Medical Lost Cause

 Hey everyone I'm very sorry I haven't written much lately. I had a bad flare up with the tendinitis in my left wrist. It's similar to carpel tunnel syndrome but it's the tendon that controls the twisting motion. Anyway I"m been having to rest it as much as possible to avoid needing a cast. It seems to be improving. Another important thing all of you should know is that I will be starting a blog for Alex. This way we can keep all of you updated on how he is doing during his training.

Now on to the topic I planned for this post. So two weeks ago I started coughing. The coughing continued to get worse. I've been to the ER twice for it. I get coughing and can't catch my breath. I end up gasping, wheezing heavily and coughing blood. Well after the first ER visit I finally went to see my primary care doctor. He prescribed two long term medicines that do next to nothing for the immediate problem. Also one of the medicines has a steroid in it that I've had a bad reaction to in the past. This is the second time my primary care doctor who has had me admitted to the hospital because of a steroid reaction prescribed a steroid.

Then on Monday for the second time my cough got completely out of control. I called my doctor's office and their only suggestion was to go to the ER. I did everything I could to avoid the ER but I was having such a hard time breathing. The ER did their best to stabilize me. My oxygen saturation dropped to 90 % at its lowest and stayed at about 95%. When it dipped to 90% was when I got really scared because that's the line for respiratory failure. It took a long time to figure out how they could help me. Thanks to my medicine allergies it's very hard to treat me. There is really only so much an ER can even do for me to help me breathe. The ER doctor had absolutely no idea what was causing the cough. Her diagnosis was this: persistent cough. The ER doctor had no recommendations for once I was stabilized and headed home. They had done all they could and there was nothing more that I could do on my end either.

So yesterday I called my doctor's office back because the ER said to check back in with them. My primary care doctor's office let me know there was nothing my primary care doctor felt comfortable giving me or doing for me himself. He had no treatment plan for me at all. The only thing they could do was to send me to a pulmonologist. The lung doctor's job was to find out the source of the cough.

I saw the pulmonologist this morning. He was a very nice doctor. After reading my chart, speaking with me for a few minutes, and examining me he gave me his conclusion. He concluded there was nothing he could do for me. He was very apologetic about the whole thing. He felt bad having to tell me that. He said I needed the Mayo Clinic or the Cleveland Clinic to help me.

While he was the nicest anyone has been when delivering that same news it still sucked. I've had 5 doctors in the last year label me a lost cause. I'm allergic to almost all of the medications used to treat the symptoms I have. No doctor has ever figured out the root cause of everything. I've already tried the Mayo Clinic before and it was a complete failure. I'm down to three options now. The first is to try the Cleveland Clinic hoping and praying they can help me. The second option is to try every homeopathic remedy I can. The last option is hardly an option at all. It is simply the only thing left if the other two don't pan out. The third option is to suffer through the cough and hope it goes away on its own.

I can't express how hard all of this has been. This morning was one of the few times I have started crying in a doctor's office. When the doctor tells you not only can he not treat you but that he is unsure anyone can treat you it's such a blow. You never know how much hope you had resting on a doctor until they squash it. It would appear that I am a medical lost cause.