Sharon703's Journal

Oh thank God is all that I can say! And my good friend Pattie, who convinced me to see her internal medicine doctor and consider having him become my new Primary Care Physician. I had no idea what it could be like to have a really good doctor. What a difference! 

Today I was seen by Dr. Jeffrey Sherman in downtown DC and he was just phenomenal!! Before I even mention what he said, I just have to say that he came to the waiting room to get me personally; he saw me in his private office that also has a patient room off the side of it to do an exam (I didn’t have to tell a nurse everything only to repeat it all to the doctor); he spent over 2 hours on my appointment (and that’s the time he and I were together, not me sitting in the waiting room); he gave me his business card with his personal email, his private phone number, and his cell phone number and said I should feel free to always contact him for anything. And he explained that he will coordinate all my care from now on by talking to all my other doctors for me. I don’t have to do everything on my own anymore and worry about whether it’s right and if my other doctors are all on the same page. What a huge load off my back! 

He does not take insurance, is out of my insurance network, and is very expensive, but we’ll just have to manage because he is that amazing. Finally I feel reassured that I will actually get well.

So on to what he said. Dr. Sherman was able to read the report of my Christmas Eve echocardiogram, and said that it was fine but I do have mild thickening of heart muscle; could be hypertension, but I don't need to do anything about it now.

He also said its:

- possible that  the multiple bilateral pulmonary emboli might have caused chest wall pain by inflaming the lining of the lungs

-  possible I have fibromyalgia since I have muscle pain in various places on my body in the 9 point places

- Slim possibility its Coumadin causing all this discomfort in my chest

- Possible I am having sleep issues or is because of sleep issues he might have me to a sleep study at some point

-Prescribed Amitriptyline, wants me to try it for 2-3 wks, if doesn't help he'll look into doing a steroid taper

-Should go back to pulmonologist to redo the lung function tests, but that’s all I need the pulmonologist for now

And after talking it all through, he is not sure he would have done anything different with my surgery than my surgeon, so I should feel comfortable staying with my OBGYN and he will work with her. Also, I will have to see a parinatologist at some point to discuss if I will be able to have children, but we’ll work on that in the future.

I am so relieved I can hardly stand it. YAY!