another new neurologist

[redbird]

I had an appointment with a new neurologist today, Dr. Morgan. The good news is that I like her, and she did what seemed like a thorough and competent exam. The bad news is that as of yesterday, Mt. Auburn is no longer giving the infusions of my MS drug, so I will need a different new neurologist, at Beth Israel Hospital somewhere downtown in Boston.

Also, my previous neurologist seems to have been out the door mentally before he left physically, so I had to have blood drawn to check vitamin D levels. This is twice in a row that the phlebotomist had trouble drawing blood and decided to switch to a butterfly needle. With luck, i'll remember to ask for that next time rather than having them try the regular needle first.

Dr. Morgan also thought that the last brain and spine MRIs should have been with contrast--as in, she started saying something on the assumption that they had been. Separately from that, she was surprised and I think a little worried about how much gabapentin I'm currently taking. One weird thing, she said my pupils were different sizes and asked if anyone had ever told me that. I just sent a message to my eye doctor about this, in case it's both new and relevant.

I was at the hospital longer than I'd expected. I arrived early, and the medical assistant took vital signs, got me to confirm my list of medications, and did two of the low-tech neurology things, including the peg board (with Dr. AbdelRazek forgot last time). And then I sat in the waiting room reading a long time; at about 2:20 (for a 2:00 appointment) someone came in to apologize that Dr. Morgan was running late.

Dr. Morgan gave me a referral to a urologist, not because anything is specifically wrong, but because I have been needing to urinate more frequently, and it might help. That I think is in the queue behind the referral for occupational therapy, which I'm probably not going to do anything about until at least Friday.

This makes I think five neurologists since 2016: El-Khalifa, then a doctor I saw once whose name I don't remember offhand, then Dr. Katz, Dr. AbdelRazek, and (now, once) Dr. Morgan. I stuck with the same neurologist in New York for a dozen years, even after Dr. Apatoff left New York/Cornell hospital and they wanted to give me an appointment with someone who was still there.

Comments

[dewline]

Wow. Just...I'm sorry that you have to deal with this.

[redbird]

I expected to like Dr. Morgan, because Adrian saw her last week (for different neurological issues) and was pleased, in ways I thought were promising. Adrian, fortunately, will not need to find another new neurologist.

[pameladean]

I hope that downtown Boston location has good ice cream nearby.

I felt a very familiar weariness reading this entry. I have a different chronic condition, or several and it's all manageable and I'm grateful for the existence of ways to do that, and for ways to alleviate the difficulties of ageing too. But sometimes it all gets to be SUCH A LOT.

P.

[redbird]

Yeah, today's PT is for balance, so related, and the CT scan is because the MS-related MRI showed something unrelated in one lung, and tomorrow morning is a follow-up on the new inhaler. So that's four appointments for two different conditions. The neurologist also asked yesterday if I still have the chronic hip and knee pains, which was a yes.

El-Khalifa

[rafiwinters]

I saw him a few times for various things while I was still living in Cambridge and he hadn't yet gone back to Egypt (I think it was Egypt).

I am sorry to hear you have to keep switching doctors and where you get your treatment. Ecch.

[joseph_teller]

I always need to have my blood drawn with a butterfly to the back of my hand because of difficulties finding and drawing from other veins. And I always have to tell the tech doing it as for some reason they never remember to mark it on my medical records for them.