We met the wonderful Dr David Sobel today. He was very professional and friendly. He took one look at the 2 inch binder I presented him and said "Someone has done some organizing." lol

Anyway, here's the deal. He is going to Reno tonight to give a speech at a hospital out there. He returns on Friday and will get started with the binder and xray cd's. In the meantime we will await the test results of Jim's specimen that we gave today. We should hear from that on Friday. Did I mention that this doctor is also a lawyer. He was impressed that we did our research on him.

He said he cannot say whether the VA should or shouldn't have done the illeo conduit. However, he did say Jim is lucky to have his kidneys and regardless of whether there was another type of surgery that could have been done, drastic measures were needed based on the OR report he read while we were there. He said Jim's case is a complicated one. You think?

About the chronic UTI's. He feels that he may need to send Jim to an infectious disease doctor to see if they can investigate the bacteria Jim is getting and why. He asked if this was OK with us and we all agreed. He said they are versed in all things bacteria and the causes, and can give great insight as to where to go from here.

He does not want to do a long term antibiotic therapy unless it's the last resort. He mentioned that sometimes too many antibiotics can create a fungal bacteria. We didn't know that! He mentioned trying to flush Jim's bladder with antibiotics and other ideas as alternatives.

Nothing is written in stone until he reads all of Jim's records and speaks to infectious disease. Until then we wait for the results of todays test and call him on Friday afternoon.

I about lost myself when Dr Sobel stood up and said exactly this: "It was a pleasure to meet both of you. This is a difficult case because we have to find which bacteria is colonized and which ones need treatment. Not to mention what is ms related and what is not. We will figure this out."

Then he ended the conversation by looking at Jim and saying: "Couldn't you have just come in with a simple erectile dysfunction?"