It's been awhile

9/17/2013

Hey guys,

It has been a while since my last post. I haven't posted because for about 2 months I convinced myself that I would never have to see a doctor ever again and also because I have started school again which keeps me busy.

I will start with the past couple of months worth of doctors visits. Usually this would be a very long story but like I said I haven't been going to the doctors (well not often at least.) I saw a doctor in July that claimed he was "the best shoulder surgeon in Memphis." Well, he obviously isn't the best because he does not feel confident enough to do the shoulder reconstruction surgery that I need. I then went a whole month without seeing another doctor until I had to go to the usual doctors like my neurologist and a few others that I see every 3months or so. No big story there other than I had to wait a few hours to see the doctor so I clipped all the safety pins in a jar together to make a long chain. I saw my primary care doctor 2 weeks ago for strep throat (thanks Chris for giving that to me) but after a round of antibiotics my throat is feeling all better.

This past Friday, I went to that famous orthopedic group in Memphis again and saw the same knee surgeon that told me he wouldn't do my knee alignment surgery until my shoulder surgery was completed and healed. Well, I obviously haven't had any shoulder surgeries but I went to see him again anyway because my knee keeps giving out on me multiple times a day and that's just not fun. After a quick 2 minute examination he said that my pain has moved and that it is in the side of my knee and not my knee cap. I agree with this except for the moving part. I have never in my life had pain in my knee cap (except those few times where I hit it on something) and it has always been on the side of the knee. He said it seems like it is a cartilage problem with a torn ligaments and what not. I really wanted to say "no shit Sherlock" but I refrained and said "well I do have a bone disease that affects my cartilage." So he said that he will not realign my knee because that isn't what you do for my knee problem even though my knee isn't aligned properly. He then said that I will need yet another MRI before he will even consider scoping my knee to fix the damage because he wants a plan of action in order to stick a camera in my knee. I believe that he is just running up the bill but no worries, I refused to have the MRI done at their office so they couldn't get all the profit off of it. And my plan would be as followed: step 1 put me to sleep, step 2 make two small incisions, step 3 insert camera, step 4 clean damage, step 5 remove all foreign objects and sew up incisions. Brilliant plan, I know! So I will post about my next visit after it occurs.

Other than my rare bone disease and seeing orthopedic surgeons that all claim they are the best but won't treat me, I have been having some common ailments that just won't go away and are really putting a damper on my life at the moment. I have had a migraine headache for 6 days now. (I'm at the point where I am sitting in a cold dark room wearing sun glasses just to look at my computer screen to type this and to study.) When I get migraine and don't treat them fully in time they stay forever. Last time it stayed for 4 months. I have tried the usual: caffeine, sleep, ice packs, hot showers, allergy medicine, over the counter pain meds used for headaches, pain meds, and migraine medication. If they do help it is only for an hour then it comes back. I will call the doctor next week if it doesn't go away. Also I have had nightmares for the past 3 nights in a row and I think they might be related to the headaches.

Oh, I see a surgeon in North Carolina this coming up Monday to see if he can do the shoulder reconstruction surgery. I have already been emailing him x-rays and giving him back ground information, so I am somewhat hopeful.

As I have mentioned school has started back again. It has been harder than ever to keep a straight face and act like everything is going well. I hope I have succeeded in doing so. I do have one good thing to say about that, even though my body is falling apart slowly my mind is still going strong. (well maybe until that first biochem test tomorrow)

Thanks for reading,

-me

P.S. I will start posting regularly again.