Foot-related medical stuff

[cjsmith]

Feet:

Called the NY doctor to plan trip.
He said he wanted me there for two weeks.
I said AAAAACK!
He said oh okaaaayy, get these three tests done locally, and then we'll make plan B.

So I have an appointment with my GP on Monday, and I have a prescription mailed from New York for these tests. I am scared to think what they will all cost.

Other, also mostly feet:

I switched gynecologists because mine closed his practice.
My new doc wanted a glucose tolerance test, with several other tests thrown in.

She also wants me tested for Lyme Disease, which I will go do as soon as either of my arms heals up. Lyme can attack joints and show nothing on an MRI. Lyme is also one of those lifelong diseases: once you've got it, you're forever waiting for the next flareup. Lyme is best treated immediately. Me, if I do have it I've had it for seventeen years. Not much hope there. I'm torn between hoping I don't have it, because goodness knows I don't need another lifelong health problem, and hoping I do, because if my foot problems are Lyme then what I have is something doctors have heard of. That alone would have immense value.

She also gave me injectable B-vitamin supplements. I am getting better about needles, really I am. I didn't get woozy at all during the glucose tolerance test. I even know how to do subcutaneous injections. I've done them for years on my cat. I know how to prepare the syringe. I have alcohol swabs. So I sat there looking at the needle in one hand and the fold of my own skin in the other... and stayed that way for about twenty minutes before I gave up. It's just not going to happen. I think I will ask a diabetic coworker and see if she's willing to be on the other end of the syringe for my first one. :-( [edit: She was. It went fine. I am so grateful!]

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Scary stuff. Gah. I suppose at least I'd have an explanation, and that would be worth a lot...

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Explanations are worth everything sometimes!

I have TMJ (well-managed now, thank goodness) - when I first developed the migraines that go with it so often (at 16) the doctors all said it was a psychosomatic response to having my wisdom teeth removed.

Ten years later I was given a physical reason.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh yikes. That's awful.

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Nah, it's just what happens when you take an isolated approach to medical problems - had anyone looked much beyond the symptoms they'd have found the answers much sooner. It's not like I didn't already know I had issues - I just didn't need Doctors adding new ones! :D

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Sure, but ten years without knowing is rough. I feel for ya. Glad you finally got an explanation!

[tryslora]

That's why I mentioned it. Sometimes, even if it's not a good answer, just KNOWING something is such a relief.

I hope that some answer comes back in the blood, or from the dude in NYC. I'm keeping all my fingers crossed for you!!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, even if it's not a good answer, just KNOWING something is such a relief.

No kidding! Some days I envy people with really nasty diagnoses, simply because they HAVE diagnoses. This is partially silly, of course, but partially very real and sane.

Thanks for the finger-crossing. I'll take all the help I can get! :-)