Another Day, another doctor.

I saw another doctor today at Hill Air Force Base.  I like this guy.  He asked questions and looked at my records.  He wanted to make sure I understood my meds and what they are doing for me.  He also explained that with Rheumatoid/ Auto immune dieseases, there is a book about 5 inches thick that explain all these unnamed conditions.  He said they are all related but not names.  I mentioned that I had a boss that didn't think it was real because I could not give him a named diagnosis.  He said that boss was an idiot and was not in any position to make that kind of call.  I think I agree, at least with the idiot part.
  This new doctor wants to make small changes and one at time changes in the the meds that I take.  He said that if I go nuts, he will know what caused it.  He said he want to "wake me up" and give me something to combat the chronic fatigue I feel.  He also told me to sit in the sun and read a paper or a book each day.  He said we need to get to the point where I can walk or exercise 45 minutes before we will see any physical changes in my fitness.  He said we are also going to get better at managing my pain.  He said that the pain I feel is real and I need to manage it to get better.  He pointed out that anytime I try to be "stoic" or "Army" I will tend to throw my healing off course.  He said if we can manage my pain and get some energy going in my system, I will be able to take some portion of control of myself and my recovery.  Makes sense to me.  I like that he listened and was looking up my prior meds before deciding what he was going to do.  He and I will visit again in a couple weeks.  I hope this might be some of the changes I need in my life.

Another thing, I found the website for another friend-co-worker.  His wife keeps a blog of what is going on with him.  I would like to post this here.  If you are interested enough to read my dribble, you should look at this site.  (Also, go to the bottom of her blog to get some music started while you read about Jim.)

Jim's Wife's Blog about his condition.

My internet connection has been up and down the last 2 days and it is getting slower now.. I will post this before it stops all together.