Well, Alan and I just came home from his primary care guy. Dr. Fred,. What a cutie pie.
He doesn’t mind it when I ask my dozens of questions.

He knows that on Monday we are going to the Peripheral Neuropathy Department of Methodist Hospital. It’s Alan’s first visit.

I have all labs, (using Liza Jane’s Charts), which she really helped me with!!! I know nothing about spreadsheets. But I’m learning.

And the interesting thing is as I was picking Dr. Fred’s brain about Alan’s PN being Idiopathic, he asked me “has Alan ever had an Arterial Duplex?” and Alan said: "A what??? And I said “oh, they take an image of your lower extremities and check for Peripheral Arterial Disease”.You should have seen Dr. Fred’s face. He burst out laughing. The he said “she’s right, did you ever have one?” Now I believe Alan had one over 10 years ago in Coney Island Hospital and the results were okay but Dr. Fred says . “We’ll do one on Wednesday on Alan, the technician will be here”.

So now we have Monday, the PN Department at Methodist and Wednesday , the Arterial Duplex. And more blood work. Dr. Fred told Alan that the PN Department of Methodist will mainly do EMG’s on him.

Then Dr. Fred kneels down and picks up his pants and feels his lower leg and I ask him “how’s the pulse?” and he said to Alan, “my god, she knows all this stuff” and Alan started laughing and I said “well, when you live with a man who has had neuropathy for over 15 years, you learn all you can learn about it.”

Then he goes, “I want Alan to have all the tests he needs to have done, so on Wednesday, we’ll take blood tests and test him for Vasculitis, circulation, whatever” Then he writes a note the the doctor we are seeing on Monday and asked the doctor to write down any blood tests he wants Alan to have so when Alan goes for the Arterial Duplex, they will only have to draw blood one time and he’ll have all the blood work right there at Dr. Fred’s office.

So Dr. Fred is going to work with the PN Department at Methodist. He gave me copies of all his blood tests, and oh, (and believe me I picked his brain on this one), here is the only abnormal results on his blood tests as of today.

TIBC – 236
FERRITIN – 414.

I distinctly asked Dr. Fred. Could these numbers contribute to his having PN?.
And he showed me his iron levels which said 66 and said “melody, if the iron was unusual, it might be that, but in this case, no I don’t think so” He also said that whatever blood tests the PN Department tells him to run, he’ll run. So Alan is covered.

We love Dr. Fred. Now as we were leaving the office I tell Frank, the male nurse, “Frank, Alan is coming in on Wednesday for an Arterial Duplex and some blood test” and he said “Okay, see you then” and I said “no, I’m going to the orthopedic surgeon so Alan will be on his own”, and he goes “Oh, don’t worry, we’ll take good care of him”, and we all laughed. They really do care about their people.

Dr. Fred wants Alan to try Lyrica. Alan only has the PN when he sits or lays flat. Not any other time. Dr. Fred said “Well you’ve been on a journey for over 15 years, it could be auto-immune” and Frank the male nurse asked: “has Alan ever had an MRI of his neck? It could be radiculapathy. I said no, “he hasn’t but we’ll ask these questions on Monday.” Dr. Fred didn’t have any samples of lyrica and we can’t afford it. Maybe the guy on Monday will have samples.

Oh, and you’ll never guess what happened next!!! The doctor asked Alan if he had his flu shot and Alan said “I’ve never had a flu shot in my life, I was always told that because my mother had Guilliam Barre 35 years ago, I should never get a flu shot. (His sister never has gotten one either). So the doctor explains that there is no reason why Alan should not get a flu shot so ALAN GOT HIS FIRST FLU SHOT. He told Dr. Fred. “If I wake up tomorrow and wind up in the hospital over this, I’ll call you”. Dr. Fred said “Alan, you’ll be fine, don’t worry”.

So I shall update all of you when we come back from the PN Department on Monday.

Bye for now.
melody