Doctor Appts

 Sure am hoping my medical appts slow down to a snail's pace now.  Yesterday I had my first virtual doc appt with a PA. Sure did like her. Seems like you get more attention and they listen better if they don't have MD after their name. Not always, of course, but I've found PAs in general are more thorough. Besides, you're lucky if you can even get in to see your doctor!  I had made an appt for a bowel problem I've tolerated for years. Been to one doctor after another with no definitive answers.  Googling, of course, gives you several options to choose from that it COULD BE but then when it's time to figure out what to eat and what not to eat, it all depends on the website you visit or the doctor you talk to.  I think you're ahead of the game if you try to figure out the problem yourself. At any rate, I did like what this PA had to say yesterday. Tomorrow I'll go to the hospital to get blood drawn and to pick up a poop jar and a "hat". I'm sure glad they finally figured out a better way to collect urine and poop. 

Anyhow, she wants to check my blood for Crohn's Disease ('cause my mother had it) and because I've lost weight along with other symptoms.  I really don't think Crohn's is the issue here; could be plain ole IBS but we'll see. She also suggested I take the following things out of my diet:  Metamucil, caffeine, magnesium, sugar free products, probiotics, yogurt & dairy products. Seems that when you have your gall bladder out, the bile goes cuckoo (my words, not hers).  Also could very well be that all these things I was taking daily which I was led to believe were GOOD FOR ME might just be the culprit. At least one or two anyway.  I am off coffee and tea and that's not really that hard for me but dairy is going to be a challenge. Later, if we decide to see if it's celiac disease and I have to cut out white flour and breads, that's gonna take some work.  I do love bread.  They make a ton of products that are gluten free now so I'll manage one way or another if it means I can get free of bathroom captivity.

Jenni picked me up at 8 this morning and drove me to the pain clinic in Poulsbo. Two hours later we stopped at Sonic Burger as I hadn't been able to eat or drink since 6 pm the night before. I had shots in my back (radio ablation?) to singe the nerves or some such thing.  I had been going to Silverdale for steroid shots in my back in preparation for this more detailed procedure which is suppose to give me a much longer time frame free of back pain.  I've got my fingers crossed.  I was told they would put me out today but they didn't. Just gave me a sedative so I was awake through the whole thing. Went fast. Busy place too. Patients in and out all day long.

In a couple weeks I'll have another virtual appt with my PA to discuss what the blood work showed and if my symptoms have improved going off all the things she suggested.  So happy to have the shots behind me and I'm hoping the new year will start with me being able to go for a daily walk.

The guy next door (whose cell phone wasn't working) knocked on my door asking me to call 911 as he was feeling dizzy. They took him to the hospital for observation I guess as my other neighbor said she thought he came home later that night.

A woman I went to high school with (Barb Blowers, class of '63) emailed me today wanting the phone number of this place as she wants to see if she can move it.  Will be nice to have someone I've known forever in here.

Christmas eve I'll probably be driving to Port Angeles to spend the night at Jenni & Wayne's house. She's having a Christmas eve party.  Most all of my Christmas jobs are done now. Got everything finished up early. Course my gift giving is on a smaller scale now and I rely on homemade gifts more and more.  I still need to fix some cookie/fudge/bread packages (a dozen at least) but I've got two weeks to play around with that and can take my time.

Right now I've got a pumpkin pie cooking. I had premade pie crusts in the fridge (and Cool Whip) so I thought "why not?"  Smells good in here and I'll give slices to half a dozen neighbors.

Just finished washing up the dishes and intend to sit and relax with an icepack on my lower back while I watch tv, read, and crochet a bit.   Have four shirts to iron and want to do some sewing but it'll have to wait until tomorrow.  I've got a large basket of painted rocks ready to take out and hide around town too. I'll have to find somebody to tag along with me.

I can see the tall trees over by Avamere blowing in the wind so I suppose we could be in for cold weather soon. It was pretty nice all the way to Poulsbo and back, though.