Doctor's appointment, etc.
I had an appointment to see my Primary Care Provider yesterday. My current PCP makes me think of a middle school boy with ADD. He may be 5'7" at best, stocky build; he looks about 30, but I'm sure he's older; dark complexioned caucasian with bright green eyes .... cute as a button, in an ADD sort of way! The doctor compared my chart with the one from my last appointment. I have officially lost 50 pounds since my last appointment with him. When he asked me about my plantar fasciitis (was crippling me last fall) and acid reflux (I was on omeprazole -- no more!), I was pleased and proud to tell him that they are both long gone! Those two major problems were obviously weight related! Next target: CFS!
My blood tests came out great except for my cholesterol. He put me on Lipitor ---- possible side effects: may make one feel more tired that usual, may cause hair loss. Just what I need more exhaustion and even less of my baby fine, flat, strait hair. I asked him if I might be able to control the cholesterol through my diet ... nope, it's genetic, only fix is medicine. On that cue, my doctor went on a rant about his sister's new boyfriend. The boyfriend is strictly a vegan, the doctor is definitely not --- he loves to grill MEAT for supper. The sister brings the boyfriend to doctors house often for cookouts. The boy friend and the doctor have a real personality/lifestyle clash. I had the pleasure of hearing about their "differences of opinion" (ahem?) on what kind of food should be eaten and how it should be prepared. I almost feel sorry for the doctor's wife! Does anyone else have doctors like this????
Anyway, I got my new prescrips for neurontin and lipitor. He also gave me a prescription hydrocortisone cream for the rash on my eyelids that has improved my condition more with one application than three weeks of the stuff (twice a day) from the opthamologist! The doctor says that he doesn't think I need to see a rheumy. He reviewed my file and said that more than 30% of the people tested with the kind of test I had test positive for lupus, and I definitely don't meet the standard criteria. He doesn't believe I have rheumatoid arthritis, either (maybe osteo, yuck! which one is worse?). I agree with him. I've known all along that I don't meet the criterion for lupus, and I've researched rheumatoid arthritis ---- I don't fit the standard definition for that, either. I'd still like to see a competent rheumy to make sure, though!
Okay, doctor's appt. over; long, long wait at the pharmacy, over! I'm talkin' long wait. You see, my main medical service is at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH) on Fort Campbell military base. Horrible parking (I don't have a handicap tag); busy place with people of all races, creeds, colors, religion, and languages; baby strollers everywhere; young soldiers handicapped from recent "conflicts", active duty soldiers, retirees, dependents, etc. People always coming and going or getting ready to go. Some of the people are nice, but some are downright haughty, self-centered and rude. I did bump into one of my husband's old teammates from 5th Group (Special Forces, aka Green Berets). This guy is "old school" Special Forces --- the best of the best both as a soldier and as a friend. .......... And, BACH is a 38 mile drive for me. 38 miles isn't so bad, really --- considering that I really do live in the Middle of Nowhere, KentuckY. Thankful that I can still drive myself wherever I need or want to go!
By the time I got out of BACH, I realized that I would have neither the time nor the energy to make the chicken pot pie that I had planned for supper. So I stopped at Walmart (the Walmart nearest Ft. Campbell. Ummm-hmmmmm. Busy, crowded, horrible parking again!) I grabbed some soap recommended by my doctor, as well as tomatoes and lettuce so I could make a quick taco salad for supper (with deer burger already in my freezer from last year's hunt! Yep, venison -- Stephi's doctor recommends it for adrenal cfs!) By the time I got home and made supper, I was too tired to care about dirty dishes. I just stacked 'um up. (I also bought some vitamin B-12 at Walmart --- worth a try!)
This morning, I still felt bad, so I didn't catch up on the dishes. I did make the chicken pot pie for supper tonight --- from scratch. A pot pie in a 9" by 11" cake pan with a top and bottom crust (enough left over that I don't have to cook tomorrow -- Yes!). Crust is from scratch, too. It ain't (Yeah, I said "ain't". It's in the dictionary!) easy to do a 2 crust in a cake pan. The chicken was from scratch, too. I mean really from scratch. Tim raised the chickens. I stewed 2 hens, boned them, skinned them, and chopped up the meat. Toooo much work! --- why can't Tim settle for the stuff out of the freezer section? I used the water I stewed the hens in to make the gravy for the pie. Now, my kitchen is totally trashed. Maybe Tim will feel sorry for me and wash up some dishes in the morning. When we moved in this house, there was a built-in dishwasher. Back then, I decided that I wanted more cabinet and drawer space more than I wanted a dishwasher. So, out went the dishwasher and in came the shelf, the cabinet door, and the drawer. Hindsight really is 20/20. Uhg.
It was a very good chicken pot pie, but, girls, I'll tell ya again: If you're single and you know how to cook, or do home canning, or sew, or slaughter chickens, or skin rabbits, or process venison, or bait your own hook, or shoot your own snakes, or split firewood, or build a fire, or cook over a campfire, or drive a nail, or use a skill saw, or whatever else ........ don't ever, under any circumstances, let a single man know it!!!! Just play helpless and work it for all it's worth.
I'm gonna go make me a cup of decaf with sugar-free hazelnut creamer and go sit on the porch in the glider a while, now. I hope the whippoorwills are singing in the trees. They're ugly birds, but they shore do sang pretty.
My blood tests came out great except for my cholesterol. He put me on Lipitor ---- possible side effects: may make one feel more tired that usual, may cause hair loss. Just what I need more exhaustion and even less of my baby fine, flat, strait hair. I asked him if I might be able to control the cholesterol through my diet ... nope, it's genetic, only fix is medicine. On that cue, my doctor went on a rant about his sister's new boyfriend. The boyfriend is strictly a vegan, the doctor is definitely not --- he loves to grill MEAT for supper. The sister brings the boyfriend to doctors house often for cookouts. The boy friend and the doctor have a real personality/lifestyle clash. I had the pleasure of hearing about their "differences of opinion" (ahem?) on what kind of food should be eaten and how it should be prepared. I almost feel sorry for the doctor's wife! Does anyone else have doctors like this????
Anyway, I got my new prescrips for neurontin and lipitor. He also gave me a prescription hydrocortisone cream for the rash on my eyelids that has improved my condition more with one application than three weeks of the stuff (twice a day) from the opthamologist! The doctor says that he doesn't think I need to see a rheumy. He reviewed my file and said that more than 30% of the people tested with the kind of test I had test positive for lupus, and I definitely don't meet the standard criteria. He doesn't believe I have rheumatoid arthritis, either (maybe osteo, yuck! which one is worse?). I agree with him. I've known all along that I don't meet the criterion for lupus, and I've researched rheumatoid arthritis ---- I don't fit the standard definition for that, either. I'd still like to see a competent rheumy to make sure, though!
Okay, doctor's appt. over; long, long wait at the pharmacy, over! I'm talkin' long wait. You see, my main medical service is at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH) on Fort Campbell military base. Horrible parking (I don't have a handicap tag); busy place with people of all races, creeds, colors, religion, and languages; baby strollers everywhere; young soldiers handicapped from recent "conflicts", active duty soldiers, retirees, dependents, etc. People always coming and going or getting ready to go. Some of the people are nice, but some are downright haughty, self-centered and rude. I did bump into one of my husband's old teammates from 5th Group (Special Forces, aka Green Berets). This guy is "old school" Special Forces --- the best of the best both as a soldier and as a friend. .......... And, BACH is a 38 mile drive for me. 38 miles isn't so bad, really --- considering that I really do live in the Middle of Nowhere, KentuckY. Thankful that I can still drive myself wherever I need or want to go!
By the time I got out of BACH, I realized that I would have neither the time nor the energy to make the chicken pot pie that I had planned for supper. So I stopped at Walmart (the Walmart nearest Ft. Campbell. Ummm-hmmmmm. Busy, crowded, horrible parking again!) I grabbed some soap recommended by my doctor, as well as tomatoes and lettuce so I could make a quick taco salad for supper (with deer burger already in my freezer from last year's hunt! Yep, venison -- Stephi's doctor recommends it for adrenal cfs!) By the time I got home and made supper, I was too tired to care about dirty dishes. I just stacked 'um up. (I also bought some vitamin B-12 at Walmart --- worth a try!)
This morning, I still felt bad, so I didn't catch up on the dishes. I did make the chicken pot pie for supper tonight --- from scratch. A pot pie in a 9" by 11" cake pan with a top and bottom crust (enough left over that I don't have to cook tomorrow -- Yes!). Crust is from scratch, too. It ain't (Yeah, I said "ain't". It's in the dictionary!) easy to do a 2 crust in a cake pan. The chicken was from scratch, too. I mean really from scratch. Tim raised the chickens. I stewed 2 hens, boned them, skinned them, and chopped up the meat. Toooo much work! --- why can't Tim settle for the stuff out of the freezer section? I used the water I stewed the hens in to make the gravy for the pie. Now, my kitchen is totally trashed. Maybe Tim will feel sorry for me and wash up some dishes in the morning. When we moved in this house, there was a built-in dishwasher. Back then, I decided that I wanted more cabinet and drawer space more than I wanted a dishwasher. So, out went the dishwasher and in came the shelf, the cabinet door, and the drawer. Hindsight really is 20/20. Uhg.
It was a very good chicken pot pie, but, girls, I'll tell ya again: If you're single and you know how to cook, or do home canning, or sew, or slaughter chickens, or skin rabbits, or process venison, or bait your own hook, or shoot your own snakes, or split firewood, or build a fire, or cook over a campfire, or drive a nail, or use a skill saw, or whatever else ........ don't ever, under any circumstances, let a single man know it!!!! Just play helpless and work it for all it's worth.
I'm gonna go make me a cup of decaf with sugar-free hazelnut creamer and go sit on the porch in the glider a while, now. I hope the whippoorwills are singing in the trees. They're ugly birds, but they shore do sang pretty.
Replies
the things i don\'t know how to do are ENDLESS.......loved your journal.......can see the doc, hear him jabbering away..........so proud that you don\'t have to take meds for reflux anymore, hope the lipitor helps more than hurts you hon! glad that the prescription cream is helping to heal the rash..........i hear you regarding the rheumy, good to find out what\'s what in arthriticness world.........i have osteoarthritis as well as aks.........since my early 40\'s........but i am blessed to still have short distance mobility......yay!!!!
if i had green stamps i would get you a dishwasher, my goodness honey honey..........i can\'t get over how much you do from scratch at home, i have two frozen individual pot pies in my freezer that i bought that way........and think oh my i have to wait on them to COOK!!! you do way more than the average bear when it comes to life......i am AMAZED. seriously AMAZED. i don\'t have as much of the pioneer spirit and know how that you have. and if i did i think i would fake forgetfulness at every turn.......i would forget how to make double crusts and skinning animals and chopping things and i would say less is the new more............
the base sounds interesting and super busy and i think you should apply for a handicapped parking sticker, why are you holding off on that miss thing? do i have to come to KY and do this with YOU!!!!! hugs! i have my renewal form on the frig waiting on my next appt..........it took me time to give in to get it, and it gotta tell you it has saved my bacon a million billion times!!!! pray about it and see what God says........I think he will say GET THE FORM IN ASAP! the energy you save is a GODSEND!!! to your poor tuckered out body.........any energy saved is good energy.........if i were you i might just move to the porch, put the coffee maker out there and refuse to come in until somebody made me dinner for a change..........you\'re a love and a giver but you need to take three days off from cooking. if i order you will you ???? big hugs and smiles from GA!!!!!!!!!
Hey Pilot, what a rock you are, can\'t believe how hard you work and just how much you get done.Glad to hear the hydrocortisone cream worked on the rash, the steroids in it probably gave you some added zing as well.The amount of weight you\'ve lost is amazing, and best of all the elimination of some health problems as a result.I have high cholesterol too and was told it was also genetic from my mum.I don\'t take any medication.I have brought it down before with diet and do need to address it again.As far as cooking, I just pass there by the skin of my teeth, but usually so wiped out I can\'t stand up long enough to do it . Never killed a chicken in my life of skinned a rabbit or anything, never caught a fish either . Can\'t sew for nuts , never done home canning, although my mum did.Never chopped wood, my brothers and father did that when I was growing up.Too hot here in the tropics for fires here . Never used a saw.However I can hammer a nail LOL!!.Been a vegetarian for 40yrs now.Guess if we were both stranded in the bush, it\'s pretty obvious who would be the first to die, ME!! I would be praying hard though. Take care, and make Tim do the dishes.Bye love Di xo
Congrats on the weight loss, Pilot! I know that is no easy task! You are to be commended!
You said \"aint\"! LOL...we all say that! It\'s a word. It sounds good. I like it! You go right ahead and use it all you want!!! I ain\'t stopping ya!
Interesting doctor you have there....tellin you his stories! it\'s kinda cute, actually, but NO, I don\'t know any other doctors like that.
I\'d agree that lupus is sormething you do not have. Of the two, Rheumatoid arthritis is the one you don\'t want!! Yes, it would be good to see a Rheumy who really knew what he was talking about so you could get a proper diagnosis. You can\'t tackle CFS with these crazy people. They simply don\'t understand us, they don\'t care to research, and much prefer to tell stories to us, than to LISTEN to us......tis true! Sad, but true!
Glad your eyelids are getting better. And yes, keeping cooking abilities a secret is an absolute MUST DO...for single gals. Once you get married, you can only keep it quiet for so long, then you get caught feeding yourself beef stew with home made gravy and husband smells it a block away, and....you\'re busted. You did your best. You lost. Now you have to cook.
Poor woman. I\'ll still be your friend though...ok? OK! xoox