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

Wow Melody, you Rock! will you be my wife for a few doctor visits?
Just kidding! I'm not gay either! Just wish I had someone to go to bat for me when I'm all confused and trying to figure out what the hell is happening to me. I'm new here and believe me, I'll be reading your posts closely for any information I can use!

Are you kidding?? There are people on these boards who put me to shame. They know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING. You keep reading and posting. You'll learn stuff you never dreamed of.

Oh, I forgot to mention in my previous post that when we got there and Dr. Fred said to us: So how is Alan doing on the meds?: I blurted out "Well, three days ago, he got dizzy so I took him off his altace and he hasn't taken it in three days, is this allright?" and he said "sure".

I then said "before he had his cypher stent, his blood pressure never went above 100/65. NEVER!! "then, after the stent, you put him on Altace and metoprolol, then you cut the metoprolol in half, ....Now Alan goes to the gym at least three times a week and sweats. I don't want him getting dizzy, so is it okay if he stops the Altace??" And he said "absolutely"

He looks at Alan and says; "thank god you're married'.

I never laughed so hard.

mel

Alan's BEST advocate! You could almost hire yourself out to go with others afflicted w/PN as a 'translator'!

Not to mention that you both are soo lucky to have Dr Fred.

It's essentially an ultrasound test and non-invasive. I've had it done several times and it's kind of interesting. The sound effects are GREAT!

A site for the process IS: http://www.gehealthcare.com/usen/ult...msucmeadi.html

Hope this helps! - j

Hi:

Alan just woke up and announced "my god, I had a flu shot, and I'm alive".

After I stopped laughing I said "what on earth are you talking about?" He finally admitted that he was afraid to go to bed last night (finally did around 1 a.m.) because he was afraid that 1. he might wake up with Guilliam Barre Syndrome or 2. He might NOT WAKE UP AT ALL.

So he starts shaking his legs and arms announcing, "look, I can move, I'm not paralyzed".

I looked at him and said "now get up and take me out for breakfast".


Not paralyzed indeed...... All those years of different doctors telling him "Never get a flu shot, you don't know what might happen..."

So now we wait until Monday.

Oh, thanks for that link. Very informative.

bye for now.
Melody

Before I tell you what happened, I must tell you that I am a Roman Catholic, Alan is Jewish and that sums up our religious beliefs. I believe in being good to my fellow man and I try to do something nice for people every day. If I go to heaven, so be it. '

Well, several months go, Alan started to watch the Trinity Broadcast network and John Hagee ministries and he became "born again," for want of another word. He believes in Jesus and because he is Jewish, this makes him a Messianic Jew. At least I think it does.

So he tells me this morning. "I don't want to hurt your feelings but I can't buy you a Christmas present because Christmas is a pagan holiday and I follow the scripture".

I said "I massage your thighs so you can follow any scripture you want to but Christmas in this house means presents"

He then said "and you can't put up any Christmas decorations on the windows" and I said "why on earth not?" He said "because it says in the bible, "do not put up any graven images".

So I look at him and I immediately go to the phone and call the number for Pastor Hagee Ministries (I wanted to get their views on Christmas so why not go to the horse's mouth (so to speak).

So this very nice young man answers the phone with "Bless you and thank you for calling Cornerstone Church". (that's Pastor Hagee's church).

I told him why I was calling and that my husband has told me I can't put up christmas decorations and then I asked "Does Pastor Hagee's ministries forbid celebrating Christmas".??? And he responds as such:

"Of course we celebrate Christmas, but if your husband told you that you can't put up window decorations, you must obey your husband". I then said 'WHAT??" He continued: "It says in the bible "women, submit to your husbands". I said "I should submit to who????" "are you serious?"

He goes "oh absolutely, you see your husband is the King, the Prince, the Pastor and the Head of your household". I said "really? so THAT'S why I massage his thighs every night before he goes to bed!!!, he's the king!!!"

And the guy actually says "that's right, you must obey his word and his wishes and even though he's wrong about christmas decorations, you must obey him"

I said "listen honey, in this household, there are no kings, no princes, no heads of anything , we do things together".

He said "what faith do you have, what is your religion?" I said "I was baptized a Roman Catholic and he goes "Oh, no wonder you feel like you do, you were raised in pagan society, with pagan views".

So I said "well, if I think I'm equal to this man, call me a pagan anytime."

I said "Bless you, I hope your wife continues to submit to you but it's not happening in this house".

I then walk into the living room where Alan was sitting down and I explained that if he thinks he's the king, the prince and the head of this household, he's got another thing coming".

He looks at me bewildered and says: "What on earth are you talking about?"

I then repeated the conversation with the guy and Alan fell off the couch.

He said 'But Melody, Pastor Hagee says I'm the king of this house".

Don't ask what I answered him........


finished laughing yet???????


mel

P.S. any fellow pagans out there???

who was Jewish used to respond to the 'bible thumpers' [those who interpret the bible in THEIR OWN WORDS] with the 'phrase': I am a 'Reformed Druid'... [Please, no offense to Druidds intended at ALL]

Granted it was quite a while ago, but it would 'stump' them, as it wasn't in their index for come-backs. It may be now tho...

Hugs and pain free moments to all! [You will never ever see what I wrote and deleted...except the mods?]

j

I just wanted to say "Hi" and hope that all of Alan's tests turn out good. You sound like a terrific wife!!
Take care,
Linda

--I tell everybody that I'm an athiest Jew, married to an agnostic Italian Catholic, who adopted a little boy from Korea who worships Pokemon.

Sometimes people laugh. Sometimes they glare and escape my presence quickly.

Hey, Pokemon worship is as valid as aything else, given that we have Scientology. (Although I do like to remind people that in its early days, every now-established religion was viewed as a wacky cult by others.)

I believe in letting people have their own beliefs, no matter how unsubstantiated they might be--I do draw the line at letting them have free reign of public policy based on them, though.

Two useful quotes:

"Everyone is entitiled to his own opinion. However, you are not entitiled to your own facts." --Molly Ivins

"Faith? Uh, That's when you believe in stuff that no one in his right mind would believe in." --Archie Bunker

I am extremely curious if any of you had a good laugh when I told you about that guy over the phone telling me I had to "submit".

Alan and I laughed for over an hour.

Imagine, telling a complete stranger that it's MY DUTY, to submit to my husband.

I thought that kind of thinking went out with black and white television.

I guess I'm mistaken!!!!

mel

P.S. Thand you Boopers. And I am a good wife. But the best part is that many times, Alan is a good husband. No Kings or Queens, just reigning servants in this house.