First, we went on our RV trip in late August. We’d never done the RV thing before, but we had a good time and I’d definitely do it again. Apart from Jim taking a turn too narrowly pulling into our first RV park and getting the rig stuck on a railroad tie, then having to be pulled off by the “locals” with a backhoe and a chain, the trip went off without incident. If I ever DID do it again, I would rent the thing closer to home and then drive to our destination. That way I could get it set up with sheets, towels, cooking implements, food, etc., BEFORE we left, rather than having to ship everything UPS and then pack it up and ship it back. I didn’t anticipate the gas mileage on the behemoth to be as good as it was.
We got back, Jimmy started 2nd grade, and we settled into the fall routine. As you’ll remember, Jim had Decidua’s office install the Frankenstein bolts into his lower jaw before we left in anticipation of Vanni finishing off the implants. Decidua gave him a slip of paper with the bolt “specs”, i.e., the size, manufacturer, etc. Last month Jim went to Vanni hoping Vanni would take impressions and get started, but all Vanni did was take the sheet of paper from him and reschedule him for impressions. Now, how friggin’ STUPID was that? We could have faxed him or mailed him the paper. Why drag Jim’s ass in there and delay us AGAIN? I don’t think Vanni appreciates how important this is for Jim to get done with this crap already. He can’t start therapy until the teeth are finished. It’s been almost a YEAR already. As it is, once Jim is done he’ll have to go back to Speigel and get the therapy approved all over again. With our luck, that will happen right before Christmas and Jan 1st our medical insurance company will change. Ha ha ha.
So now onto me. I’ve been bitching about this weight gain, and all I’m getting from Dr. McAndrew (my GP) and Dr. Jennings (my endocrinologist) is deer-in-the-headlights stares and comments about being middle-aged. My Mom was tisk-tisk-ing me about my preferred type of mayonnaise, but I know it’s not about the Hellmann’s. When there’s something wrong with your body, you know it. The thyroid meds aren’t helping me at all, my knees and feet are killing me, I’m exhausted all the time, I’ve got a meatloaf growing around my chewy center, but according to my endo, my hair looks good so I guess I should be happy. I finally did some Googling on my own and came up with a few ideas. I went into McAndrew’s office and told her to humor me, and check me for Vitamin D deficiency and Cushing’s disease. Vitamin D deficiency can make you fat and prevent the thyroid meds from working properly. Cushings is a hormonal disorder that also makes you fat relatively quickly (and gives you other symptoms too, most of which I have). They look for elevated cortisol levels with a 24-hour urine test. She just said, “You don’t look like you have Cushings” and I lifted up my shirt to show her my bulging middle and said, “Look at this! Do you SEE this!” People with Cushings have skinny arms and legs, and I normally wear big, long shirts to hide my flab, so whenever she sees me she just sees the limbs and thinks I’m nuts. She reluctantly wrote the scripts for the tests. You know, maybe I’m wrong, but check for SOMETHING lady! Why don’t people believe me?
I took the blood test about three weeks ago, and did the 24-hour urine about a week after that. Yesterday McAndrew’s nurse calls me. My blood work is back but not the urine yet. And get this: I’m severely vitamin D deficient. HA! HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! It was MY idea for her to test for that, but the next time I see her she’ll probably act like it was all her idea. So she gave me a prescription for a supplement you take once a week. I took the first one last night. Today I called the lab to see where my urine test is, and they said they faxed it to McAndrew’s office yesterday. I’ll give her a couple more days and then hound her nurse.
So I didn’t post because I wanted to get those test results back first. I didn’t want to mention I made McAndrew run them without at least getting some of the results back. By now I’m so mentally downtrodden that I was starting to believe that maybe I was crazy, and I wanted to be vindicated first before mentioning what I had done. I hate doctors. I hate them so much. Well, let me amend that slightly.....I hate MOST doctors. I think this cartoon sums it up:
And I was talking to my mother last night. She brought up a point that I agree with and have always believed for years: I don't think I actually have all of these little piddly things....I don't think I have bacterial overgrowth syndrome and intestinal metaplasia and high blood pressure and Hashimoto's disease...I think I have ONE thing, and I've had that ONE thing for a long time, and that ONE thing just causes all of the other little things, but no one has any idea what that ONE thing is yet. And I'm not quitting until I find SOMEONE who helps me finds out what that ONE thing is. Jim is actually very lucky he ran into Dr. Altimore at Deborah Heart and Lung, because that guy said right away: "Jim, you're a little too young to have high blood pressure. Let's find out if there's a REASON for your high blood pressure." And if Altimore hadn't done that, Jim would probably not be here now, and his tumor would have been found post-mortem. What can't ALL doctors be like Altimore?
Now onto Jim and his teeth….he went back to Vanni yesterday, and Vanni actually took impressions. He’s got to go back again in a couple of weeks or so. But get this: we just got notice at work today that our dental insurance is going from Guardian to MetLife beginning 11/1. Guess who’s not in network for MetLife? I don’t even have to answer that….it’s obvious. Jim says he doesn’t care….he hasn’t been too enamored of Vanni up until now anyway, and I agree with this, but we’re almost done. I don’t have to like Vanni, but we’re too deep into it to switch now. But we don’t have much choice. And of course I can’t call Vanni’s office today because it’s Wednesday and they're closed.
