August 12, 2012

Once again I am remiss in keeping this up-to-date.

I'm still doing my dobutamine IV's every Thursday.

My second appointment with my new primary care doctor, Dr. Kwong was July 13th.  She believes that I have neuropathy and gave me samples of Cymbalta in 60 mg and a prescription for Cymbalta in 30 mg.  Plus she wrote me a prescription for my ferrous sulfate and emailed it to my pharmacy.  Next she set me up with an appointment with a podiatrist.

I took the Cymbalta 60 mg then saw that the prescription was for 30 mg.  I needed to call her to see what she wanted me to do.  My pharmacy couldn't fill my prescription for the ferrous sulfate either.  Naturally this was a Saturday.  I called the doctor's office on Monday only to get voicemail.  I left a message.  Her office called me the next day and told me she was out of the office for a week but her partner who was covering for her told me to take the 60 mg everyother day then call back in a week.  The Cymbalta and lack of ferrous sulfate made me exceptionally tired.  I slept a lot.

The next week I spoke to Dr. Kwong.  She told me to stop the 60 mg and she's call in the 30 mg to my pharmacy.  I told her that the pharmacy had a question about the ferrous sulfate.  The script she wrote was for capsels and I needed tablets.  She corrected that script and re-sent it to the pharmacy.

The pharmacy called the next day and said that my insurance would not pay for the Cymbalta.  Yippee!

I did get my ferrous sulfate (iron pill) and I was less tired.

I went to my podiatry appointment with ABC Podiatry.  Filled out all the paperwork only to find out that the referring physican (Dr. Kwong) forgot to put a reference number on the referral.  I had to reschedule that appointment.

August 9 - I woke up during the night of the 8th to a pain in my stomach.  I got up in the morning and I still had the pain.  When I went to put my shoes on the pain was agonizing.  I was going to my dobutamine IV appointment at 9:00 a.m.  I told the nurse what was going on and she advised me to call my doctor.  So while I was doing my 4 hours IV I called my doctor.  They asked if I had a fever - no; was I nauseated - no, did I have diarreha - no.  I ended up with an appointment with Dr. Kwong at 4:20 p.m.  This may be an issue since Heather goes to work at 4:30.  When I got a hold of Heather she said she'd see if she could get off for the office visit.  She was able to get off.






At the doctor's office she asked the same questions and the only one that was different was the diarreha question - I had a bout of it just before we left for her office.  She pressed on my stomach and said that she didn't feel any bumps or lumps.  It could be a virus.  I was told to eat light, no fried foods, drink lots of fluid, if I'm not feeling better by Monday I'm to give her a call.  Well it still hurts every once in a while...like when I cough.  We discussed the Cymbalta issue and she prescribed a different drug.  The generic name is gabapentin.

August 10 - Podiatry appointment.  I definitely have neuropathy.  He approved of the gabapentin and prescribed a food vitamin for vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid.  (The pharmacy wanted $105. for it.  I cannot afford that every month.)  The food vitamin helps the nerves regenerate sensitivity, but it will take 3-4 months to feel the benefits.  He said it would be painful.  I call his office and they are hooking me up with the manufacturer that can sell it for a lesser amount.  They should call me on Monday.

I have a "blue" toenail (my Smurf-ness is showing).  That is caused by the lack of oxygenated blood getting to my toe and toenail.  (Neuropathy).

I'm also checking my blood sugar on Wednesday and Sunday to see if I need meds.  I do a fasting sugar and a non-fasting sugar.  I had been on a diabetic med (Metformin) and it messed up my kidney function so I'm no longer a candidate for it.

That's it for now.