Snowflake #1, Plus a Bonus Report: the Neurologist Visit!
Last Friday, one of the things I did was fill up my car's tank with gas. This month, thanks to the ever-increasing costs of gasoline in the country, I budgeted an extra bit of cash towards my gas costs. When I filled up on Friday, I had about a quarter tank left, leaving a little extra cash left over from what I'd budgeted.
Now, I could have reallocated that extra $6.93 towards miscellaneous expenses or groceries or whatever, but I decided to put that money towards one of my debts, with the thinking that every little bit helps. So this morning I "snowflaked" for the first time: I transferred $6.93 from my checking account to the overdraft line of credit that I ran up a while back when I wasn't paying sufficient attention and being lazy (this is pre-money-breakdown in September...)
Other than my student loans, this line of credit is the only item I owe on for which I can pay online, so this debt is going to be the first recipient of my "snowflakes" as I gather them up. My goal for May is to carve out $25 extra by "snowflaking" and put it towards the LoC. I'll report back next month on how I did.
Wohoo! (And for more on Snowflaking, click here.)
So... on to my visit with my Neurologist:
To answer Jen's question first: I *did* try to find a new neurologist. I currently see a doctor at one MS clinic here. The other MS Clinic, as I found out, only sees patients by referral, and even then they only do one-off consults. They DON'T treat patients ongoing, which is what I was looking for. So when the thyroid/depression issues started cropping up, it was all I could do to get through the day without falling asleep at my computer, so I abandoned the hunt in favor of mid-afternoon naps and, here we are, three months later, and my quarterly check-up arrived. The other clinic did send me a list of MS docs in the area, but even those were fairly limited and by the time I started to feel better my annoyance with my doctor had dissipated enough that I forgot to pick the hunt back up. That and the thought of making another round of calls was enough to make me want to weep.
So that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I still am seeing the same neuro. Not an elegant reason or even one that makes much (any?) sense. But that's where I'm at.
But all things considered, Friday's visit was a fairly okay visit. The Hateful Shrew was even slightly less gruesome. She smiled at me. For real. (I'm really not sure what to make of that!)
I basically gave my doctor the run-down of what had been going on, talked him through my reasoning for going off the Copaxone and assured him I was willing to be on a disease modifying drug - which seems to be his big thing - but not at the expense of my quality of life. And those months before I stopped taking the Copaxone were simply ghastly. As it turns out, Ms. Shrew didn't give my message to the doctor ("I would have remembered that," said he) about going off the Copaxone, but he didn't seem particularly surprised by this and frankly, neither was I.
So we talked for a while about what was going on and what my options were, and he suggested it might be time to try Tysabri. So I filled out all the TOUCH paperwork and now I'm just waiting for a call from... someone?... somewhere?... about what I need to do next.
For the moment, I'm trying to get enough sleep and take care of myself: will report more when I learn more!
Comments
The Hateful Shrew probably just had a touch of the wind (gas)...one can never let their guard down with a shrew! LMAO
Well, I guess I'VE been told now about your neurologist! LOL
Linda D. in Seattle
Posted by: Linda D. | May 5, 2008 09:40 PM
i think tysabri sounds like a good idea for you. i'm starting on tysabri later this month myself! i'm very excited about the switch.
glad you had an ok appt with the dr.
Posted by: jen | May 6, 2008 05:25 PM
Congrats on the snowflake! :)
Good luck with the doctor, I am glad the appt was at least okay.
Posted by: paidtwice | May 7, 2008 07:56 AM