GO WITH YOUR GUT

I have had many experiences with Doctors . This particular one makes me strongly instill to my Children and Grandchildren- if you don't feel good about it, keep pushing.  GO WITH YOUR GUT.

In October, I started breaking out with a rash. It itched terribly and kept getting worse. I went to my primary care Doctor who said it was eczema and gave me a cream. It did not help; it was getting worse by the day. It felt like I was waking up at 3am in a bed of fire ants. I couldn't sleep and I felt awful during the day. I went back to see him and ended up seeing a PA. Later, I got an appointment with a dermatologist, who just looked at my back and said eczema and prescribed another steroid cream. She also ordered a chemical peal for my face. The rash kept getting worse and you cannot imagine the pain I was in. I went to the USMD EC in Cleburne- twice. The doctor there ordered a prescription for the itch. I took 1 pill and slept 2 days. Went back to the dermatologist in Ft Worth,  same answers. NOT ACCEPTABLE.

It was now March. I had an appointment with another dermatologist in Ft Worth. I was playing bridge and a friend heard me say the doctor's name and she said, "Don't go to him. I went to him and really didn't like him." She gave me the name of the one she found and really liked- Dr. Harrell in Ft. Worth. Robert went with me. She took a couple biopsies and ordered blood work. The results come back that I was allegoric to my blood pressure medicine. I went back to see her last week and she said it takes 3 months to get that out of my system. I'm in the third month now.  Things are much better.  I'm not totally cured, and I still get itches until I get it doctored in the mornings.

In my opinion it looks like ordering blood work would be a pretty simple thing to do. I did go to my primary care doctor on Friday and I feel like I impressed on him that my GUT kept telling me to find another doctor. I do like Dr. H, but I feel that he didn't do a good job. NOT ACCEPTABLE.

As far as the chemical peal goes, I got word this week that I have to have two facial surgeries, with two different Doctors- one is a surgeon and the other will be Dr. Harrell, the dermatologist. I'm not sure what I will be facing in the future, but the rash is just about cured and I will follow up on this at a later date.

It is now July 19.  I had the surgery on my left cheek in June and it went well.  It has pretty well healed up and did not make a bad scare.  The dermatologist burned the ones off my back.  I did not feel that the spots on my face were healing, so I asked Robert to call and see if she would order more blood work.   She said NO.  That was the end of June.  She said she wanted to see me, so he made me an appointment July 7.   She took 5 more biopsy's and burned one off  right cheek by my eye.  She said that she had no clue as to what was causing me to still be breaking out in itchy rash (a new pimply type that felt like a bee sting)   At this point, I made the statement that I was writing a Blog, called GO WITH YOUR GUT.   She looked kinda funny and said "what does that mean?"  I explained that when you don't feel like everything is right, stay on top of it.    She said "is that how you feel now and I said YES.  She said she would call Dr H  and ask him to do a follow-up/with blood work.  She called Robert friday, July 15th and said Dr H said he would do that.   She had no results on the biopsy's and we haven't heard from Dr H. 

I am spending more time in the pool when I take my morning swim, that is the only time I don't itch.  Guess we will see what next week brings. 

Today is August 9th.  Life has not gotten any better.  I went back to see D the third week of July.  We had a long visit and he went over all the tests he would order, some of which started that day.  Blood work, Kidney, Monogram all came back ok.  He had also said he would make appointment with an Allergist (which didn't happen until I had Robert call about).  In the meantime I went back to dermatologist.  She removed some cancers on my arm, face and leg.   She burned some of these and used a liquid chemical, inserted with a needle (she said "this is going to hurt" and she was right).  She told me that she nor  Dr H had any idea what has caused my situation. She said they had a long talk and basically said everything that I had said to Dr H, and then said "I hope you like me" .

Back to the Allergist,  When Robert was trying to make an appointment for me--they had all information for the Dr wrong.  He finally was able to get me an appointment on August 27, and I can't get back in with dermatologist until Sept. 1st.

So I still can't wait to get into the pool every morning and scratch my way through the rest of the day.

 Today is November 23.  I still have the itch.  I have thought many times that I could close this particular story, but No, it is still ongoing.  I have had many Dr appointments.  My visit with the dermatologist in November was very short.  She said that she felt sure that my blood pressure medicine should be changed to another family and I should quit taking Nexium.  I quit taking that the next morning.  We were finally able to get a telephone DR Visit with cardiologist and he changed prescription Nov. 12, 2020.  I am told that sometimes it can take 2-3 months to get the old meds out of you system, so that is why I am still itching.  I'm not sure that I will ever get to close this story, so I am going ahead and publish this and still insist that you should  ' GO WITH YOUR GUT'   

 

 

 

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What happened in Longview, TX.

I don't remember the dates, but it really doesn't matter. My sister, Winona, and brother-in-law, OB, moved around quite a bit due to his jobs. They eventually settled in Longview.

My first encounter with their doctor was when OB was in the hospital. OB had really bad arthritis, and was going to be put into a rehab facility the next day. I went in to see him, at dinner time, and the meal they had in front of him was awful. About that time the doctor came in, and I said, "I am going to be gone for 30 minutes and when I come back there had better be a steak dinner for OB to eat."  And there was.

Years later, after OB had died, Winona kept falling and her neighbor across the street would call me and say that the ambulance had taken her to the hospital. It always took me about 3 hours and 45 minutes to get from my house to Longview, and by the time I got there, they would have taken her home again. This happened many times. One Sunday morning I received another call that they had taken her to the hospital. I asked the neighbor to please sit with her and do not let them take her home before I got there, so she did. When the doctor walked in (same one that was with OB) his eyes got real big when he recognized me. I said, "She is not leaving this hospital until you find out what is wrong."  They proceeded to do some tests and they finally found out she had a cancer growth inside her spinal chord. A specialist was called in to perform surgery on her. He said she would have died soon if it wasn't taken out.  

SO, GO WITH YOUR GUT

THE VALUE OF A DOLLAR - IN MY LIFETIME - So Far

My first experience that involved my own money started when I was about 11.  A preacher and his family moved into a home down the street. They had three small children (all under the age of five).  Needless to say, the housewife had her hands full. She told my Mother that she really needed to get out for a few hours and that her house was a mess. Mother said, "Nita Grace will keep your children and clean your house for ten cents an hour." I went over at about 10am the next morning and the mother left.  The children were napping, so I started cleaning, and when they woke up we had the lunch she had left for them. We played some more, then they napped and I cleaned again. The mother came home at three and I was exhausted; I had earned fifty cents.

I had never worked when school was in secession, but always worked otherwise. When I was 13 (I think), I got a job in a five-and-dime store in downtown Amarillo, Texas. Now remember, I never had access to a car, and the bus service was ten cents a ride. I worked five hours a day, Monday through Saturday, and my paycheck was thirteen dollars a week. At this point FW Woolworth- also in downtown Amarillo- was hiring, and at a slight increase in pay, so that's where I headed next. I really don't remember what I made there, but I liked the work. I ended up working there for three years, eventually working my way up to "floorwalker" (I carried a key to the cash registers around my neck and if a clerk got cash over $5.00 they rang a bell and I went over and made change for them... I was good in math).

Life went on. I continued working.

When I was a senior in high school and it got close to prom time, my Mother and I went shopping for a dress. I found just what I wanted... for $80.00. TOTALLY OUT OF THE QUESTION. Mother was a very good seamstress (actually had made most of my clothes my entire life).  She said she thought she could copy the dress, and she did. I felt beautiful at the prom and then my sister (Winona) wore the dress as Matron of Honor at my wedding.

Life went on.

Fast-forward to when Floyd and I were renting where we lived until 1958 when I drew up house plans, we found a really nice lot, and proceed to build the house of my dreams (3/2/2, brick, double detached garage). We built this home for $13,500.  At one point, our expenses changed: Butch and Floyd both had their tonsils removed, Floyd ended up in the hospital for a week, unexpected babysitter fees, putting in new yard... all the stuff that comes with a new home and young family life.  I sat down on about the 10th of that month to pay bills and when I finished, I had twenty dollars left to feed a family of four for the rest of the month.

Life went on.

I will stop there about the value of the dollar in my life, because I have survived with a wonderful life, but what brought all this to mind is the fact that I am about to write a check for nearly $18,000 to replace the roof on my house.  MIND BOGGLING.

But life will go on.