Annual appointment

It was a busy week for seeing doctors. Saturday I had an appointment to see my immunologist for a yearly check up on my autoimmune stuff. I’d had a bunch of blood tests before the appointment and had requested copies to be sent to me. This solves the problem of getting copies from the doctor when I attend. She works out of a mostly temporary office so I didn’t think she would be able to make copies. As it happens, they had moved since last year and it seems she would have easily been able to make copies. The results were mostly normal and a couple that were out of range weren’t much of an issue as they are often elevated in isolation. One odd one that wasn’t noted as abnormal this time was the albumin, which was 36, I think. The reference range said it was normal this time but the previous time showed the same level as out of range (low). As it was the same lab, I can only assume the reference range had changed a bit.

Aside from getting quite a few symptoms of Raynaud’s syndrome popping up throughout the year, not much had changed since my last visit. That is, not much could be noted until about mid-December. That’s when my usually off-and-on arthralgia in my fingers/hands/wrist decided it was going to stick around for awhile. Almost two months later and they are still often quite sore and swollen. Aside from dry eye and mouth stuff, this is the first time I’ve had to think about treating it on a regular basis. I was advised to try to stick with paracetamol (Tylenol) rather than the ibuprofen as that can be bad on the stomach. Of course it’s not ideal to take too much paracetamol either, at least from a liver point of view. Also she suggested using Voltaren cream at night since it won’t get washed off too soon and might help with the morning symptoms. I’m to have another blood test to check on rheumatoid factor. This has always been negative when checked before and I don’t expect that to change.

I also asked about some recurring bruises that have shown up on my stomach lately. They haven’t been very big but they have all appeared without any known reason. At least I like to think I would notice having some sort of small trauma to the stomach…not that I have any idea what would cause bruises so small. This has happened a few times now and they go away after a week or so. Anyway, I also get to have a coagulation panel done. I also suspect that will be normal. I don’t go back to see her for another year but she is to contact me on her next appointment day to discuss the blood test results. Nice to find a doctor who will do that rather than drag me back into for what is likely a one minute appointment to find all is normal.