Getting the ball rolling: talking to my family doctor

Jan 07, 2011

So I went to see Dr. C on December 30th for my annual physical.

This was about the 4th time I've ever seen him and I can't say I've ever been terribly impressed with him.  He's ok - certainly competent, but I like my doctors to have a seat and chitchat with me a bit, and he never really has.

He actually sat down and talked to me this time around, though, especially when I told him I was considering surgery.  He's all for it, told me he'd do whatever I needed him to do to make it happen.  He said he's had about 10-15 patients have it done, none had complications and only 1 failed to lose a lot of weight because they didn't follow directions. 

So yay.

My physical was perfect.  Labs are fantastic - cholesterol is beautiful and my liver function, which was elevated last time, has gone back to normal.  My A1c was great, too, as was my thyroid.

I asked Dr. C to check my vitamin D level as I'm pretty much a giant walking risk factor for vitamin D deficiency.  I got the results in the mail yesterday - my level was 8.6.

Depending on which scale you use, a level of anywhere from 32-50 is considered normal.  So 8.6 is screamingly low - and explains why I'm so tired all the time and why for the past few months I've been noticing some cognitive problems.

I have ADHD anyway but lately it's like I'm more scatterbrained than usual.  And I've been having trouble with word finding - I know what I want to say, and I can say the word clearly - IF I can remember the word! 

So now that we know -- maybe a few weeks of vitamin D therapy will help.  

I have been Googling a lot lately about the surgery - mostly postop stuff like complications.

I'm not afraid of the pain.  I know it'll hurt.  I can deal with that as long as I can sleep a lot and if I know it's just temporary.

I'm not that afraid of vitamin deficiencies because those are fairly easy to fix - take your vitamins, every single day.  Simple.

The main thing I'm scared of is getting a twisted bowel.  From what I have read, it doesn't appear to be very common, but appears to be VERY serious and life threatening.  I'm not so much afraid of getting it as I am getting it and not being listened to at an ER or something.  This is definitely something I'll talk to my surgeon about when I meet him - I want to know his complication rates and what kind of protocol he has for admitting patients into the hospital when there is a suspected serious complication ... ESPECIALLY when the patient doesn't live in the city where he practices.

I am struggling with the desire for instant gratification.  I've talked to my insurance company and I know now exactly what my maximum out-of-pocket expenses will be.  If everything goes according to plan, I can be financially ready for surgery by the end of March.

Thing is - the insurance year runs from July 1 - June 30.   Suppose I get surgery in April - ok, my deductible, coinsurance and copays are killed in one big swoop.  Yay.

But then the new insurance year starts July 1.  Suppose I'm 3 or 4 months postop, develop a major complication, and need some other surgery after July 1 - uh oh.  It's a new insurance year!  More out of pocket expenses!

The smart thing to do, of course, would be to have the surgery as soon after July 1st as possible - that way IF I develop complications, I am paid up, out of pocket wise, until June 30, 2012 - so any subsequent surgeries would be covered and I wouldn't have to pay anything.

But ... but ... my family reunion is 4th of July weekend and my daughter's birthday is in early July and I'll take off work for that, so I would probably need to wait until August to take off more time from work to have it done.  (I wouldn't, in theory, HAVE to do this -- my employer is great about vacation/sick leave, etc. - but given the nature of my job, it would be preferable to have a couple of weeks at work to get stuff done in between my vacation and surgery.)

But ... but ... WANT IT NOW!!!  While I have the cash to do it, before some disaster can come along and empty out my bank account of my hard-earned overtime pay!

Plus that's just how my decision making process tends to go.  It takes me forever to make a decision, but once I do, watch out ... I wanna do it, I want it DONE, preferably yesterday.

*sigh*  Patience ...

 

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