Rheumy and Nephro appointments

The day started off with a visit to TWH to see Dr. Fortin. It was sad because I knew it would be my last appointment with him before he headed off to Quebec. The appointment was good and there are no changes where my medication is concerned.

We discussed my prednisone. Right now, I’m on 5mg daily. Passed experience seems to show that I cannot be without prednisone or else I’ll flare. But, that was several years ago and perhaps it was tapered too quickly. Dr. Fortin kept me on a small dose of prednisone because he did not want me to flare up right before a potential transplant, something that has occurred before.

But now, with this myeloma diagnosis, he feels that the transplant will be on hold for quite some time, and therefore wonders if it is worth it to perhaps look at dropping the prednisone even further. This concerns me a bit. It kind of…solidifies the fact that my transplant would be on hold.

After saying our goodbyes, my father dropped me off at TGH for my nephro appointment. At that point, it was about 11am and my appointment was not until 1pm. I quickly ate a bagel from bagel stop and a soy latte from starbucks. I was quite hungry as I had to fast for my bloodwork earlier. I decided afterwards that it would be a good idea to do my x-rays for my up and coming appointment with the ortho surgeon.

I went to the medical imaging department, checked in, and got changed. After I got changed, I was told that my xrays could not be done. I had to do them at TWH (where I just was for my rheumy appt) because only that hospital could produce physical xrays as opposed to digital ones on the computer. Since it was a possibility that I would be having surgery, the surgeon would need to bring these physical xrays into the OR with him. The technologists told me that she had called TWH and the line up for xrays was not long.

Damn. So I put all my clothes back on and ran outside to catch the hospital shuttle bus back to TWH. When I got to TWH..it was the funniest thing. There were about 30 people waiting for x-rays. It was already 12:10pm. I’d have to have my xrays done and be outside to catch the bus by 12:45pm as the shuttle buses come every 15 minutes. I told the secretary this when I checked in and she said she’d expedite my wait. She then went on lunch.

I waited and I waited. It was now 12:40pm. The secretary finally came back. I told her that I was leaving to go to my appointment at TGH, and I asked if she could give me some sort of priority when I came back since I’d have to come ALL the way back here again. She seemed surprised that I hadn’t been called yet. She went somewhere to speak to someone and then rushed me in. She asked me to give her the phone number to the doctor I was going to see so she could call them and tell them that I’d be late, so I did.

I did my xrays and was done by 12:55pm. I threw my clothes on so quickly that it was only a coincidence that I put my clothes on correctly. I limped/ran to where the shuttle bus was. I could see it parked as I quickly limped down the long hallway to the doors. I made it.

I got to my appointment about 15 minutes late. I saw the fellow first, then Dr. Richardson. I asked him about his thoughts on transplant. He said that he and my oncologist would sit down and talk about it after my appointment with her later this month. He reiterated the story about another patient that he had who had abnormal proteins in her bone marrow and it did not develop into anything. That is certainly encouraging.

I went outside and my Dad was there with a slurpee and beef patty. With all the running up and down that I did, the slurpee went down very smoothly. I went home and took a much needed nap!

Next appointment: next week- ortho surgeon! Will I be able to get this surgery so I can stop limping around? We’ll see what he says…