Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Blind Leading The Blind

Well today was Far Guy's appointment with his new Neurologist. I give this guy a 5, Far Guy says a 4. This is on a scale of 1-10. He is older perhaps nearing retirement age, and had no sense of humor at all. It must be a bummer to spend your life so serious. Our Neurologist that moved to Florida was at least an 8 on our scale, and he smiled!

The bottom line is he confirms the diagnosis of Trigeminal Neuralgia Atypical Type II, and says that it is his intent to make Far Guy pain free, but it may take lots of work to regulate many different medications. For now we will add Baclofen, we are to call with the results after one week. As for a remission. he says we can always hope for one, and it could happen but might not. DUH?? They have a few patients with TN , frankly his nurse seemed to know more about TN than the Doctor did.

Both the new Dr and his nurse were absolutely flabbergasted with Far Guy's GP in Park Rapids, that he actually prescribed chewable Tegretol, for a patient with face pain, this is just one more irritant added to their already miserable day. Plus Far Guy says and I quote "I would sooner eat the ass end of a skunk, than chew those tablets." They are pretty nasty..I get to hear and smell how bad they are twice every day.

I did some medication research recently. This new med was second on my list..so I think it is worth a try. Let me tell you I am no expert either, but I know more about Trigeminal Neuralgia than most GP's. If this were some foreign country I could probably go out and buy the stuff I need to make Far Guy feel better. Instead I must wait for a referral, and then wait for an actual appointment and now we will send away for the new medication. So in a week or ten days we can actually give this new medication a try. This is America's Health Care system at its finest.. the blind leading the blind.

I am Far Guys advocate, still with a hatchet, poised and ready to strike:)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I understand your frustration. My step father has cancer and every week it seems we are in another doctors office. Trust me, we've met some doozies!

Roxane B. Salonen said...

Far Side,
Appreciated your comment on my blog and wanted to reciprocate. Enjoyed perusing your blog, too!
Peace Garden Mama

Far Side of Fifty said...

Thank gals for stopping by, nice to have some company!