The Stupidity Of The Medical System

The medical community in this country is screwed. That has been made apparent to me over the last week. When I went for my neurological tests the doctor who performed these tests told my primary physician that he felt that I might have spinal stenosis. This is the shrinking of the spinal column which causes pain which shoots down your butt into your legs. I found this to be totally out there because I have absolutely no pain in my back. As a matter of fact some of back bends that I do in yoga shock even my yoga teachers. Not only that but I often feel that my body craves these back bends. I need to do them. This doesn't sound like someone with spinal stenosis to me however I was ready to have the back MRI that Dr C told my primary care physican (PCP) that I should have. My PCP (Bob) agreed and wrote the prescription and seeing that I was having an MRI on my right foot for the supposed plantar fasciitis I figured we could save some time and money and have both done at the same time. Yeah, right!!!!!!

My insurance company declined the back MRI because Bob wrote the order. He is not affiliated with my insurance company but because he has been my doctor for 31 years I pay to go to him. The neurologist that did the tests is affiliated with my insurance company but wouldn't write the order for it because he didn't consider me his patient. He was just the test doctor and not MY doctor. So what does this all mean?

I have to go back to Dr C's office (neurologist) and wave hi to him, talk to him, pay a co-pay to see him and have him bill my insurance company for a visit that I don't need so that he can consider me his patient and write the prescription for the back MRI that I didn't go to him for in the first place. I went to him for my foot pain. Now he can't see me until July 21. Are we confused yet?

Now, the latest in this ridiculous story is that Dr C's office called and said that now they think it's not spinal stenosis and probably a pinched nerve. I don't think it's anything. I think they are crazy.

The MRI of my right foot and ankle is scheduled for Monday so I will have to have two separate procedures. Double the price. Double the hassle. Stupid.

WTF?

Ok, well, yesterday was not a fun day. I started with the vascular tests which consisted of a cute guy giving me an ultrasound all up and down my legs. As medical tests go it wasn't bad until he said "are you a smoker?" I replied that I had been but had quit years ago. Then I asked "why and how did you know?" He proceeded to tell me that he could see the damage that the smoking had done to my arteries and veins. Well, that's not what I wanted to hear especially after going through all I did to stop. Then he told me that I have plaque in my arteries. Again, not what you want or expect to hear especially after spending all those years walking, running and doing Richard Simmons videos. In the end he said that I had good circulation. Well, at least that's good news. Yeah...we'll see about that once the films are read and the report comes in. And that was the good part of the day.

Then came the neurological studies. OMG!! That was fun. I laid on a table and got electrical shocks up and down my legs. Some were small and others were big enough to have my legs jumping off the table. Not pleasant in any way. When Rosie (that was my tech) was finished with that the Doctor came in and started sticking little needles all up and down my legs. He got a very weird look on his face and said that I gave him confusing readings. OK, so I'm confusing. Then He made me roll on my side and he started sticking needles in my back and hips. OK, this was not what I had signed up for. He kept telling me to relax. Yeah, right. Easy for him to say. I'm the one who was getting stuck with needles all over my body.

Once all the needle sticking was over he started asking me if I had any back issues. Did I experience and pain, numbness or tingling? I told him no. I was there for my foot not my back. Well, he said that my foot was NOT Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome which is a good thing. No surgery....for that. He was more interested in my back which I must say feels fine. He ran and called my main squeeze doctor whose office is in the same building and then came in and said that he wanted me to have an MRI on my back. I'm supposed to have one on my foot because after all, that's why I went there. He said that I had an injury to my back which was "old" and by old he meant months not years old. I got dressed and went upstairs to Bob's (main squeeze) office for an explantion. When I got there Bob was on the phone with this doctor about me. Bob couldn't see me yesterday because he was booked solid however he me to wait to make the MRI appointment so that I can have both the foot and the back done at the same time. I have an appointment with Bob this afternoon to talk about all of this. I feel better talking to Bob about this stuff because he will explain it all to me and not pull any punches. He will tell me the truth.

I still don't know what is wrong with my foot and the pain continues. Now I have to worry about my back which felt fine until I was told it wasn't. As my friend Laura would say, OY VEY!!! What a mess. I guess I'll know more later on today. No exercise until I talk to Bob. I just hope my yoga is safe. Being in the medical loop sucks.

High Blood Pressure

It's still dark as I post this blog entry. It won't be light for another half an hour or so yet and I don't go to the track in the dark. Too scary. Once it gets light out there will be people out there to keep me company.

High blood pressure this morning. 145/90. This is the highest it has been since I started taking my blood pressure meds. I don't know why but my pressure is always highest in the morning. I wake up and roll out of bed with the highest blood pressure of the day. You would think that sleeping wouldn't be stressful enough to raise my pressure but it does. I've been on Lisinopryl for about a month now and when I started taking it it worked really well and my pressure was low even in the morning. Little by little it has been rising but only in the morning. I've noticed that my pressure is high after a night of vivid dreams which I had last night. I dreamed about my dad who has been gone almost 25 years and I never dream about him. I'm not sure what that is all about.

I'm going to call my doctor today and ask him if maybe I should be taking the meds at night instead of first thing in the morning. Maybe that will work better. I'm sure my extra weight is not helping my blood pressure. That's always in the back of my mind too but I can't seem to do anything about it yet. As I posted in on our Fucking Agreement blog my food starts out great with healthy choices in the morning and degenerates into junk food and crap as the day goes on. I also need to exercise one or two more times a week. It's what I need to do for my health so why do I have so much trouble doing it?

Kerry's UT infection is back again and that worries the crap out of me. Bob(our doctor) told her to call him as soon as she feel any kind of symptoms and it started again yesterday. It seems that she is allergic to many of the meds that are prescribed for this so that's a problem along with the fact that she seems to be prone to these infections.I will be speaking to Bob about this too as she is in Gainesville and has classes all day.

Pat and Rigby are fine and that's really good. At least one half of the family has no issues.

My Life On A Tuesday

This semester Kerry has been taking music theory 3 which includes an ear training test. She has been having one hellva time with it as all the kids have been. Her professor has been giving these tests over and over because you have to pass one in order to pass the class. She has taken a bunch of them with no luck and I know she was starting to get nervous as the semester is coming to a close. Well, I got the call yesterday. Kerry passed her ear training test!! Yay!! Now it's on to music theory 4 and then she is finished with music theory. Believe me, she will throw a party once she is done with it.

Today is yoga day. I have my private with Juliana which I am always looking foward to. Not only do I feel better physically after a private I feel much better mentally. She has a really good effect on me. She is my spiritual mentor.

Yesterday was a great food day and I'm going to have a good one today too. I'm happy to report that I am still holding at 152.5 which means I'm keeping my promise to my fellow fabbie Laura. I am behaving myself with food during the holiday season.

My heel is still bothering me big time. It gets better for a day but as soon as I stand on it or walk for any period of time I'm in pain again. I think it's time to give in and go see Dr Bob. I was hoping to wait until the first of the year to see him. He is not included on my medical insurance plan which means everytime I see him I have to pay him and it goes towards my out of network deductable and I hate to waste an expensive office visit at the end of December but you gotta do what you gotta do and I gotta do it.

I'm off now to try and work out to one of Richard's videos if my foot will allow me. I also have to work at Curves today which means standing up for hours and hours. Oy vey! Oh well, such is life. See y'all...Did I just say y'all????? LOL LOL