I went for some doctor appointments last Thursday. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a check on the progress of neuropathy, and its steady advancement. Also a regular, annual check up.
The check up has a double importance. It gets a list of requirements started for me to return to Chicago, and some refresher training on accessibility technologies. I also need certain lab work done, and an eye exam… really? Let me back up and describe a few events as they unfolded.
In the morning, I needed a little help in getting dressed. Turns out I was in need of a pair of pants. Robin found a pair of brown ones that fit better than what I had put on. It made me stop to ask what color my shirt was… you know how it is when you can’t see… you want to know if things match, and it was easier in the moment to ask , than to go hunting down my color identifier. She told me it was maroon, a pretty good match, but it reminded me of the saga of Captain Red Shirt, the brave pirate.
What? You’ve never heard of Captain Red Shirt? Well, gather round my children, and you will hear the brave tale.
Captain Red Shirt actually wore white shirts as he commanded his ship, and sailed in search of a lone ship his pirates could rob, and claim the booty as their own. As happens in the fray, pirates get wounded, the blood flows, and the captain thought if the men saw him all blood soaked, they might lose heart. To bolster the bravery of the crew, the captain would call for a red shirt when the sight of a lone mast would appear on the horizon. The red shirt would help hide the blood stains on the captains shirt, as he fought side by side with his men.
One day, a lone mast appeared, and the captain commanded, “Bring me my red shirt!” The men cheered, and he soon had his red shirt. More masts soon dotted the horizon, and it became clear it wasn’t one lone ship, but the entire armada. The men looked to their brave captain to see what he would do next. Knowing there was no backing down, as more ships of the armada appeared to sail towards the pirates, the captain commanded… “Bring me my red shirt… and my brown pants!”
There you have it. I was bravely dressed in the manner of Captain Red Shirt the pirate, and prepared for anything with my doctor appointments.
First up, the routine physical. Nothing to remark on. We discussed general health, and the possibility of modifying some of my meds. Mainly the drug I’m taking for neuropathy pain, but since that was my next appointment, we just got the fax number so the two doctors could communicate on the matter, and get it worked out. I also found out that I really need to lose a little weight. The scale seemed to match what I already knew from weighing myself at the gym. Ewe go to the indoor pool to exercise in the river current pool. I’m doing well enough as far as it goes, but let’s just say… I’m not quite ready for bikini season.
Lab work is easy enough. Its all walk in kind of stuff, and we could do it all in the same building. Give blood, pee in a bottle, chest x-ray, and an EKG. On the way out Robin wondered out loud why I even had to go to the eye doctor to have them tell me I was blind. “There’s an eye chart right there. Why can’t they test you right here?” She asked. My response, “What eye chart?” I guess they need a professional opinion.
One thing we didn’t do, besides the eye appointment, was to stop in to get a new ID card. I lost my wallet back in December, and it hasn’t turned up yet. Time was getting tight by now, so we left for my next appointment. It was across town at Barnes hospital. The VA has to outsource me, since they don’t have a neuromuscular specialist on staff. Last year I had a bunch of tests done to try and pinpoint how extensive it was… lots of electronic probes, shocking… The doctor tried to figure why I have neuropathy so bad, or at all for that matter. It doesn’t seem to be hereditary, or an autoimmune problem, it doesn’t seem to be related to the blindness, and DNA tests seem inconclusive. There’s no telling what the source is, and it makes it difficult to treat it, or reduce it, only in helping with any nerve pain as it slowly creeps further along in my feet and hands. There’s still lots of room in bumping up my dosage. No problems there. It’s just a big annoyance when combined with blindness, making it hard in the manual dexterity arena, and being able to feel things. Strength is still there, mostly, but a lot of sensation is gone. We did decide to try a battery of prednisone, to see if inflammation is involved. Doubtful but it can’t hurt. The doc says its pretty safe, and results should be noticeable fairly quickly. If so, as the drug is tapered off, a more long term solution can be come up with. If not… ih…. At least we tried. Come back in 4 months to follow up.
I need to check on that eye doctor visit. I should be able to phone the clinic for the quick exam. Then the papers can be done for the Chicago trip to the BRC (Blindness Rehab Center(. Going in July would be ideal, since I would be gone while Robin is busy with church camps. I might be able to get in sooner, but if I can’t be done before July, they may as well keep me there for the rest of the month. It actually wouldn’t be quite that dire, just very handy.
after the appointments, we were hungry. We hadn’t stopped to eat since breakfast. On the way home we stopped in at a steakhouse. Robin said something about Ponderosa, but I think this was either a mom and pop place, or one in a chain that I’ve not been too. To keep the bill cheap, we ordered sandwiches. Robin said her mushroom Swiss burger left a lot to be desired. As a hamburger, it was fine, but there wasn’t much in the cheese, or mushroom department. She had a loaded baked potato for a side, and it was as good as she expected. I had a half pound burger with bacon, cheddar, and onion rings. Excellent. Great burger, crunchy bacon and onion rings. It could have used an extra slice of cheese, and a little more BBQ sauce, but the bacon was apple smoked, and was the star of the whole thing. Very nice. They also had an endless supply of dinner rolls, and a bucket of salted, in the shell peanuts. Nice for nibbling on while waiting for the food, or your date to finish their meal. I had a salad for the side, but all the typical potato varieties could be had. Fries, baked, with or without being loaded, soups, okra, and more starchy stuff.
It was plenty, and we ate later, so when we got home, there was nothing to do but collapse in the living room, and vegetate until bed time. A nice full day.