Day by day, again

Another doctor, more blood.....sheesh!

I saw a rhematologist today. I was hoping to be able to come off some of the medication I am taking. Yeah, right. Not only did he not reduce or stop any, he added two more and increased one. Not to mention he took 6 small tubes of blood and three large ones. That makes about 12 tubes in the past week alone.
Hell, no damn wonder I'm anemic...lol.

I was impressed with him though. He gave me some information that I never knew. It appears that the rheumatoid arthritis, which is an auto immune disease, causes coronary artery disease and vascular problems in other arteries and small vessels. He seems to be certain that my heart problems and circulation in my legs are a direct result of the rhematoid. No doctor has ever told me that and I have had this shit for almost 10 years. He also told me that people with auto immune diseases have more cholesterol and lipid problems and that even with medication it is harder to get under control than people without the disorders. Yup, got that problem too. Go figure.

The only thing that weirded me out was that he was so intelligent he was flaky. He kept forgetting what he was going to do and each time he left the room, once to let me undress and once to dress again, he would be gone from 30 to 40 minutes. His nurse also stuck her head in the door 3 times to ask about medication he told other patients he wanted them to take but forgot to give them samples or scripts. I guess brilliant people are not good with mundane tasks or something. He reminded of someone on speed....lol. One of the patients in the waiting room actually told me she switched to the PA because the doctor kept getting distracted and she never really got clear instructions. Oh well, I had to see him since it was the first visit but if it takes 3 hours next time I think maybe I will switch too. Her patients seem to have been getting in and out pretty quick.

The only thing I didn't like is that I am now on steroids daily, albeit a small dose, which I never wanted to take routinely. But he said the steroids slow the joint damage so I suppose I have to take it. I'd rather be bloated than crippled. Now, if they could only come up with something for the fatigue and muscle aches I would be grateful.

Maybe one day they can find a cure although it's a long, long time away. The people I really feel sorry for are the children with juvenile rheumatoid. They usually wind up with joint replacements several times over by the time they are my age. Even they aren't dead by then. That is really sad.