Of Mice and Men

"The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry...."

This is usually the case in my life.

But I must say, lately, our best laid plans seem to be going as they should, as planned.

Today, I met with Dr. Primary. He was the first doctor who gave us a slice of hope after my nine year GI, Dr. Hank, abandoned me. Today was my first follow-up appointment since then.

He was thrilled with my progress.

He was very happy that I was helped by a doctor he referred me to, and that I was progressing and continuing to progress.

I told him that I had met with Dr. Pain who he had referred me to, and that even though we were still in the experimental stage of what pain meds were going to work for what areas, I felt very comfortable with the addition of this specialist to my repertoire

He concurred with her modus operandi.

He was not at all surprised to hear that I was planning on separating from Dr. Hank, and in fact said to me, "I had a feeling you were heading in that direction, the last time I saw you." Actually, he seemed pleased to hear that I was going down this road. Doctors typically never say bad things about each other, but I could tell he was having as much difficulty dealing with the Jackass as I had been.

I told him I had already met with the new GI, and that I can't sever my relationship with Dr. Hank until we can solve the 'where in the hell can we get this girl her Remicade at a place that will work with her allergy to the drug so she doesn't die while she's infused with a drug that will potentially save her life' problem.

Dr. Primary said he had a very good relationship with the new GI, and that he was certain that we could figure something out, asking me how much time he had to solve this problem, between my next scheduled treatments and my next appt with Dr. Hank.

I told him he had 10 weeks.

Dr. Primary also said, there was no way that I should go to Shands (in Gainesville) every four weeks for Remicade, that was ridiculous.

I was very happy to hear him say that.

But he did agree that I should go to Shands for consultation and research opportunities.

He promised me that this was a small hurdle, that we can all work together to figure this out.

He also wrote me prescriptions that Dr. Hank used to write for me, but said "get those from your primary now." TFG!

I thanked him profusely, and said I was so very relieved to know that I now had a TEAM of physicians. He smiled and said, "you're welcome."

Not once did he refer to me as an albatross. I'm not a mind reader, but I don't think he was thinking of the word albatross during the entire length of the appointment.

Nor did he allude to the absurd notion that I was crazy, aka "situationally depressed".

Whew.

It is such a pleasure to see a physician who cares and wants to treat me and wants to heal me and wants to "first do no harm". A physician who is not going to 'split hairs with me' over whether I am suicidally insane, or just wanting to end my pain by inevitably ending my life. This guy doesn't want me to die. He doesn't want me to feel like I'm going to die. He wants me to live and thrive. He gives a damn. All of the new docs give a damn.

Now I just have to divorce the one who doesn't.

"The best laid plans.........."