TMI

 

My new cane

This is TMI for any readers I have but worth recording for our own memories because it has been a week of medical appointments and some progress.  Monday I had a six month check of my A1C which I dreaded because I meant to lose more weight and I meant to eat fewer chocolates.  While I was there, I asked my primary care doctor for help with my hip arthritis which has worsened over the last months.  He gave me a script for an x-ray and to my amazement, I was able to schedule that for a few hours later.

The x-ray came back already that afternoon as "serious osteoarthritis" and my doctor via his aides gave me the name of a hip specialist.  I was able to schedule an appointment with him for next Monday.  The office person at Princeton Orthopedics told me I had to have a disk of my x-ray to show him.  More on that later as I wondered why electronic transmission was not possible.

I anxiously awaited the glucose and A1C results and they came in on Tuesday with a diagnosis of "mild diabetes" and a recommendation to "limit simple carbs and sweets" and drink more water.  I eat very few simple carbs but I do succumb to sweets and I certainly could drink more water.  I felt I was given another six month reprieve to try to do better and am so glad I don't have to take any more drugs with unpleasant side effects.  (We hear too many ads on TV!) 

So then there was the hassle of getting a disk which had to be ordered from Medical Records at the hospital where I had the x-ray.  I went through an interminable phone chain without success and finally talked to a real person who put me on to another real person.  I ordered the disk and said I would pick it up that afternoon.  It was pouring rain but we made the trip to the hospital.  I asked for directions to Medical Records and hoped it wouldn't be a great distance as I walked along with my cane.  "Take a left and then another left" I was told.  I had to ask for help twice while walking the long corridors with multiple places to take a left. But I succeeded and when the clerk saw me pull out my reading glasses to fill out the permission form, she asked me for my driver's license and did it for me.  I thanked her, left with my disk, and hoped to be able to take a right and then another right to reverse my directions and find the entrance.  Happily there were exit signs and I came close enough to the right place to text Jim who picked me up after a very short wait in the rain.

So, progress and relief and maybe next week I will get some help for the arthritis--not hip replacement surgery which I have vetoed but maybe a cortisone shot or some temporary relief.  I felt weary at times this week of advocating for myself but also grateful for kind medical help and really quite prompt results for tests and xrays via voice mail messages.  And I am very grateful for my husband who was my chauffeur and has had to listen to my laments.  

---------------------An update on March 9:  I saw Dr. Culp at Princeton Orthopedics this morning at 8:40.  He showed me my x-rays which were not reassuring.  Because there are cysts on the bone, he cannot do a cortisone shot.  He said I would probably need a hip replacement but for now he gave me a script for physical therapy.  I was happy to be able to schedule that evaluation for tomorrow already.  My primary care doctor suggested Tylenol Arthritis instead of more Aleve.  So I have a plan--not the plan I hoped for but I feel cared for at least.  And I really have not had as much pain yesterday and today so that makes me more optimistic! I just have a sense of my body betraying me-- a look inside at those x-rays which showed damage that cannot be undone.  But it is not life-threatening just a recognition of aging and deterioration.

---------------------March 12  I went to Physical Therapy yesterday where a very kind Jennifer did some stretching of my left hip, taught me an exercise and then put me on a bike.  All good except for the bike and I have been in more pain since then.  She stressed that they did not want to cause more pain so we will have to figure this out tomorrow on my next visit.  I am discouraged!  They may send me to a hip replacement yet.  Apart from my own issues, I was quite interested in the whole business model of a very busy large room with two therapists working with multiple patients and various aides helping.  Jennifer did not appear to be rushed and certainly seemed to be focused on me.  I was a bit taken back when she suggested a walker instead of the cane.  That seemed to be a step back and a blow to my pride when it was hard enough to accept a cane!  I said not for now --but I will listen to her reasoning tomorrow!    

---------------March 13  Another PT appointment.  Jennifer is really lovely and I am thankful to work with her.  She said she would like to drive me to a hip replacement surgery-- it will only get harder to do it as I wait.  I tried the walker and ordered one from Amazon for only $34.  Not worth bothering to get a scrip and Medicare for that.  I can use it at home--and walks--and for my pride's sake, stick with the cane for church, etc.   And I am not in the pain that I was on Tuesday evening.  I turned down the offer to do the bike again!  It was a torture machine for me!