Psyborg Update

[Psyborg]

Well things went well at my appointment yesterday. The weather was fantastic, and I felt probably the best I've felt since I got sick. Dr Villa-Forte says it's going as well as possible, and that I'm to continue to reduce prednisone until I'm off. MTX will continue for two years per standard treatment, unless I develop any issues with it.

She checked out my sinuses and said they look extremely healthy and that my suspicion that it was my root canal that cause my odd discharge was probably true. Ears, eyes, and reflexes were all pretty normal.

She let me know that her preference on the dialation is to wait until the ENT says it is time. Also I can get intubeated for the Hernia surgery, but it should not be done without being sure it's time for that as well. So basically I don't need to rush either, I'll know more on the dialation when I see my ENT next week.

[Sangye]

That's great news, Bob. So glad you get to keep tapering pred, too!

[elephant]

That is wonderful news and glad you are feeling better.

[chrisTIn@]

The weather was fantastic, and I felt probably the best I've felt since I got sick.

Good for you Bob.
Wonderfull!

[Brooke]

It is always nice to hear good news!

[Psyborg]

Thanks all. It's weird I feel almost normal again, other than the obvious affects of the drugs we are on. Weirdest thing...part of my mind wants to doubt how sick I was (if that makes sense). I keep having to remind myself that last May/June I couldn't even walk down my stairs to get ready for work, and walked like a 90 year old man a good share of the time. The whole experience seems fairly surreal in retrospect. I'm probably exceedingly weird

I was supposed to see the ENT today, but they rescheduled my appt (and didn't call me grrr), to the 16th. When I called to complain about the reschedule I found out Dr Knott is in the process of moving back to California. So now I'm wondering if I need to stick with an ENT with Wegs experience, or if I could do someone local consulting with Dr Villa Forte in Cleveland. She definitely seemed to want me to be treated there originally, I just don't know if thats changed now.

[Sangye]

Bob, I think you definitely need a Wegs ENT.

Your experience with feeling like you were never that sick is universal. We're hardwired to forget pain and weakness quickly and move on. Anyone who's been in a lot of pain can remember being in pain and certainly the fear and other emotions, but can't actually feel it again or connect to it in a deeper way. If we could remember pain, no woman would ever give birth twice!

[Psyborg]

That's a pretty good illustration I hadn't considered

The pred reduction I just did from 9mg to 8 mg went really smoothly too. Previous reductions I felt pretty bad for a week, this time it was one day. Starting to wonder if I can speed up the taper a little again.

[Sangye]

Glad the taper is going well. I had to drop 1mg at a time from 20mg to 10mg, then for some weird reason I could drop from 10mg to 8mg at once. From there it was slow again. As long as you follow your body's signals you'll be okay.

[drz]

Bob, I think you definitely need a Wegs ENT.

Your experience with feeling like you were never that sick is universal. We're hardwired to forget pain and weakness quickly and move on. Anyone who's been in a lot of pain can remember being in pain and certainly the fear and other emotions, but can't actually feel it again or connect to it in a deeper way. If we could remember pain, no woman would ever give birth twice!

I agree. My doctors have had to remind me several times, when I complain about not being able to do more, about how ill I was, and how lucky i am to have had such an amazing recovery so far. Yet, we always want more improvement and want to compare our current functioning to what we had before illness rather than to how we were at our worst when we were really ill. I am glad to hear I am" normal" in at least this respect.