylenol in the ER. Never did figure out what she had except it was bacterial in origin. She had iv antibiotics and massive oral antibiotics. Which gave her messy diapers. She is much better now. Thanks! Oh and so is Mil.
I have endo and had adhesions removed on 10/9 through a lap. I think because I had knee surgery shortly after on 12/26, that the pain killers from that have masked some of the pain from the endo and adhesions. I am fairly certain the adhesions are back as well as the endo. Even though my obgyn said he did not see active lesions, well he is just a regular obgyn and not a specialist. I think when we have the next baby that I am going to ask for a referral to an endo specialist. There is one out of network 30 minutes away that is a specialist and comes highly recommended. I had no risk factors for the adhesions. I also think I have an adhesion where the lower incision was made. It wasn't a big incision, but it hurts every now and then. Especially when I move in certain ways.
I am getting worried about going off my regimen for keeping the endo and adhesions at bay in October. Currently, I am on Loestrin continuously. Then Prometrium days 12-21 of the pill pack. My obgyn does not want me to have any bleeding at all. Bleeding = endo and more adhesions and pain. So the protocol if I break through is to start prometrium immediately. Unfortunately after almost 5 months of no problems. BAM, it hit me. Had pain on the lower right pelvic side. Oh it hurt. So I took some of my left over medicine from my knee surgery and that helped it. But I knew it should have been coming because the signs were there. I had three days of breakthrough. Prometrium stopped it and worked like a charm.
I have been off pain meds (motrin and lortab) from my knee surgery for awhile. I only take it once in a while when it is bad. Now I am noticing that the lower incision hurts once in a while so I am really worried that I am in for it when I stop the pill. Dr. E said that we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Plus I had all kinds of other issues for those three - four days that is TMI for here.
Wow not that long to go. Kind of scary. You know we have been waiting ever since S was born to try again. But now it is only several months away. Will I have panic attacks going in again?? I admit, that I have such anxiety in going to my obgyns office. Can't help it. It feels like a lead ball in your stomach and that you are waiting for the other foot to drop. But we have to have faith that things will be ok. This time I am sooooo much more educated. I know the right questions to ask, what are acceptable responses, and I know me and what is and isn't normal. I know my drs will watch me like a hawk. They have already stated as much. Well we are not getting any younger. While I like the idea of 4 kids. My dh says he is getting too old. My body hates pregnancy as my peri put it. So the next one will be the last.
I havn't checked my bp since I was in the obgyns's office for an annual exam back in early February. It was good. I don't remember the exact numbers but it was really really good. In five months, I will be changing to yucky Aldomet and running a 24 hr urine. I really hope that there is no protein in my urine. So all we have to do is get through the summer and then it is baby time.
I am worried about a lot of things. I have been given the clear on my knee. I can start walking again! PT graduated me tonight and sent me out in the world with a tens machine for pain relief. I don't know about that thing. It made my knee hurt worse tonight than it did before I put it on. Maybe I don't have it on the right cycle. I worry that my knee will never get completely healed. I worry that I won't lose the 40lbs that I need to lose in order to get the "good" disability plan at work. I plan on hitting it hard next week. Maybe K can ride her new scooter and S can ride in the stroller. I can't go far anyway. I worry about my leave status. Did I mention that I don't have alot. I really really hope to try and get work at home when pregnant next time. It would make life so much easier, but I know my boss will give me a hard time. I worry about finances. I worry about getting sick again. I worry about the baby's health and my own. I worry how my girls that I already have will deal with everything.
Ok, enough of the pity party. Time to move on. So I am not going to post my weight but I am down 4 lbs from 2 weeks ago. Not to shabby for not exercising at all or cutting back in food.
Mil came down sick with strep pnuemo meningitis two weeks ago. Two nights later, I pick up S from daycare and she was running a high temp. I never did get an accurate read on her because she would not cooperate. But suffice it to say that it was 100.7 on Tylenol in the ER and dropped to 100.3 with Motrin and Tylenol in the ER. Never did figure out what she had except it was bacterial in origin. She had iv antibiotics and massive oral antibiotics. Which gave her messy diapers. She is much better now. Thanks! Oh and so is Mil.
I have endo and had adhesions removed on 10/9 through a lap. I think because I had knee surgery shortly after on 12/26, that the pain killers from that have masked some of the pain from the endo and adhesions. I am fairly certain the adhesions are back as well as the endo. Even though my obgyn said he did not see active lesions, well he is just a regular obgyn and not a specialist. I think when we have the next baby that I am going to ask for a referral to an endo specialist. There is one out of network 30 minutes away that is a specialist and comes highly recommended. I had no risk factors for the adhesions. I also think I have an adhesion where the lower incision was made. It wasn't a big incision, but it hurts every now and then. Especially when I move in certain ways.
I am getting worried about going off my regimen for keeping the endo and adhesions at bay in October. Currently, I am on Loestrin continuously. Then Prometrium days 12-21 of the pill pack. My obgyn does not want me to have any bleeding at all. Bleeding = endo and more adhesions and pain. So the protocol if I break through is to start prometrium immediately. Unfortunately after almost 5 months of no problems. BAM, it hit me. Had pain on the lower right pelvic side. Oh it hurt. So I took some of my left over medicine from my knee surgery and that helped it. But I knew it should have been coming because the signs were there. I had three days of breakthrough. Prometrium stopped it and worked like a charm.
I have been off pain meds (motrin and lortab) from my knee surgery for awhile. I only take it once in a while when it is bad. Now I am noticing that the lower incision hurts once in a while so I am really worried that I am in for it when I stop the pill. Dr. E said that we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Plus I had all kinds of other issues for those three - four days that is TMI for here.
Wow not that long to go. Kind of scary. You know we have been waiting ever since S was born to try again. But now it is only several months away. Will I have panic attacks going in again?? I admit, that I have such anxiety in going to my obgyns office. Can't help it. It feels like a lead ball in your stomach and that you are waiting for the other foot to drop. But we have to have faith that things will be ok. This time I am sooooo much more educated. I know the right questions to ask, what are acceptable responses, and I know me and what is and isn't normal. I know my drs will watch me like a hawk. They have already stated as much. Well we are not getting any younger. While I like the idea of 4 kids. My dh says he is getting too old. My body hates pregnancy as my peri put it. So the next one will be the last.
I havn't checked my bp since I was in the obgyns's office for an annual exam back in early February. It was good. I don't remember the exact numbers but it was really really good. In five months, I will be changing to yucky Aldomet and running a 24 hr urine. I really hope that there is no protein in my urine. So all we have to do is get through the summer and then it is baby time.
I am worried about a lot of things. I have been given the clear on my knee. I can start walking again! PT graduated me tonight and sent me out in the world with a tens machine for pain relief. I don't know about that thing. It made my knee hurt worse tonight than it did before I put it on. Maybe I don't have it on the right cycle. I worry that my knee will never get completely healed. I worry that I won't lose the 40lbs that I need to lose in order to get the "good" disability plan at work. I plan on hitting it hard next week. Maybe K can ride her new scooter and S can ride in the stroller. I can't go far anyway. I worry about my leave status. Did I mention that I don't have alot. I really really hope to try and get work at home when pregnant next time. It would make life so much easier, but I know my boss will give me a hard time. I worry about finances. I worry about getting sick again. I worry about the baby's health and my own. I worry how my girls that I already have will deal with everything.
Ok, enough of the pity party. Time to move on. So I am not going to post my weight but I am down 4 lbs from 2 weeks ago. Not to shabby for not exercising at all or cutting back in food.
Monday, April 9, 2007
I'm still here
Just a LOT going on at home and at work right now. Plus when I had some downtime, Blogger wouldn't let me in! I will post more later!
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