Monday, February 2, 1998

I arrived at my new doctors office, Doctor Jerry Whetzell, at 2:30pm, for my 3:15pm appointment. I had been asked to show up a half hour early as there was a lot of paper work to fill out. Rick, of course, filled out all the paper work for me as I haven't been able to hold a pen/pencil for long since this all started. The place was very nice and clean. The waiting room was very large, but there were only a few people there.

Now, you all know how it is when you go to the doctor and you have an appointment for 2:30pm and you don't get in until 3:45pm, right? Well, let me tell you, this place is totally different. We got in at 3:17pm. Amazing. I have had Rick come in with me to all of these appointments, not only for support, but because he will remember things the doctors have said that I don't. I tend to focus on certain things and while thinking about them, I tend to not hear some of the stuff being said. So, it has been very good to have Rick in there with me. :)

The nurse was very friendly. She asked me quite a few questions and then she took my blood pressure. My blood pressure was very high once again. It was 180 over something. This really concerns me since I have never had high blood pressure before. It has always been around 106 to 110. Since this whole medical problem has started, my blood pressure has been as high as 200 over 110 which is really high.

We did not wait over 5 minutes, if that long, before Dr. Whetzell came in. He introduced himself to Rick and I and shook our hands. He was a rather funny looking man. He was short and had funny eyes, but he appeared to be very nice. He is a pretty new doctor. He has only been practicing for about 2-3 years now. I was not real impressed with him at first because of his looks, but that quickly changed.

He sat down and I proceeded to fill him in on everything that had happened transpired since this whole thing started on September 23, 1997. This all took around 45 minutes to an hour I would say. He never interrupted, but just sat there patiently and listened to me. He did not appear rushed or anything like that. He just paid attention to everything I had to say.

When I was done with my history, Dr. Whetzell proceeded to ask me a ton of questions. He asked all about my family background, other aspects of my health, and all sorts of things. This all took about... oh... 15-20 minutes. Then he examined me for a long time. He examined each and every lump, from top to bottom. When he was done, he said he would be right back because he wanted to look into something.

After he left, Rick and I discussed our feelings about this new doctor. We were both impressed with him. Rick liked him right off the bat. I, of course, took a little longer to warm up to him. :) We figured he had gone to check into medical books or something.

It wasn't long until he was back. At this point he examined me a bit more and asked a few more questions. Then he told me that he was going to put me on Blood Pressure medicine. A very low dose at first to see how it went and if that was not enough he would increase the dosage. He stated that he was going to put me through a whole series of blood tests to eliminate any possibilities of other things. He said he was going to do another Thyroid test, just to be sure. He then asked me why I was wanting to switch doctors. I explained to him that Dr. Fillingame had seen unwilling to help me. That he would not do a biopsy for all those months. That he did not want to send me to specialists. And finally because he had said the last time I was in there, "I am not going to refer you to doctors for the next 16 years so that you can find out what is wrong with you." After I said that, he just looked at me with a very strange look on his face and shook his head. I got the impression he found that type of treatment shocking... just as all of you and I have found it to be. Unacceptable!!!

Then he said the following, "When I get the tests back, if I don't find anything there, then I will refer you to an "Endocrinologist" here in town. If he doesn't come up with anything, then I have no problem with sending you to Portland." Ok... need I say that I just about fell off of the examining table with that one? WOW! FINALLY A DOCTOR THAT WAS WILLING TO DO SOMETHING TO TRY AND HELP ME!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Not only did he say that he would have no problem with sending me to Portland, but in addition, he started writing something on a piece of paper. When he was done, he handed it to me and said... "I'm going to restrict you to half days at work. I don't want you working over 5 hours a day maximum. I would prefer you work no more than 4 hours a day." Can you believe it? Isn't that just awesome? Finally a doctor that realizes that it is very harmful for me to be working 8 hours a day.

After he examined me he told me, "You have every indication of 'Nerve ?????', but yet, all your tests came back negative. I don't understand that. They shouldn't have. I'm not trying to be rude, but you are big and your arms are way, way too small for your body size. That indicates 'Nerve ?????'. It doesn't make sense that your tests came back negative." I tried to tell Dr. Fillingame that my arms had shrunk way, way down (or Atrophied as it is called.) in the last year or so and he just ignored me. I didn't even think to tell this guy about it and yet he noticed it right off the bat. Now is that a good doctor or what? Hehehehe.

When I go back to see him in 2 weeks I'm going to tell him how hard a time the lady who did my nerve conduction tests had in figuring out the settings and stuff. There were several times there where she would figure something and then say it was wrong and re-figure it. It could very well be that she set the machine wrong and that could have given wrong readings on my nerves. As much as it hurt and as much as I hate to and as much as I don't want to, I'm going to suggest that perhaps he have someone else do the test again. I don't think that is a bad idea at all. Another thing that would happen is that she would put the pointed things on my arm and then while she was setting the machine, the thing would slide down. She would not readjust it so that is also a possibility where she might have got invalid readings. He told me to wear my hand/wrist braces all of the time and not just when I type like Dr. Fillingame had me do. So, now I wear them all the time at work. I haven't noticed any difference yet, but hopefully I will.

Side Note: For those of you who do not know what an Endocrinologist is, it is a doctor that has something to do with glands. Since all of my lumps seem to start in the Lymph Glands, I am assuming that is why he is wanting to refer me to that type of doctor. :)

Once Dr. Whetzell told me that he was going to do these things, I thanked him up one side and down the other. Now, I REALLY liked this new doctor. He was willing to help me, unlike Dr. Fillingame. :) All total, he spent approximately 2 hours with us. That is unheard of with doctors in this day and age.

Then he thanked us and we thanked him and the nurse came and got me to take me to get my blood drawn. I'm totally terrified of having my blood drawn now because so many of my tumors are right there where they have to stick the needle and it hurts me so much, even without a needle being stuck in me. Not to mention the fact that where they draw the blood is where I had my surgery and that adds pain to the area as well. We had no more than, sat down in the lab waiting area and here came the lady to draw the blood. Again, just AMAZING. No wait times at all.

I went in and sat down. The lady put the stretchy goody that they always put on your arm to stop the blood. I told her and showed her how and where it was bad. She said, OK. Then, for some reason, I decided to watch her stick the needle in. Don't know why I did this as it is something that I never, ever do. I usually look the other way, but this time I didn't. I guess I wanted to know when to expect the pain to hit so that I wouldn't jerk my arm and perhaps break the needle off.

So, she puts the needle where it is supposed to go. She pushes on the needle. I keep looking at it, thinking that it has not gone in yet because I don't feel a thing yet other than a slight touch or pressure. I keep looking. No pain. Nothing. All of a sudden I see blood going up in the syringe. Oh my Gosh!!!! I could not believe my eyes. She had stuck me and I had felt nothing. It was incredible. I have never, ever, ever, had blood drawn without it hurting just a little bit... even before all these problems I had. But this lady did not give me even the slightest sting or anything. I have never been so happy in my life getting blood drawn. Hehehehe. When she was done taking 3 tubes of blood... I thanked her very much. I've never thanked anyone for taking my blood before, but I sure as heck thanked her and told her that she could take my blood anytime. Hehehehe.

She started labeling the tubes of blood and then asked me when the last time I ate was. I told her. I asked her why she needed to know that and she told me it makes a difference in how the test results come out because food changes stuff in your blood. Hum... interesting. When the people at Dr. Fillingames office took my blood they never asked that. Since this time I have found out from someone who has Thyroid problems that they always need to know when you last ate for that test. Well, when I had my blood tested for Thyroid at Dr. Fillingames, they never asked me this. So... perhaps, I had a false reading or something on that test.

The only 2 tests I remember that he was taking out of about 15 of them or so, was a test for the Thyroid, as mentioned above and a test for Hormones. I had asked him why Hormones and he said that there is a possibility that if my Hormones are out of whack that it could cause strange things to happen in your body. He also told me that the blood pressure medicine could block something (Can't remember what) in my body and that may make a change in the lumps as well. So, basically he wanted to rule out everything and anything that it could possibly be before sending me on. :)

So... I left the doctors office a much relieved and happy person. Rick too. I have an appointment to go back to him in 3 weeks for the results of the tests and all. I, of course, will update you at that time as well.