Medical update

"And all this because of one small elective surgery..."

"Yup", I say.

Met a new doc today. I've been waiting months to see this one, his clinic is constantly backed up. So, since my condition isn't painful or detrimental, in this case, I took whatever appointment they had and waited.

I drove about an hour to see him. He's the ear, nose, and throat doctor that all the other ENT's I've seen about my throat click problem told me I should see. I first wrote about this problem Here.

The ways those guys have to examine things is really so unpleasant.... numb the throat with a spray, put a tube through the nose down the throat to see vocal cords. Then another scope thing to see the esophagus. I coughed, I tried to do what he needed to see stuff for the test. The exam lasted almost an hour.

By the end, he said he's not sure if he can help me. He's also not sure he can't, He's sending me for more tests and also for vocal rehabilitation (I've lost the upper range of my voice since my last surgery a year and a half ago). So, after I get a CT scan of my neck, and a swallow test (which sounds dreadful), I'll go back to him with the results, and he'll see if he can fix whatever "it" is. I've also had a chronic cough for over a year.

So far the biggest thing that came out of it is this: I should avoid any more intubations. (as if it's something I schedule in my day planner on a regular basis!)...
He said that if he can get this dislocation thing fixed, it'd be too fragile to intubate again. If he can't fix it, another intubation could cause more damage. I told him I'm going to need a hip replacement soon. He said to do it under epidural anesthesia. I confided in him after a little bit of thinking it over, that I have been quite traumatized by surgeries, and I didn't think I could do one awake, even if I wasn't feeling anything at all. He suggested other methods of "twilight sleep" + an epidural. He wrote it all down on the notes he was writing for me to take to my GP. He said anytime I may need another surgery, show the anesthesiologist and surgeon this letter.

The med student who was observing with the doctor today really got some interesting things to go learn about. He hadn't yet learned about Necrotizing Fasciitis or strep A....

Another strange thing from Sarah's life of medical anomalies.

(OMG! I was just doing a bit of research to find a picture to publish here, and I stumble on a fact: It is extremely rare, but one can get PVNS tumors in the throat. Anywhere there is synovial ducts and fluid, actually. Know that PVNS is a rare disease, no matter where it is, but I thought it was only in shoulders, knees, or hips. The doc did say he saw nodules today, and tumors from PVNS in the neck must be very small... in a few articles I read they called them nodules. WHAT???????)

OK, I am not going to put up pictures for you of anatomy of the throat and the cricothyroid joint that may be dislocated in me. Instead, I will put up pictures of two of my kids dressed for Purim yesterday. It's much easier to handle than thinking that the PVNS may be growing in my throat.

I had a red-haired girl in a black wig being a bad-luck black cat, and a Brooklyn basketball player. :)

those are *my* boots...

thanks for the cool basketball duds, uncle Peter!

We made it through Purim 2017. I layed low because of being in the year of mourning, and that suited me fine.... layed low, 

not including the round trip drive to the doctor and the difficult exam.