I'm increasingly glad that I ended up with my current primary doctor. He is not perfect, no doctor is, but he meets all my criteria for a good doctor. He listens to me when I talk to him. He takes all my health conditions into consideration when dealing with individual issues. He wants me to know what he knows, not just treating me without explaining. He doesn't jump to medication, he considers all possible treatments and chooses the best for my situation. He works with me, he knows I am a human being and talks with me, not at me. He thinks about and answers my questions in a mature manner; that is to say, no question is taken lightly or mocked for stupidity.
Today my weight has gone up which left me downhearted. My blood-pressure has improved since my last visit, but is still slightly high, I can't remember the numbers, 130something over something. My blood-sugar was very high (210) but I had just eaten a carb filled breakfast like a half hour to 45 minutes earlier (boo for rushing in the morning).
My doctor came in and after greetings he looked at my awesome "Type One Dia-bad-■■■" shirt and laughed and said it was awesome. The first thing he asked me after discussing my high blood-sugar was if I had gotten in to see an endo yet. I told him that I still hadn't gotten a call. He was disappointed and had me wait a moment while he went out and told his nurse to look in to it. When he came back he asked me how everything had been going since our last visit. I told him generally everything is fine. He asked how I am doing with my heart. I told him my heart is good according to my cardiologist but I have some concerns about how little my cardiologist is doing. He said cardiology is based on symptoms, really, so if I have a good EKG and blood-pressure, other than that the cardiologist is really going to go off of any symptoms I list. That explanation kind of set my mind at ease.
Next we talked about lab work. I haven't had any labs done in a year. My doctor wants me to have all the normal labs for diabetics done every three months until my conditions are under control (especially my diabetes). I like this plan, labs are the best way to know what's going on inside my body.
He then asked how my eyes are doing and what my retina specialist has been working on with me. I love that he cares what my other doctor's are up to! I said things are going great with my eyes right now, considering everything I've been through this year and the fact that my retinopathy was so bad before.
Then we discussed my medications. No changes are being made at this time so he put in the refills I need, and that was that.
While we were waiting for the nurse to come back with info on my endo referral, the doctor explained to me that he wants to work closely with my endo's treatment plan so he can best help me to get things under control and get me as healthy as possible. It is my responsibility to make sure he knows what I am doing with my endo so he can tailor his end of the care to what me and my endo need and plan and are working on. I love this, some doctors don't even care what other doctors are doing. This doctor is eager to work with me and my other doctors. Yay!
The nurse returned and the news was good. I now have an appointment to see an endo on December 6th. It's a bit of a wait, but at least it's in the books!
I get my labs done on Monday (I'm waiting until then because I don't like doing labs while menstruating..TMI, I know). I see my primary again on November 10th to go over the lab results.
And then I walked home. The walk was very painful, as usual, but not as painful as it had been in the past. As long as I stopped and rested a few times along the way, the pain didn't build to the point of wanting to plop down on the sidewalk and cry. I walked 2.5 miles and not once did I wish I wasn't in that situation. I actually felt an inkling of the joy I used to feel while walking so many years ago. I think the Gabapentin, Frankincense and Myrrh oil, and ever improving blood-sugar levels is actually starting to improve my neuropathy. I hope it keeps getting better.