Sunday Morning

 

Today is a dreary day here in the Upstate.  It's going to be warm and muggy most of the week with scattered thunderstorms.  We keep hoping that one of these storms will send the humidity away but it keeps getting worse. 

Tomorrow I have an appointment with my new rheumi.  I met him in May when we were down here.  He seems fine.  Time will tell.  He has very big shoes to fill.  Not only was I used to Dr. Goldstein, but he was a great and understand MD.  I knew him.  But more importantly, he knew me.  It took years for us to develop that relationship.  I remember my first appointment with Dr. G.  I had just fired my first rheumi.  She was a good doctor but very overwhelmed and her staff sucked.  But as my conditions became more complicated I felt as if she wasn't stepping up to the plate.  I felt it was time for a new doctor.  So Dr. G. was recommended.  My first appointment with him lasted for over an hour.  He said that is how he handles new patients.  I had a zillion questions.  But it was my initial statement to him and how I viewed his reaction to it that would convince me if I wanted to stay with him.  I told him that I was an extremely proactive patient (I was at that time.)  That I was very involved in my care.  I said to him that I needed to be assured that he would be available to me when I needed him.  And, that because I saw many other specialists that he didn't have any problem working with them.  I also needed to make sure that his staff relayed messages to him in a timely manner.

The rest is history because I was with him for years.

This first appointment will be somewhat different.  As I am more comfortable withmy illnesses.  I no longer care (for lack of a better word) about what my blood work says. My position is to leave it up to the doctor.  If he sees something on my blood work that needs addressing that is up to him.  I no longer go to my appointments armed with lists and comments.  Therefore I am in and out in record time.

My concerns now are that I am as pain and fatigue free as relatively possible. We discuss how I have been doing.  He comments and makes suggestions and I accept his expertise.  I get a steroid shot or two and prescriptions for my meds and I am on my way.

This new rheumi is in a practice with an internist, pain management doc, a neurologist and I think a cardiologist. This makes everything that much easier.

My only concern for this appointment is how he plans on managing my Jantoven (blood thinner - generic coumadin) levels.  In NY I went to the anticoagulation center.  There are a few here but not in the immediate area.  A 15 - 20 minute drive.  I have the blood testing machine and a mediocre supply of testing strips here at home so I can test myself if need be.  But I need someone to call and report my numbers to.  I would prefer not to have to drive into Greenville for each testing. In NY I would go about every two weeks.  Sometimes three.  In the 5 years since I have been on anticoagulation meds I went a month without testing only a handful of times.  So having to drive into Greenville is the last thing I want to do.  I will see how he wants to handle this.  Maybe he will just want to send me for blood work monthly to check my levels.  I could test myself in between if need be.  Those test strips are very expensive and Medicare does not pay for them unless you have a mechanical heart valve.

That's another thing I have to think about.  I need to get some sort of Medicare HMO coverage.  Here in SC that insurance is called Humana.  I have been reading about it and so far so good. The doctor copays are $15 and $20 for specialists.  Prescription copays are $4 for generic and I think $15 for name brands.  That is great compared to what I had in NY through Gary's job.  Sometimes my Rx copays would be over $100 for one med.  The Humana website had an Rx search thingie and all but one of my meds was covered.  The methotrexate was not covered.  But, it did say that for that med the physician needed to preauthorize it.  But I am sure that this new doc is going to take me off of that and put me on some sort of infusion med.  We talked about that when I was there in May.

So all is good on the medical front.  I feel pretty good.  Today is two weeks since we arrived and I can honestly say that I had to slow down and rest only two days.  And, they were two separate days, not together.

My sister and her hubby arrived here last night.  They are staying with my brother.  We are going there to see them and have a huge family dinner late on.  I am very excited as I haven't seen my sister, Kathy, in quite some time.

This move has proved to be all that I expected.  I enjoy seeing my family all the time so much.  My doorbell rings and it's my Mom and I love it.  We haven't closed yet on the construction loan.  More on that in my other journal (check the sidebar of this journal for the link to So you think you want to build a house.)

Hugs,