~*~*~*~* Dish *~*~*~*~: November 2013

Half full. Half empty. At least I have a cup. The BESTEST news that I can share is that I will become a Grammie in May of 2014. Steve and Keri brought the ultrasound pics to family dinner night, a joyous pic. And the best looking baby I have ever seen! This will be my first grandchild. I am so happy my heart skips a beat when I think about it.

[note to self: do not tell cardiologist about that, you'll just get another round of testing. It's called "Grammie Heart, a known medical condition I tell you !]

The other news. I have blogged that Steve had a pituitary tumor. Yes, you read that right. "HAD". It disappeared of it's own accord. We thought oh dear GOD, light at the end of the tunnel ! ^5 Team Gail !!!! At that time, Steves endocrinologist made a hasty retreat to California. No warning, gone within a month. Since Steves tumor left, we thought, why do we NEED an endo now? But we are both the "compliant patient". We want to take our Dr's advice. Steve found another endo and made an appt. Should anything else occur, he would have a home base set up. When he walked in, the new Dr asked, do you mind if I feel your neck? And quickly diagnosed Steve with nodules on his thyroid. They were visible to THIS endo with his naked eye, and the other endo NEVER SAW THEM, nor did he palp Steves thyroid. So losing that joker endo was a stroke of luck for us. Steve had to have the nodules biopsied, and we played a waiting game...hopefully the nodules were benign, and would never become large enough to need surgical removal. No such luck. The endo send him for another round of ultrasounds, and decided that the thyroid had to be totally removed.

Here we go, back to the original E/N/T surgeon we saw a year earlier. Steve made the appointment and TOLD THE EMPLOYEE that he needed a complete Thyroidectomy, this was why he was coming to see Dr Doofus, to schedule this.

Dr Doofus comes in and Steve and I immediately had a vote of "no confidence" The guy was scatterbrained, ill kempt, and generated an air of disassociation with his surroundings. He palped Steve, looked in his throat, read the report, then said yes, you need the thyroid removed......"BUT I NO LONGER PERFORM THIS SURGERY". WHAT ?? Yup, he knew in advance that we were there to schedule surgery, and did not cancel nor explain why he met with us. Steve flat out asked him, why do you no longer perform this surgery? Dr Doofus would not answer him. That asshat got our 50$ specialist co-pay [I am still out of work, that was a lot of money to us] plus he billed the insurance company for almost 500$ worth of testing. That's when it became apparent why he kept the appointment knowing full well he was of no use to us. Because WE were of use to HIM...and his bottom line. A word to the wise, always ask if the doc still performs the service you need before making an appointment.

[Local peeps, if you want the name of Dr Doofus, hit my e-mail or ask here and I'll hit yours.]

Now we come up to Steves surgical date next week. I have said before that there is a lot I can take, I am a strong woman. But medical stuff rocks my boat in a very nasty way. All we can do is hold hands and take the ride. I would appreciate the prayers or good thoughts. I'll report back when we get to the other side of this.