Saw Dr. Barth today. Main complaint on the table my hands. I've been having small joint pain which pretty much means my hands have been killing me especially my index finger of my right hand. So I had stopped taking the femara on the 1st of November. Dr. Barth decided the level of pain I was having, since it made me stopped was a deal breaker as he likes to put it. So he switched me to a different aromatase inhibitor. It does the same thing but has a different chemical make up and a study in England has found that people on the femara that experience joint pain do a lot better on this other drug. It's the newest AI too. So he was happy that I had stopped taking it for a month because he would have had to have me stop it for that long to get it out of my system before having me start on the new one. And the new one's name is...Aromasin. I need to go do some reading on this latest one. Also my index finger is hurting more than the others. Dr. Barth said something else is going on with it. He said yes the femara contributed but if the other fingers are doing much better and that one is not then it's not the femara alone. I said so I probably injured it and because of the femara it can't heal like it would normally. He said I'm impressed yes most patients wouldn't get that. So he gave me the name of a hand doctor but said I didn't need to rush out to see him to go ahead and give my finger more time and see how it goes on the new meds. We are suspecting inflammation of the tendon and he ran another blood test for that.
Then I moved us onto my liver. Dr. Barth went sky high. Yes he has saw the reports and said he just shook his head when he saw them. I told him what Dr. Guerra had said that the radiologist said she could maybe "see" something poking into one of the cysts but wasn't sure. But, that was not noted in the report and I was quite upset by that. The omission of it in the report. Dr. Barth came unglued. He said the report was correct. He looked at the MRI himself. There wasn't anything there. He said that Dr. Guerra had used an unintelligent way to explain what was seen. He said he knows exactly how that conversation went. That she didn't take the time to really think it through what was going on and how to present it to me. She got the report handed to her oh the cysts look bigger from the ultra sound from 2008 and there's a shadow. He went on to say Hoag is just a money generator and if they can get one test to lead to another test that's they way it goes and that I really didn't need to have the ultra sound at all. AND all irate he says and did anyone call ME? NOooooo. I had your PET scan from 2010 and the cysts are NOT bigger from them. They are slightly from 2008 but no one should have made you think for a minute that any mets in your liver had happened. And this is what I think he was pissed about the most.
So I replied with a well, this is a learning experience and what I have learned is that in future if anyone says they think they see something I will be demanding to see it myself and then they have to call you. Also I really love Dr. Guerra she is a great surgeon but I know surgeons are lousy at diagnosing which is why while I could have lived without the excitement I didn't light myself on fire because well they are lousy at diagnosing. You don't let a surgeon diagnose you for anything. And he is nodding his head up and down.
I do not need another MUGA. My heart is great. He had viewed the video of my heart function and told me it works at an above normal level so it's really in very good shape. The initial scan showed a score of 60 then the second one 65 and the last one 58. So while there was a drop from 65 to 58 overall it went from 60 to 58. 50 is normal. I said to Dr. Barth well I know that your heart function isn't the same all the time anyway it can vary on any given day. I impressed him again with my knowledge. He said most patients don't understand that. I said well I don't understand it either I just know that's what it does!
So they took more blood today to test my estrogen levels since I had been off the femara for a month and something else to test the inflammation levels of something because of the joint pain. Brenda the new nurse drew my blood. I like Brenda. She gets two thumbs up from me. Girl knew her shit. No new patient would have a clue that she was new to the office. Hope she sticks around.
So scans good, blood work is good. I'm good.
The flooring is done in the house. A few small details to tend to tomorrow. There's always those little nagging things. Need to get a pool guy and then I'm done.
So.....time to start planning a Vegas escape. I'm looking at January!
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