another medical update, mostly, with a bit of politics at the end

[redbird]

I saw Carmen on Thursday, and I told her what my gut has been doing; as part of that, I handed her my phone, open to the Simplenote file where I've been tracking when I use the imodium. She asked some questions as well as listening to and poking my abdomen, and Adrian asked something I'd forgotten, namely whether there's anything we can do in the short term.

Carmen sent me home with a kit for another stool sample, to check for possible C. diff, but she thinks this is more likely to be irritable bowel left over from having had the C diff infection. She also prescribed dicycomine, which tht is supposed to slow my bowels and get things back to normal, meaning I don't have an urgent need for a bathroom very often. Carmen said, if that medication works, I can reasonably go to Montreal.

She also thinks I should see a gastroenterologist, but it might take a while to get an appointment with one, so I'm glad there's something to do in the meantime.

I finally picked up that prescription about an hour ago, after much annoyance with and at CVS. When I didn't get the usual message that a prescription is ready, I got one saying it was "on hold." I called them, and talked to someone who didn't know why it was on hold, but said he'd fill it by yesterday afternoon.

Nope. Same "on hold" message, and no callback when I left a voicemail. This morning I called yet again, and talked to someone who said the problem might be that they didn't have enough in stock to fill my prescription. I agreed to a partial fill, and when he asked when I wanted it I said "as soon as possible." I went to the pharnacy, and they had filled it, the full 120 pills in this prescription. I'd been at the point of thinking that if they hadn't filled it by 2:00, I was going to walk in, and ask them to do it while I was there, so it wouldn't vanish into limbo again.

I picked the prescription on my way home from an anti-Musk, anti-all this crap demonstration outside a Tesla showroom, which I went to with Cattitude and Adrian. There were a few hundred people in the crowd, I think, some carrying signs with a variety of messages. One demonstrator had a large Ukrainian flag, with the bottom of the flagpole in a holder attached to a backpack.

Comments

[otter]

I sure hope you get to go to Montreal.

Thank you all for going to the protest.

[redbird]

You're welcome. This is the first protest in a while that none of my annoying health issues stopped me from attending. That's a mixture of some actual improvement in my health, the weather, and random variation. Also, I took both an nsaid and some tylenol before we left.

[snippy]

I also take imodium (one daily plus as needed) and dicyclomine (as needed). I hope it helps you as it has helped me.

[azurelunatic]

Dicyclomine has substantially reduced the amount I get woken up with gut spasms in the night.

[minoanmiss]

sends you healing vibes

How did you hear about the protest? I really should go to some in the near future.

[redbird]

I think Adrian told me, and she may have heard about it on Bluesky or Facebook, or from someone at Havurat Shalom; she's tracking these better than I am these days.

For anti-Musk/Tesla protests, there's https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/teslatakedown?zipcode=02135 (This specifically gets you Boston area, for events elsewhere take out the part of the URL after the question mark.)

[minoanmiss]

thank you :)

[sine_nomine]

I continue to be grateful that you have health care providers who listen to you, and take you seriously.

FWIW, I finally gave up on CVS. I liked that there was a drive thru option but, between the fact that they were out of one of my (incredibly common) medications for over a year and my decreased mobility (which means I am driving a lot less), it seemed prudent to switch. Now at a pharmacy in one of the major grocery stores. Nice people, competent, and they answer their phones! Oh, and they have practical solutions for CVS failings, and are proactive about them.

[beatrice_otter]

I'm so glad there's something they can do, hope it works!

[redbird]

In particular, I'm glad there's something they can do now. Carmen also said that insurance won't cover a fecal transplant unless the patient has "failed out of" vancomycin, and she doesn't want to prescribe that without evidence of a current infection. I should make a note to look for a GI doc around here who is taking new patients, and is in-network for my current insurance.