Family Medical News

Today I saw another Endocrinologist. I've been sweating excessively and constantly feel over-heated. When I first got there, the receptionist commented on my nice purse. It's a pretty blue logo purse by Maxx New York. The nurse took me back and weighed me, 215.5 lbs. (About 100 lbs. of weight loss since last year!). She checked my blood pressure, 114/74 (Very good!). I've been taking Hydrocortisone since being taken off of Dexamethasone, which I had been put on right after my May 2, 2008 pituitary surgery. I've been taking 10mg every morning for as long as I can remember. Last week sometime, I went 2 days without taking any of my pills because I had forgot to refill my weekly case, so when I started taking them again, I simply began breaking them in half instead of taking a whole one everyday. Without blood tests, I don't know if I still need them, but it could be life threatening to quit if my body does still need them. I told the Dr. Litchfield bout that today, and he agrees with my decision. He will have me continue to only take half of one each day for another week and a half and then go for blood work and see him again. I've been having abdominal pains under my right ribs, so he's also going to run blood work to check my pancreas and my kidneys (because of the previous Proteinuria). The appointment went well. I have Aetna insurance though, and, effective 9/12/09 they will no longer be providers for Aetna. So if I continue to need an Endocrinologist and prefer him over the others I have been to in the past, I will have to go as "cash-pay".

John's Sleep Medicine DR called him today with results from his sleep study. He will need to get fitted for a CPAP machine/ face mask. Maybe he'll be able to get a better sleep at night after he does!

I took my mom (turning 68 this year) to the Neurologist yesterday. She went to see him on a referral from her Primary Care DR. She can't feel her legs very well below the knees. Sensory, not motor. Her Primary Care DR had ran blood work on her but couldn't find anything peculiar. He had even tested her for Syphilis, but said that even that came back negative. Thank God! When he couldn't find anything, that's when she was referred for an MRI and to follow up with the Neurologist whom she met for the first time yesterday. He couldn't find anything wrong with the MRI of her neck and back. They did a memory test on her at the office. The first question for the memory test was "What year is it?" To which she first answered, 1903, then 1993, then 2008. But, it's 2009. Another part of the quiz, she was asked to draw a clock, number it, and draw the hands to point to a quarter past 11:00. She drew lines to each number she wrote around the clock as she numbered the clock backwards. She wrote the numbers in clockwise order, she started with 12 at the top, but continued around where 1 would be, she put 11, where 2 would be, she put 10, etc. She realized after she finished that she messed up the number pattern. Those were just the two parts of the quiz that stood out the most to me. The Neurologist spoke of getting her a wheelchair so that I could transport her, to which I had to pipe-up and tell them that I am not able to transport her around a wheel chair. So they ordered her a better walker with 4 wheels, hand brakes, and a padded seat. I had bought her a walker a while back, but this one is far more superior.

I'm tired of writing updates for now. More later :)