Tag Archives: gastroenterologist

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On The Road Again!

I haven’t had spare anything (time, energy, bandwidth) in about 20 weeks. Wow, 5 months — for this long, it’s been one event after another. And January through March was a haze of bare-survival after my husband’s knee replacement surgery and the resulting toll on my body. (His body bounced back pretty well, thankfully.)

In April, before our trip to Joshua Tree, it was weeks of careful packing, plus dealing with repeated dental visits (a successful amalgam removal and crown placement sans anesthetic).

We were gone almost 6 weeks for the California trip and it was not a good time for various reasons that I will one day write about. Mostly hell from constant colon crises.

Right after we got home, my Mum came to visit from Ireland for 6 weeks and I tried to focus all of my extra energy on her. It was wonderful and sorely needed.

As soon as she left, my Dad came to visit — also wonderful and sorely needed, as I hadn’t seen him in the flesh in 4 years — but it was more taxing than I anticipated because it was only 5 days, so, in order to see him and my sister as much as I wanted to, I had to rearrange my usual careful schedule.

Then, as soon as he left, we started packing to get back on the road again to Salt Lake City to see Dr. Pace and Dr. Maitland.

This is why my lengthy to-try list of medications never happens. This is why I haven’t gotten IVIG infusions back on schedule. There hasn’t been any time in the last 5 months that I wanted to risk terrible side effects.In Joshua Tree, even though I brought a suitcase of supplies, thinking it’d be an ideal time to try things and get infusions back because my husband was there with me every day, he explicitly asked me not to do anything different that could make things worse. It was a bad month.

Friends may remember that back in June we were in Vegas in 110° heat, on the way to the Metrodora institute in Utah and, due to unstable health issues, we decided to turn around and go back the way we came to get home to Seattle as quickly as possible. I loved arriving home. I NEVER love arriving home. Seattle has been wonderful this summer, especially after the desert magic was so diminished for me this year.

So, now we’re again on the road to the Metrodora institute and, the upside of everything is, back in June, we were going to be paying out of pocket to see Dr. Laura Pace (a neurogastroenterologist who *might* be able to help with my complex bowel-dysautonomia issues – see here and here), but between then and now, they’ve joined my insurance and all of the providers at the clinic are covered, so I’m seeing Dr. Anne Maitland, too (a mast cell specialist – see here and here) and anyone else they want to throw my way.

I am keeping my expectations low for these appointments because I’ve heard some not-great stories (mainly due to disorganization), but I’m also trying to keep an open mind. It’s much easier to do this knowing I won’t be paying thousands of dollars.

Our 25th anniversary is in a few weeks, so we’re trying to pretend that it doesn’t matter if the doctors are a crushing disappointment because we’re on a celebratory holiday. Woohoo fun!… Even though I’m nervous of what the SLC elevation might do to me + it’s currently 100° out + it’s all work and no play for my husband + I can barely walk + Penny has an abscessed carnassial molar and is on meds to get her through to surgery…
But ANNIVERSARY ROAD TRIP! 🥳🥳🥳

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Two More One Offs

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Doctors, for me, are like one-night stands, only not at night and not fun. I meet them to scratch an itch, to see if maybe this person, with their unique knowledge and background might offer me something different… Trying not to have expectations, but, always, this dim hope flickering in the back of my mind that maybe this will be The One.

I didn’t see the neuro-opthalmalogist for 16 months after I was first given his name. I knew it was a silly referral and would be a waste of time, but I kept having niggling thoughts: What if they find something? You have neurological symptoms, after all. What if the problems with your eyes shouldn’t be dismissed just because there are bigger problems? What if this is thyroid eye disease? You won’t have good insurance forever. Maybe there was a reason you were referred to this doctor. Maybe it’s meant to be. Leave no stone unturned.

So, I finally made the appointment and waited 3 months to be seen.

I was in the clinic for 2 full hours. He was with me for 9 full minutes and spoke 5 full sentences. He thinks I have dry eyes.

Although I’ve been given the yellow ophthalmology eye drops twice before, this time I had a reaction to them, my throat and sinuses swelled up while I blew and coughed neon yellow all over a paper towel.

The doctor had never heard of that happening.
Of course not.
The doctor thinks, if I’m having a reaction, I should go to the emergency room.
Of course he does.

6 full hours later, I still can’t see properly from the drops they used to dilate my pupils and I feel like I was hit by a truck for no good reason.

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3 months waiting for an appointment with the fancy gastroenterologist at the University of Washington Medical Center Digestive Diseases Clinic, an hour waiting in the exam room and another hour telling my sordid bowel history and what was the recommendation?

… Wait for it…

Eat prunes and papayas and take Miralax.

Are you kidding me? Another one bites the dust.

Will someone please stop me from continuing this relentless search?

I should just stop and smell the flowers, instead.

New in the garden. Finally!

New in the garden. Finally!