Hi all:

Well, I don't take magnesium and I don't eat Bananas so I don't know if I have a magnesium deficiency or a potassium deficiency. I do know I had a complete battery of blood tests three months ago and my numbers were spot on, everything A-ok according to Dr. Fred who reviewed my tests (from Cornell). He will take all new blood tests in April.

And Mrs. D. I have not stopped taking my xanax for sleep. I take two 1 mg pills, it takes about an hour to 90 minutes for it to kick in. I get a little drowsy and I just drift off. No major anything. I wake up just fine the next morning. Thank god for this.

And thanks for the information on the catastrophic coverage. I do hope I don't get any surprises from the insurance company. I'm calling them just to make sure.

Alan and I don't use any anti-anxiety meds during the day. We only take the xanax to sleep. He needs it for his pins and needles (even though the cymbalta helps), well, since he has the problem when he lies down, the xanax would kick in and he'd be off like a lamb. He DID TELL ME OVER BREAKFAST THIS A.M. that "melody, I know it's too soon to be feeling like this, but I am better with the PN". I said 'oh how wonderful".

As soon as Costco sends me back my prescription for Xanax, I'll do the drugstore.com thing.

Oh, I questioned Alan more about what the back guy said with the sural nerve biopsy and I told Alan that a sural thing is only for diagnostic testing and he said "No, maybe I didn't explain myself exactly right". It seems the back guy said "if you get a nerve biopsy and we send the piece of the nerve back, we can absolutely find out what is wrong with you and maybe we an fix it" That's when he went into the mathematics of "Let's say I do 100 nerve biopsy and I can help 70 people out of the 100, you might be one of the 70 people or you might be one of the 30".

So I said to Alan "Oh, he is looking for other stuff besides CIDP in the nerve biopsy?" and Alan said "yeah, I think that's what he meant"

Alan is not jumping into any nerve biopsy at the moment so I can relax about that. He is going on the boards and reading all the postings about the sural nerve so at least he's getting involved in his own diagnosis.

He said "we'll go and see Dr. Goldfarb and listen to what she says".

So just for an update on my Alan, he just went to make a wash, he had a good night's sleep. (better than me obviously, with my toe spasm thing). Oh, as we were having breakfast in Dunkin Donuts, my right arm (the muscle) began doing it's thing for a few seconds. I just looked at it and said "oh there it goes again. Then it stopped and now all is quiet.

I think my body is trying to tell me something. Nervous tension, stress, well, eventually, it all comes to a head and it affects the body in various ways.

I think, perhaps (and I may be wrong), that all this week, with Alan being in the hospital and me having to go back and forth with the access-a-ride, waiting outside for an hour in the cold all the time, coming home to an empty house, (we have no actual family to visit), and then sometimes someone would ask about my son (and all the memories come flooding into my brain), well I think my spasming is all due to nerves.

Is there a specific tests they can do to see why I'm spasming? I looked up muscle spasms on the internet and so many different stuff causing muscle spams, I was just boggled. I have quite an imagination so of course I said "oh my god, I've got distonia (Remember the movie Resurrection with Ellen Burstyn). I said "oh no, I can't deal with this).

Fear gets a hold of you sometimes and while dental phobia has ruled my life all my life, I did get a handle on this and found a phobia dentist. I don't have any other phobias. Perhaps I'm neurotic, perhaps I'm not.

But I do know if I get another muscle spasm like I had last night, well, I don't know what I'll do. Maybe rub some tiger balm on it!!!!

Just bought some at the .99 cents store. Imagine finding tiger balm for .99 cents. I've paid $4.99 at my local drug store for that product. It's really good.

Thanks for all the information.

By the way, I just got off the phone with his medicare advantage plan. Got a nice girl on the phone and I explained that I wanted to make it absolutely clear to me, that we would not be responsibe for any co-pays for the ivig. and this is exactly what she said: (and if this helps any of you out there, go for it!!!!!)

She said: "I just looked up your husband's plan, he has an excellent plan, there is no co-pay for any of it". Then I told her "what about the donut (sounds stupid I know but she completely understood)!!! Her answer: "OH, the donut only applies if they put the ivig under his Medicare Part D prescription plan". I then said "but IVIG is a drug isn't it?" And she said "well, yeah, but if they put it through under his medical plan, it is completely covered, if they apply it via his prescription coverage, that's where the donut comes in".

Now, I'm not a brain surgeon but neither am I a dumbell. I know these things are written and presented in a way to make all of us think we don't have a bat in our belfry so I again said the following: "So what you are saying is that his neurologist has to bill THIS WHOLE THING, HOME INFUSION, IVIG MEDS, EVERYTHING, through his medical plan, AND NOT HIS PRESCRIPTION PLAN, is that what you are saying??" And she said: "Exactly". I said "well, I would think his doctor would know how to do this, because she knows we can't afford this and she said "don't worry, you won't have any co-pays" and the girl said "don't worry doctors know exactly how to bill this and if she said this, then she will bill it through your medical plan, and not your prescription plan. So that means your husband is covered for everything including home infusion, the people who come to your house and the ivig meds",

So the next time we have the visit with Dr. , ya think it's a good idea to gently ask "you do know to bill this through his medical plan, right??" I dont' want to sound pushy but one would think she knows what to do, right???"

jeez, I acted like a medical secretary today and Alan is making a wash. If he only knew what I do for him!!!! (Oh he knows, I know he knows.. lol)

bye for now.
Love, Melody