About Time
I have probably drafted at least 6 posts in the last 2 months, but none of them made it past a few paragraphs before I got distracted or couldn't decide what else to say.
So here I am! Don't you forget about me.
...Don't, don't don't don't... :)
So a lot has happened, and I think that's one of the main reasons I haven't finished a post - I kind of wanted to get to a certain point before writing a post and then having to write another post to follow-up.
Not that I don't like writing...I just didn't want to be too up in the air with my information.
Since everything was still up in the air, it didn't seem possible to be anything else.
I guess I'll start at the beginning. It's a very good place to start (thanks, Julie Andrews!)
Ok, ok. I'll stop with the lyrics :)
I saw my neuro-ophthalmologist and it was thoroughly disappointing. I spent 3 hours there, saw the doctor for maybe 20 minutes, and he told me little to nothing. There were a lot of emotions that day.
He basically spent most of the time bad-mouthing the neuro-ophthalmologist I had seen before him (a former colleague of his) and asking me questions about him. Then, he said "well, your eyes look fine now...it's probably fine now because you've lost a lot of weight recently. Keep losing it." Then, almost every question I would ask such as "yeah, but why do I have night blindness?" he would respond with a nice "well I don't know why that would be happening" and do nothing. Helpful. Next, he told me to "come back in 4 months" but the earliest I could even get an appointment was SIX MONTHS. Crazy.
The only really great thing about the appointment was that my doctor was wearing a yellow bow tie with polka dots.
So I had myself a nice cry about it and moved on.
There's 6 months of waiting down the drain. NOT gonna do it again.
Then I had my appointment with the neurosurgeon the next day.
Surely that would go better!
NO.
He seemed to have no idea why I was even there...did Dr. P not tell you? He was supposed to look over the last 3 years and give a second opinion. He was kind of a space case, though. And by "space case" I mean he was arguably the most full-of-himself doctor I've ever been to. There were pictures of him on almost EVERY WALL. Also, I'm pretty sure his office and everything in it is more valuable than my house...and everything in it. To top it off, he had THE BIGGEST diamond on his wedding ring I have ever seen in person. The ring was the size of a college-type class ring and the diamond took up what would be the round part where the school's symbol goes. It was massive. I was pretty distracted by it!
The only good thing that came from that appointment was that he sent me to a great neurologist, whom I saw the following week.
Now, THAT was an appointment to remember! He was INCREDIBLE. Probably my new favorite doctor. He seems to think most of my problems are caused by my chronic migraine condition. He actually referred to it as "migraine disease", but I don't really care for that term. It sounds very made up...but I googled it and apparently it's legit.
I knew I was going to like him when I began talking and started describing some of my problems and he goes, "uh, yeah. That's a MIGRAINE."
This was important to me because almost every doctor I've ever been to (including the fancy neurosurgeon) will get this smug look on their faces when I say I get migraines and they ALWAYS say, "Now, how do you know it's a migraine. What do you mean by migraine?" and I have to tell them what happens before they decide I'm telling the truth. This happens so often I decided to just stop saying it, so I just started by describing my symptoms and left the "M word" out of it. When HE pointed out that they were migraines I was like, "I KNOW, RIGHT?!?" I knew it was going to be a good appointment - and it was.
He went through ALL of my history - which no doctor other than Dr. P had done before and after reviewing my medications I've tried in the past for them he said he thought I had already taken a pretty good variety of medications and it was obvious none of them helped. He also said he thought the migraines were causing some of the freaky stuff that has happened in the last few years. He also said he wasn't sure - which was nice because doctors almost always want to put me in a box, when I clearly don't fit. He said he believed I had an extremely abnormal manifestation of migraine disease (or chronic migraine), but he wanted to make sure that was what was causing the other stuff instead of just hoping it was the cause. So his plan is to get me off of my medications (done...more on that later) and then try to eliminate my migraine problems through BOTOX. Crazy, right? I've heard of using Botox for migraine relief, but I never thought anyone would suggest using it on me. It's an FDA approved treatment of migraines, though...so my insurance will pay for it! So that's weird.
His plan is to treat the migraines and see if anything is left over like the freaky dizziness, the seizures, the random shooting pains, etc. THEN, we'll try to treat those things without the interference of the migraines. My problem is that I clearly have a migraine problem and no one has been willing to fix that AND whatever else was going on. So I'm very thankful for him. Let's call him Dr. H.
My favorite thing about him was that he had a plan, then a plan for what happened after that plan, then another plan. It wasn't just "here, try these pills and then we'll go from there." He was like, "we're going to do this, and if this happens as a result we'll do this, and if this happens we'll do this. Then, we'll do this and depending on what happens next we're going to do this." I loved the confidence and determination. He genuinely wants me to be better and is planning on doing whatever he can to help.
First, Dr. H had me get off all of my medication and he sent me to an ophthalmologist he trusted to find out about my eyes and optic discs first. He wanted to see how they would look off the meds before we proceeded with the Botox. So I saw that guy last week and he said I'm good to go! The meds and losing weight most likely did the trick for now!
However, since I've been off my meds I've had a migraine EVERY. DAY. That's a month of migraines, y'all. He gave me something to fight them, but they just take the edge off most days.
I'm eager to get back into Dr. H's office and see if the Botox will help me! It doesn't work for everyone, but I'm praying I can at least get some relief. If nothing else I'll look fabulous ;)
Other than the migraines, I've honestly felt so good since being off the meds. So good I don't even mind the migraines as much. I feel like myself, personality-wise. It's nice. I haven't felt like me in a very long time.
Here are the places they inject the botox...
E
So here I am! Don't you forget about me.
...Don't, don't don't don't... :)
 |
| just so you don't forget me... |
Not that I don't like writing...I just didn't want to be too up in the air with my information.
Since everything was still up in the air, it didn't seem possible to be anything else.
I guess I'll start at the beginning. It's a very good place to start (thanks, Julie Andrews!)
Ok, ok. I'll stop with the lyrics :)
I saw my neuro-ophthalmologist and it was thoroughly disappointing. I spent 3 hours there, saw the doctor for maybe 20 minutes, and he told me little to nothing. There were a lot of emotions that day.
He basically spent most of the time bad-mouthing the neuro-ophthalmologist I had seen before him (a former colleague of his) and asking me questions about him. Then, he said "well, your eyes look fine now...it's probably fine now because you've lost a lot of weight recently. Keep losing it." Then, almost every question I would ask such as "yeah, but why do I have night blindness?" he would respond with a nice "well I don't know why that would be happening" and do nothing. Helpful. Next, he told me to "come back in 4 months" but the earliest I could even get an appointment was SIX MONTHS. Crazy.
The only really great thing about the appointment was that my doctor was wearing a yellow bow tie with polka dots.
So I had myself a nice cry about it and moved on.
There's 6 months of waiting down the drain. NOT gonna do it again.
Then I had my appointment with the neurosurgeon the next day.
Surely that would go better!
NO.
He seemed to have no idea why I was even there...did Dr. P not tell you? He was supposed to look over the last 3 years and give a second opinion. He was kind of a space case, though. And by "space case" I mean he was arguably the most full-of-himself doctor I've ever been to. There were pictures of him on almost EVERY WALL. Also, I'm pretty sure his office and everything in it is more valuable than my house...and everything in it. To top it off, he had THE BIGGEST diamond on his wedding ring I have ever seen in person. The ring was the size of a college-type class ring and the diamond took up what would be the round part where the school's symbol goes. It was massive. I was pretty distracted by it!
The only good thing that came from that appointment was that he sent me to a great neurologist, whom I saw the following week.
Now, THAT was an appointment to remember! He was INCREDIBLE. Probably my new favorite doctor. He seems to think most of my problems are caused by my chronic migraine condition. He actually referred to it as "migraine disease", but I don't really care for that term. It sounds very made up...but I googled it and apparently it's legit.
I knew I was going to like him when I began talking and started describing some of my problems and he goes, "uh, yeah. That's a MIGRAINE."
This was important to me because almost every doctor I've ever been to (including the fancy neurosurgeon) will get this smug look on their faces when I say I get migraines and they ALWAYS say, "Now, how do you know it's a migraine. What do you mean by migraine?" and I have to tell them what happens before they decide I'm telling the truth. This happens so often I decided to just stop saying it, so I just started by describing my symptoms and left the "M word" out of it. When HE pointed out that they were migraines I was like, "I KNOW, RIGHT?!?" I knew it was going to be a good appointment - and it was.
He went through ALL of my history - which no doctor other than Dr. P had done before and after reviewing my medications I've tried in the past for them he said he thought I had already taken a pretty good variety of medications and it was obvious none of them helped. He also said he thought the migraines were causing some of the freaky stuff that has happened in the last few years. He also said he wasn't sure - which was nice because doctors almost always want to put me in a box, when I clearly don't fit. He said he believed I had an extremely abnormal manifestation of migraine disease (or chronic migraine), but he wanted to make sure that was what was causing the other stuff instead of just hoping it was the cause. So his plan is to get me off of my medications (done...more on that later) and then try to eliminate my migraine problems through BOTOX. Crazy, right? I've heard of using Botox for migraine relief, but I never thought anyone would suggest using it on me. It's an FDA approved treatment of migraines, though...so my insurance will pay for it! So that's weird.
His plan is to treat the migraines and see if anything is left over like the freaky dizziness, the seizures, the random shooting pains, etc. THEN, we'll try to treat those things without the interference of the migraines. My problem is that I clearly have a migraine problem and no one has been willing to fix that AND whatever else was going on. So I'm very thankful for him. Let's call him Dr. H.
My favorite thing about him was that he had a plan, then a plan for what happened after that plan, then another plan. It wasn't just "here, try these pills and then we'll go from there." He was like, "we're going to do this, and if this happens as a result we'll do this, and if this happens we'll do this. Then, we'll do this and depending on what happens next we're going to do this." I loved the confidence and determination. He genuinely wants me to be better and is planning on doing whatever he can to help.
First, Dr. H had me get off all of my medication and he sent me to an ophthalmologist he trusted to find out about my eyes and optic discs first. He wanted to see how they would look off the meds before we proceeded with the Botox. So I saw that guy last week and he said I'm good to go! The meds and losing weight most likely did the trick for now!
However, since I've been off my meds I've had a migraine EVERY. DAY. That's a month of migraines, y'all. He gave me something to fight them, but they just take the edge off most days.
I'm eager to get back into Dr. H's office and see if the Botox will help me! It doesn't work for everyone, but I'm praying I can at least get some relief. If nothing else I'll look fabulous ;)
Other than the migraines, I've honestly felt so good since being off the meds. So good I don't even mind the migraines as much. I feel like myself, personality-wise. It's nice. I haven't felt like me in a very long time.
Here are the places they inject the botox...
Hopefully it will help!
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