So much for us not having water in our basement. When I got up this morning there was water in the basement. I should have kept my mouth shut last night!!!
Check out the photography tab for some photos that I took today of the flooding at my Pap's house along the Susquehanna River.
Taking it one day at a time!!!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Thursdays' Thunder
Well, I guess we really didn't have thunder today just the rain. I'm thankful that we don't live near any bodies of water and that our basement is dry. I feel bad for the ones out there where that is not the case.
Nothing exciting happened today. It was just a weary, dreary rainy day. I did get some good news from work. My boss emailed me and told me that once my FMLA runs out that I will then be put on extended medical leave. Hopefully I don't get to that point, but it is a little load off my shoulders.
Now I just have to wait to hear from Temple as to whether or not the insurance approves the tests and procedures. They will call and let me know and if approved we can then schedule the appointments.
As of now my next GI appointment is at Geisinger at the end of the month. It's with my primary doctor I had been dealing with before going to Temple. I don't really care for him anyways, but I'm just concerned that what he may want to do or try (not like he does anyways) will interfere with the Temple doc. In my opinion Temple is calling the shots now and I know last appointment he was mentioning some different tests to run just because. Oh well, time will tell. Hopefully I will have heard back from Temple by then and it won't be an issue
Taking it one day at a time!!!
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Temple Appointment!!
Here is the update with how the appointment went yesterday. After all the traveling and everything I was really tired and wore out when I finally got home thus no update yesterday. Lets just say I definitely am not looking forward to traveling there all the time. Traffic in Philadelphia is not very fun. On the way home to travel 15 minutes down took 1.5 hours on the way home. It took us 1.5 hours to get 10 miles from the hospital. Not fun!!!
Yesterday I had my appointment at Temple. The doctor is a lot older than the picture on the Temple website looked. Based on the picture I thought he was a younger doctor. Overall, the appointment went fairly well. I didn't walk out disgusted like I have with some other GI doctor appointments. I do have to say he is a little forgetful. I was in his office with him for over an hour just going through my chart and asking a bunch of questions. That is all that happened at the appointment. A bunch of questions and reviewing my chart he had to get the whole story on what's been going on for the past 5 years. I may have been on the exam table for 1 min, not quite sure if it was that long. At least he realizes how things are and thinks that things need done. I'm hopeful that good things will come out of seeing him and going to Temple.
He wants to do lots of blood work which I can get done at Geisinger or through my home health nurses. He wants to do a smart pill study which is where I swallow two pills and then I wear a receiver which tracks and records what the pills do for the next 5 days. After 5 days I go back and they will do an x-ray and then they want to do an anorectal manometry. That test I don't think will be too fun since its involving enemas - enough said. He also wants an EGD, esophageal manometry and Botox injection. Those can all be done in one procedure during the EGD. I'm sure your wondering what the botox injection is for and what it does. They inject botox into the valve between the bottom of your stomach and the small intestines. The botox keeps the valve partway open with hopes that it will allow the stomach to drain. All of the tests besides the blood work are pending approval of insurance which they said will take probably 2-3 weeks yet and then they can schedule the appointments if they are approved. I definitely don't have much faith when it comes to the insurance approving all of this especially since the botox injection is still experimental. He did say I would be a good candidate for the pacemaker except the fact that I am so young. If that is the only option left though he would do it. He did tell me though that there may be nothing that he does or tries that will help me.
I guess I will be on TPN awhile longer until we can figure something out or unless one of these procedures work. When he first met me and started going through my story he did ask me if there was one thing he could fix what would it be. None of my other doctor have asked that before.
I was hoping to soon be able to get back to work but I guess it is a little unrealistic right now, especially for the work I do. Maybe they will be able to work with me and have paperwork or something like that I could do for a couple hours a week. I'm just worried about using all my FMLA time and losing my job which would result in losing insurance and I don't even want to go there or think about that yet.
I just have to remember that all things work together for our good!!!
Taking it one day at a time!!!
Yesterday I had my appointment at Temple. The doctor is a lot older than the picture on the Temple website looked. Based on the picture I thought he was a younger doctor. Overall, the appointment went fairly well. I didn't walk out disgusted like I have with some other GI doctor appointments. I do have to say he is a little forgetful. I was in his office with him for over an hour just going through my chart and asking a bunch of questions. That is all that happened at the appointment. A bunch of questions and reviewing my chart he had to get the whole story on what's been going on for the past 5 years. I may have been on the exam table for 1 min, not quite sure if it was that long. At least he realizes how things are and thinks that things need done. I'm hopeful that good things will come out of seeing him and going to Temple.
He wants to do lots of blood work which I can get done at Geisinger or through my home health nurses. He wants to do a smart pill study which is where I swallow two pills and then I wear a receiver which tracks and records what the pills do for the next 5 days. After 5 days I go back and they will do an x-ray and then they want to do an anorectal manometry. That test I don't think will be too fun since its involving enemas - enough said. He also wants an EGD, esophageal manometry and Botox injection. Those can all be done in one procedure during the EGD. I'm sure your wondering what the botox injection is for and what it does. They inject botox into the valve between the bottom of your stomach and the small intestines. The botox keeps the valve partway open with hopes that it will allow the stomach to drain. All of the tests besides the blood work are pending approval of insurance which they said will take probably 2-3 weeks yet and then they can schedule the appointments if they are approved. I definitely don't have much faith when it comes to the insurance approving all of this especially since the botox injection is still experimental. He did say I would be a good candidate for the pacemaker except the fact that I am so young. If that is the only option left though he would do it. He did tell me though that there may be nothing that he does or tries that will help me.
I guess I will be on TPN awhile longer until we can figure something out or unless one of these procedures work. When he first met me and started going through my story he did ask me if there was one thing he could fix what would it be. None of my other doctor have asked that before.
I was hoping to soon be able to get back to work but I guess it is a little unrealistic right now, especially for the work I do. Maybe they will be able to work with me and have paperwork or something like that I could do for a couple hours a week. I'm just worried about using all my FMLA time and losing my job which would result in losing insurance and I don't even want to go there or think about that yet.
I just have to remember that all things work together for our good!!!
Taking it one day at a time!!!
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Temple Appointment Almost Here!!!
I had a post written for yesterday and had posted it and then I deleted it. It was a real personal post and I didn't feel brave enough to share it yet. Maybe someday I will, maybe I never will - who knows.
This is going to be an exciting week, hopefully in a good way! Hoping to get the ball rolling come Tuesday to see what can be done and what needs to be done. I have started writing a list of questions to ask the doctor, so I'm prepared. I even asked Mom to come up with some questions that she would like answered. I haven't decided if I'm having her go into the room with me yet or not. I tend to not be assertive and let that up to her when she is in and then it seems like I hardly talk then. It's not her problem, it's mine. I just have a harder time talking when she is there. So, I want to be prepared either way. If I have her questions and I decide to do it on my own I can still get her questions and worries answered too. At least she is going along to provide support. If the appointment goes horrible I will have somebody to listen to me rant and rave about how awful the doctor was and how frustrated I am. She is used to that :)
A part of me is hopeful but another part of me is scared that it is going to be the same thing I have experienced other places. I'm praying that this won't happen and that it will go well.
Tomorrow is the day for blood draws and dressing changes again. The same nurse that has been coming is back again. Yay!!!
Today is not such a good day. Mom always does a nice homecooked meal on Sunday and her dad and brother come over. I tried some mashed potatoes and it didn't go so well. So I'm regretting that decision now. Stomach already protested and now I'm just dealing with the lingering nausea and pain. Oh well, hoping that will soon change with help from Temple.
Taking it one day at a time!!!
This is going to be an exciting week, hopefully in a good way! Hoping to get the ball rolling come Tuesday to see what can be done and what needs to be done. I have started writing a list of questions to ask the doctor, so I'm prepared. I even asked Mom to come up with some questions that she would like answered. I haven't decided if I'm having her go into the room with me yet or not. I tend to not be assertive and let that up to her when she is in and then it seems like I hardly talk then. It's not her problem, it's mine. I just have a harder time talking when she is there. So, I want to be prepared either way. If I have her questions and I decide to do it on my own I can still get her questions and worries answered too. At least she is going along to provide support. If the appointment goes horrible I will have somebody to listen to me rant and rave about how awful the doctor was and how frustrated I am. She is used to that :)
A part of me is hopeful but another part of me is scared that it is going to be the same thing I have experienced other places. I'm praying that this won't happen and that it will go well.
Tomorrow is the day for blood draws and dressing changes again. The same nurse that has been coming is back again. Yay!!!
Today is not such a good day. Mom always does a nice homecooked meal on Sunday and her dad and brother come over. I tried some mashed potatoes and it didn't go so well. So I'm regretting that decision now. Stomach already protested and now I'm just dealing with the lingering nausea and pain. Oh well, hoping that will soon change with help from Temple.
Taking it one day at a time!!!
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