Year 3 - Day 148 - May 27

This is the cat's newest medicine. It's some kind of syrupy goo that I have to squirt into his mouth with a needle free syringe. He doesn't love it, but it's faster than the previous goop that I had to rub onto his face. Plus with this stuff, he can't rub it all over the floor and bed. The old gel was supposed to be rubbed around his mouth and then the idea was that he would lick it off. NOT. He quickly learned that if he rubbed his face in the comforter or on the carpet, it came off and he didn't have to taste it. That wasn't going to fly, so here we are with new stuff. It works though, so I'm willing to deal with the hassle! He was so much easier of a pet before he had the stupid reaction to the rabies shot. Ever since then, it's been one thing after another. He seems content with his life as long as I am not holding him down and squirting liquid into his mouth though, so I guess he's ok in general. Just a lot more work than before!

Day 354 - December 20

When I moved to my townhouse, I transferred my prescriptions to my local pharmacy.  It was a good move, because everyone who worked at that pharmacy was awesome.  The techs and especially the pharmacist.  They would solve problems for me all the time.  When you have 5 or 6 doctors that prescribe you stuff, it seems that they often wind up with tunnel vision.  Every doctor thinks their body part or system trumps all the others.  The pharmacist is the only one who knows everything that is going on.  Right around when we got married, my pharmacist and the tech left.  I was left with a couple guys who acted like it was effort to get up in the morning, let alone actually help me.  They were very frustrating.  Luckily, I haven't been taking nearly as many meds lately.  When I need the occasional thing, I get them at the Rite Aid that is close by.

So today, there was a little car accident near our park & ride.  After I got in my car, I had to go a slightly different way home to avoid the police activity.  Since I was passing the other grocery store (the one I don't go to very often), I decided to stop in for some gatorade because we're low & it's on sale there this week.  While I was paying for it, I noticed a guy waving at me.  It was my old awesome pharmacist!  He even remembered my name!  He works at the pharmacy in the grocery store! I do need some scripts filled this week because I'm having a colonoscopy on Thursday (I know, lucky me!) so I ran right home to get them. 

I'm way more excited about this than I should be, but a good pharmacist is hard to find.

Day 84 - March 25

Another lovely picture of art in a doctor's office!  Met with the surgeon who did my thing at the beginning of March.  He advised me to go on meds & not have kids until he knows if the meds are helping me or not.  These two particular meds take 6+ months to build up the proteins or something.  He really made me angry, because he was only thinking about one body system.  He doesn't care how it will affect my problems that my other doctors treat.  Why can't I just get all my doctors who treat various parts of my body (and perhaps a shrink to take care of me while they all yell) to sit around a table and help me make the best decisions?  It seems like every medicine that one of them wants me to take is something another one is telling me NOT to take.  (Heck, even one of the meds the urologist prescribes is on the "don't ingest this ingredient" list that he himself gave me!)  I left there very angry today, because I felt like he didn't listen to a word I said, and didn't answer any of the questions I waited 3 weeks to ask.  And because I got flustered, I didn't really realize that until he was gone. 

So for now, this is the last time I will be seeing this particular doctor.  I have an appointment with a different urologist at Hopkins in a couple weeks, and they claim that they work as a team of specialists to figure out the best solution.  Let's hope they are world famous for a reason. :) Oh, and I think I'm bringing a written paper with my questions and concerns and perhaps even my husband, so that I don't leave feeling so mad!

The good news is, I *am* having a little reduction in symptoms this week.  AND it is not snow weather.  AND we're buying a house in 4 days.  AND it's almost a really long weekend.  All of these are good things!