-
What a difference a couple days makes
I saw this news article about the relationship between exercise and period pain last month and said to myself that I’ve known this for years. Still I often do try to do some exercise during all but the worst pain. This period, the symptoms didn’t all kick in until well into the second day. My weight didn’t increase until then either, which surprised me because it almost always jumps a day or two before then. Maybe the regular exercise is helping a bit. The cramps weren’t all that bad on the second day but I found exercise a most miserable experience. My body just didn’t want to move and the particular exercises showing up in the program generated routines were quite difficult. Yesterday I opted out of exercise, just to give myself a bit of a break and I think that was just what I needed. Today I got back into my exercise routine and kind of enjoyed it this time. My weight had dropped back again and my body felt pretty good. Compared to the two days before, it was such a breeze that I might have continued on for a couple of hours had common sense not prevailed. The only issue I had today was a very tight calf muscle from a couple days. Originally both calves were tight but only the right one was a problem today. I managed to work through all but the split jumps (jumping jacks using just the legs) without a problem. The jumping was very hard but I got through all 24 of them and was okay the rest of the time.
I was also feeling pretty good today to that my blood sugar level has finally come down to normal range again. They had been slowly climbing over the past few months and had been running a bit high since November. Both my body and mind were feeling quite sluggish all the time so it was quite a struggle to pull out of that state. It’s taken about six weeks to get back into the normal range so I must make the effort to keep it up so I don’t return to that horrible state.
-
Optometrist, take three
I was back on Monday to repeat the visual field test because I’d missed a few spots the last time. This time I missed some again for each eye so I had brief retests of those missed instead of a complete repeat. I had Lego Lover with me so I was very grateful for the shorter time requirement. The result is there are two spots on each eye that I continue to miss. At the moment, this doesn’t really mean much of anything but I will be recalled in six months for a new test to check if there are any changes.
I suspect this is going to become a regular test for me. When I was in the library yesteterday, I was looking at a book about eye problems and it seems I have more risk factors for glaucoma than I realised. I already knew about the family history thing but apparently being near-sighted is also a risk factor. There is also the diabetes that puts me at higher risk. So it rather feels that glaucoma is a likelihood in my future. I was talking to a friend about this yesterday and was told that a mutual acquaintance, who is relatively young, has had it for many years now.
-
Optometrist, take two
I had my follow up appointment today to do a visual field test to check for early signs of glaucoma (due to my family history). I did this or something similar a few years ago but had forgotten how tedious it is. You basically just stare at a light in the center of the “field” and press a button whenever you see flashes of light in the peripheral area. It takes about five or more minutes to do the main test, plus another minute or two to do a wider field (without a corrective lens). I had missed a few so it was necessary to repeat the whole thing and compare results. It’s expected that a few will be missed but they want to check if the same ones are missed. I missed a few of the same ones second time around so I get to go back in a couple weeks and do it all again. Oh what joy! From what I understand, there’s not really much of a pattern to my missed ones so it’s probably not indicative of anything at this point. I’m not quite sure what happens should I have similar results next time.
-
A family optometrist visit
I stopped in to make an appointment with the optometrist for the whole family as all of us were overdue. Lego Lover was with me and the lady asked me if Monday was okay and I agreed. She took several details and she gave me a card with the appointment before we left. It was only after we arrived last week that I discovered she had made the appointment for the 14th rather than the 7th. Sigh…We had arrived early as we had come from another appointment. We also had to wait for the Scientist to arrive because was traveling there by bus from work. It was a lot of wasted time for us.
Anyway, today we were actually expected and got in quite promptly. Game Fanatic suffers anxiety such that he is unable to speak when in new places and situations so the plan was for Lego Love r to go first. Game Fanatic would follow so that they could go to the library instead of waiting through my appointment. Unfortunately, Lego Lover was not feeling very cooperative today and I ended up taking his place.
My vision hasn’t changed much since my last check up about 2.5 years ago so I didn’t have to order new glasses as I expected. But it seems I do have blepharitis, which probably explains some of my ongoing eye symptoms. I was given an information sheet with information on a daily cleaning routine that I need to follow to relieve the problem. I had several extra tests that had to be done due to my age, diabetes and family history of glaucoma and cataract. I have to return next week for another glaucoma test that is too long to do during a regular exam.
At this point Lego Lover was still uncooperative so Game Fanatic had his exam. He relaxed after a short while and was able to answer the optometrist, which was a huge relief for me after the behaviour of his brother. As expected, his vision is just fine and his eyes are in good health. Lego Lover finally had his exam although it wasn’t as thorough as it could have been. She was able to get enough information to determine that his vision is fine. But her attempt at checking the back of his eye was less successful because he flinched at the lights and wouldn’t cooperate further. This wasn’t too big of a deal since he’s at very low risk of any eye problems amd we left it at that. The boys are good for two years and I am need to go back next year due to my diabetes.
We finished well before the end of our appointment times and before the Scientist arrived from work. So the boys went off to browse two local games shops before heading to the library. The Scientist arrived before his appointment time and was pretty much finished before then too. As he expected, he is getting his first pair of glasses to be used for reading only. The cost is a mere $300 or more after the insurance payment is deducted. Ouch! It’s a good thing I didn’t need what would have been far more expensive glasses for myself.
-
Protected: Grouchy kid (Email purplelorikeet@gmail.com if password is needed)
-
Rash revisited
Lego Lover again has a rash, rather similar to that which he had back in July when he developed hives. He doesn’t seem to have hives at this point. The rash started in his armpits, much like last time and has spread into nearby areas but has improved in the past couple of days. I took him to see the doctor a few days ago and he said it’s dermatitis and gave instructions about wearing loose clothing and use hydrocortisone cream. The armpits are improved but it seems to be spreading again and now has a patch in the groin area. Fortunately it hasn’t been all that itchy. The cause is mostly unknown aside from a contact allergy triggered by heat and friction. I rather doubt laundry detergent is an issue since he’s not had an ongoing problem so I guess this will continue to be a mystery.
-
Regression
I had an unexpected visit from my closest friend and her fifteen year old son this morning. Game Fanatic was pleased to play his games with another competent player. Lego Lover must have woken up shortly after they arrived and he was in a foul mood. He’s known both since he was born but we’ve not met for quite some time. Lego Lover might have just stayed in his room and kept to himself. Instead, he decided to attach himself to me and regressed to some of the less appropriate behavior he had when he was younger. Typically, he locked himself away after the visitors had gone. With this friend, I don’t have to feel any embarrassment but it was a nuisance to have our visit sabotaged by this behavior.
This is mostly a regressive blip, though, when looking at the overall picture of Lego Lover. It’s been a great joy to watch him as he matures and takes such pleasure out of life for the past year.
-
A tic
A throat clearing tic has found its way into our household over the past few weeks and it’s driving the family rather bonkers. The tic has attached itself to Lego Lover and doesn’t seem to want to let go. Lego Lover has had various tics in the past. In fact, he probably always has some sort of tic happening. But this one is quite disruptive. It has been bad enough some nights that I hear this quiet throat clearning right through the night while he sleeps. One night we were eating dinner and there was hardly a sound aside from the tic. I think the rest of us were clenching our teeth to stop from saying anything. Occasionally it’s just a bit more than one or more of us can take and words just fly out of our mouths. It matters not that it just feeds the tic. A grumble just has to be be made. Hopefully the tic will soon get bored of our family and move on to someone else for a while.
-
Progress, I think
I haven’t written all that much about Game Fanatic lately. All things considered, I think he’s doing pretty well. But his anxiety levels remain high and this continues to disable him in many areas of his life. We’ve been plodding along with medications and therapy over the past six or seven months. He sees a psychiatrist every four to six weeks, mainly with regard to medication. Until recently, he hardly spoke at these appointments but he’s been able to have a reasonable conversation the last two visits. Due to his inability to speak, I’ve been speaking to the psychologist about him over most of this year. I find it incredibly exhausting and I started to feel like it wasn’t very productive because the only effect seemed to be that my own anxiety levels have increased over the year. Game Fanatic did start back with his own appointments recently and I think there is some progress in communication there.
Socially, he chose recently to rejoin his fortnightly Sunday Dungeons and Dragons group after being away for over a year. They no longer meet at the original location so this involved going to a new place. Although I know it was overwhelming for him, I think he managed it really well and should improve in the future. He’s not been satisfied with the progress of his weekly D&D group for a while because it moves too slowly. But the Sunday group was ripping along over the three and a half hours they played. It’s also a more mature group and I think this is also beneficial for him.
He’s been on medication for most of this year. There have been two constants throughout this time, one which apparently can take a long time to show obvious effects. The other medication is for attention issues and should have shown effect some time ago. The only thing we’ve worked out, though, is that it decreases his appetite. I think he finally is having some good feelings about some of the positive changes from that now, even though he’d be unlikely to admit it yet. So we will continue to plod along and hopefully progress will continue even though it may be very slow to occur.
-
What a doctor shouldn't do during an appointment
Last week I attended the immunology clinic at a teaching hospital in Perth. I’ve had mixed experiences there but was fortunate enough to see the consultant the last two times and was quite pleased. This time I had a registrar (student doctor) and things were quite different. Below is a list of things a doctor shouldn’t do during my specialist appointment.
- Don’t ask the patient why you’ve been coming to the clinic for the last two years when you start the appointment. It’s always useful to read the notes and find out at least a little of the patient’s history before starting any line of enquiry. This should be obvious for appointments marked as follow ups.
- Don’t ask the patient questions that have no relevance to the clinic. This includes questions about menstrual periods and the reasons why the patient takes thyroxine. Also, it should be quite obvious to even the most basic doctor why a patient is taking thyroxine.
- When the doctor finally gets around to a line of questioning more appropriate in the clinic, don’t just sit there without taking notes of what is being said. This could account for why certain details might have been missed.
- When issues are raised about cold hands and feet, swelling and discoloration, don’t neglect to do a decent examination of the hands and feet.
- If a registrar is waiting to discuss the case with the consultant doctor, please don’t sit in front of the patient and read case notes for other patients, especially for an extended period of time. This is especially true if the doctor has failed to take any notes of what is being said because it would be an ideal time to continue the conversation begun earlier and possibly to get around to taking notes.
- After conferring with consultant doctor, don’t neglect to respond to the issues raised by the patient in some way.
I realise the student doctors are learning but most of this was pretty basic and I honestly don’t think this doctor was ready to be handling appointments on his own. I get one appointment yearly and it was extremely unproductive. I don’t really think there would have been much difference in the outcome but at least it would have been good if I felt like the information I provided was actually recorded for future use. I didn’t bother mentioning some other issues related to the hands and feet because I lost any confidence that any appropriate response or notes would be made. The doctor did order some blood tests, which I had done in the pathology department before leaving. There’s a bit more on the blood tests later.
Today I went to see my gp to discuss a variety of issues. We ended up having a pretty decent discussion where the situation with the boys was covered and a referral to the psychologist I see for the boys was extended. Then we discussed my recent appointment. Some of my blood tests had come back and a few hadn’t. There weren’t too many surprises there. Almost all were normal aside from my always high ANA. I spent a long time recounting my experience and explaining about the issues that I had wanted to discuss with the specialist doctor. We also discussed the pelvic pain I have been getting around the time of ovulation before renewing prescriptions for thyroxine and the Nexium. It was a good appointment.
My gp almost always prints out my test results so I can keep a copy for my records. The printouts include reasonably detailed information. My gp was curious as to whether the doctor had ordered an ENA test, which is an extension of the ANA. I didn’t recall it being listed on my form. Considering I have some sort of autoimmune thing going on, this should be automatic as it will be more likely to reveal something new than just the ANA. I noticed the gp spent a bit of time reading the notes listed for the ANA. I assumed they were the same as the past two tests at the time. But tonight I read it more carefully and it noted there was reason to order further tests. Considering the level of competence I had with this registrar, I feel it’s extremely unlikely he will order the additional tests. The antibodies suggested almost all are indicators of potentially significant disorders. Two of these are autoimmune liver disorders and my very uncommon ANA pattern is often seen in one of them. I’m going to have a pelvic ultrasound shortly so I’ll discuss this with my gp further when I see her again.