Doctors, etc.

I know, I haven't done much reporting lately. Busyness. We have been to either a specialist's office, or in physical therapy every day for the last two weeks, and everyday again next week. At least we know what is NOT wrong with Alan.

Regarding the urologist: His prostate is enlarged and he is now taking medicine for that. As a result he is only getting up once a night instead of four or five times. This is good. Also, he is currently doing a 24-hour urine test. Not fun for him. We don't know how his blood work came out for this doctor. We assume if there was a problem, they'd call us, since he doesn't see this doctor again until mid-September.

Regarding the neurologist: This doctor is the same doctor he had at Christ Hospital back in 2007 -- his last really bad collapsing episode. She is very thorough, and spent two hours just asking questions and doing some testing in her office. The big tests are next Friday at the clinic. Alan liked her and I liked her. She seems to think that his weakness problems are related to his chemotherapy which can attack the body as long after the chemo as 15 to 20 years. She doesn't think his brain is causing the problem.

Regarding the oncologist: Dr. Cody didn't mind at all that we have cut out Alan's Intron D shots. He said that if he was reacting to the shots (rubbery legs, inability to walk) like we monitored for a few weeks, then we were correct to stop the shots. He's been getting these shots for 9 years, and that's about the longest Dr. Cody has anyone on Interferon (life does end for some people) and he said we'll see what happens next. He'll do more testing in the next year to monitor Alan's bone marrow which means a bone marrow biopsy in the near future. Yuck. Poor Alan. They are so painful.

And, I pulled the scooter over on me yesterday. I took a driveway at an angle instead of straight on -- my own stupid fault -- and the scooter tipped over on top of me, pinning me under it. Fortunately, I was on a well-traveled road in our community and several people (four nurses) stopped to help. First to get the scooter off my legs. But I was so shaken I couldn't get the strength to get to a position to get myself up, so we call 911 and the EMTs lifted me back up. Once I was up, I was able to move and continue my trip home (from the pool). I'm very, very sore today, barely able to move, but no bones are broken. I'm road burned pretty bad on my elbows, knees, and thighs. So what's new? I have a constant feeling of road burn from the fibromyalgia anyway. I didn't even realize I was so bloodied up because I have that feeling all the time. Today the road burns are accompanied by bruises.

So, we're so happy with Alan's doctor's appointment results and looking forward to his strength getting better as it has been. At least I've noticed his ability to walk better. Less shuffling, more walking. Now we have to work on stamina.

ttfn