I think it was an episode of House, when the young woman was demanding a huge battery of tests, claiming she had a whole bunch of ailments, and he correctly diagnosed her as approaching the end of her employment, and thus the end of her employment-based health insurance. She was trying to get everything done that she could while it was covered, whether she needed it or not. I felt like that woman today, and I feel that, unlike House, my doctors played along willingly. In six weeks, our health coverage is going to change somewhat, so I went in today to ask for one last thyroid panel. It turned into way more than that. I hadn't seen my primary care doc since last summer (it was the other guy I saw both times for diverticulitis last fall), and when he walked in, after reading through my chart to get caught up, his first words were, "Holy shit, a lot has happened to you since I saw you last!" No kidding, buddy. I've been busy. By the time I left, I had gotten the "retirement special." There was a note from my last CT scan saying there was a spot in my upper right abdomen, where I had inflammation years ago, so I got a chest x-ray (completely clean). I was a year overdue for a tetanus shot, so I got that, plus the whooping cough vaccine too, just to make sure I was good. The guy administering the shot ordered a check of my measles titers, to make sure my immunity is sufficient, now that measles is making a comeback. Once at the lab, I ended up filling up seven vials of blood, through a tiny little vein in my hand, trying to be very still and visualizing my blood flowing freely and not clotting or the vein collapsing. It would have been a little less stressful had I thought ahead and filled up on water before my appointment so I wasn't dehydrated. My bad.
The first report on my thyroid is actually better than last year when we tested TSH. I don't know whether to be happy and credit my grain free diet for making me healthier, or to be disappointed that it's not the magic solution to why this diet hasn't made me drop tons of weight like 90% of the people who commit to the Wheat Belly lifestyle like I have. I guess I will get a little more serious about the dairy free idea, and if I have the strength of will, get rid of the rest of the sugar. That's going to take a lot of work. It's way harder than giving up pasta, that's for certain.
When I moved here, I wasn't so sure about this particular doctor being my PCM. At first, I didn't think he and I were on the same wavelength. It took me almost a whole year to go back and see him a second time. My first impressions were so, so wrong. Now, I am really sad to be leaving him. I wish I could take him with me when we go away. Rather than dismissing me when I told him I'd hopped on the gluten free bandwagon, he told me that he'd been reading on it, and he suggested places to shop. Today, when he called me back to say my TSH looked good, he suggested perhaps after all the antibiotics I've had to take in the last seven or eight months, it was time to take better care of my gut bacteria, and perhaps then my diet might pay dividends. I've mentioned before that I'm intensely fascinated by the microbiome, and as expected, I agreed wholeheartedly with his recommendation. I also know how rare it is to have a doctor who speaks the same language as I do. I was lucky to have him as long as I have. I'm going to need to talk to a lot of people in my new town, trying to find someone equally as enlightened. I'll be kissing a lot of frogs to find my next prince, won't I?
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