Thursday, October 28, 2010

Feeling Very Blessed

Today was my follow up with Dr. Dobrin I have seen her several times since August, but today was really pivotal in how I really felt about having a Primary Care doctor. Up until just before I won my disability, I hadn't had a primary doc, I had PPO insurance and enough specialists to make up for not having one, I had a specialist for just about everything one could imagine, and I really didn't need someone to coordinate my care, my brain worked well enough to organize it.

When I applied for disability I needed a primary doctor because I thought I was going to wind up on SSI not SSD, which would have given me Medicaid that was an HMO plan, not Medicare and Straight Medicaid, like I do have, so my previous PCP did next to nothing for me, and when I say next to nothing, I mean, he basically did what I asked him to or what my other doctors requested him to do, NOTHING proactive or that required HIM to make a medical decision affecting my care WHATSOEVER.

So when I got sick in August, we decided we were going to a different hospital. My Neurologist had given up, my pulmonologist had all but given up, and I was left to suffer alone. So off to Beaumont Chris and I went. We knew right away it was the right choice, the hospital staff took great care of me, didn't question me and wanted me to see THEIR docs, I got a neurology referral, and when my sugars went wacky I was referred to a new endocrinologist (who also wasn't doing her job). When I got out they wanted me to go see a primary care doc, I wasn't going back to my doc, he had already failed me, so my nurse whom I ever so lovingly cried on for over an hour the day before told me to call and how to get a new primary doc with them, I prayed, God knew I needed a doc that was MEANT for me…I have LOTS of doctors, I absolutely LOVED the Neurologist I was given, and when I called the referral service they asked my insurance and I told them what I had, asked where I wanted to go, There are NO Beaumont docs where I live, so I mentioned my Neurologist was on Rochester Road, That's ALL I said… So she gave me this LONG name, its Hyphenated, lol, of Dr. Dobrin (they don't use her WHOLE name, it doesn't fit on her card, lol) and I called and made the appointment, The first appointment took over 3 hours, she was so thorough, I wasn't sure I liked her then…she kinda scared me, it was extreme to extreme.

I saw her again, a few weeks later, she reran the blood work, and checked other things, same routine, but shorter appointment, still very thorough, a month later, same routine, shorter appointment, still NO WAIT, but very thorough, this is growing on me, office staff friendly, very efficient…Then Today…hmm, I have had 2 referral appointments and a follow up appointment since I saw her last…so we went over those, All in all, she spent an HOUR with me BEFORE deciding what to do with me.

We re-evaluated some chest/shoulder pain, she thinks it MIGHT be musculoskeletal, so we are going to attempt Physical therapy, We went over my bloodwork, she can't figure out what is up with my liver, she is calling it fatty liver disease, but she is going to assume its just its normal (its not, because it wasn't there in February, but eh whatever, my body has a way about creating new normals when it gets bored)

We discussed the bariatric surgery… she is not pushing me as hard since I was OPEN and Honest about my thoughts, long story short I am just NOT SURE, she said to call her when I am sure, IF I am sure. Then we talked about the Fibromyalgia, Pain, and Neuro stuff…she doesn't like how complicated I am, but is still not giving up on me…she says I need a miracle.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

HI! I wanted to let you know that my husband was diagnosed with "fatty liver" for many years. He seen two specialists for it. "Fatty Liver" is how your body reacts before your pancreas begins getting confused with how to store/disperse your insulin. Typically, if your diabetic, its a sign your diabetes is not under control. If your not diabetic, you should be treated as a pre-diabetic. It took about a year, and my husbands A1C came back high. It kept creeping up SLOWLY for that year. But he is now a Type II Diabetic. Do you have diabetes?

Charlotte said...

Sherry, that is interesting, I have been borderline/type2 diabetic since last February, the ADA changed the classification of it a while ago and I have been on Metformin for a while, but my liver tests were coming back normal then, now that its treated and my sugars are being checked regularly and are relatively normal (thats a scary thought) because my body is malfunctioning in a LOT of ways as it is) I see the endocrinologist tomorrow, so we shall see what he has to say, he ran another liver panel as well