More Doctors & More Tests

I spent the morning at the South Bend Clinic meeting with Mom's rheumatologist.  The blood work that Dr. Clouse had ordered in early August showed that my rheumatoid factor was high.  With my Mom's history of rheumatoid arthritis the doctor wanted an experienced opinion on the treatment for the pain in my joints.  Dr. Mohr spent time asking me questions and looking at each joint that was inflamed.  From his observation and looking at my blood levels he felt that my problem might be a soft tissue issue and not necessarily RA.  He ordered x-rays of my left wrist and left knee and was interested in hearing how the MRI of my left ankle went.  He prescribed a strong anti-inflammatory that I will have to take twice a day.   I have a follow-up appointment with him in two weeks to reevaluate the pain and see if I was able to tolerate the medication.

The doctor's visit and x-rays took several hours, so it was lunchtime when I left South Bend.  I was happy to see a Chix-Fil-A on my way out of town.  It was a different experience than our local fast food restaurants.  The staff was friendly and the service was quick.  I wish we had one closer to Syracuse.  After I ate I drove to Goshen to do some shopping.  I needed several items from Target and Petco.  After getting the necessities I still had enough time to stop in at Pier 1.  I hadn't been there in quite some time and enjoyed looking around.  I was glad to find bowls to match the purple plates that Doug game me and I finally found a yellow cookie jar.  It was shaped like a beehive and had bees buzzing around it.  It definitely fit the color scheme of our kitchen.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at the hospital.  My MRI was scheduled for 3:25 and I arrived early in case they needed any paperwork from me.  Check in was easy as I had pre-registered earlier in the week.  I was taken back in the room quickly and met with one of the techs.  She had to ask a lot of questions and instantly alleviated my fear of having to be put inside the tube.  She explained that I would only have to be placed halfway through it since they only needed to take images of my left ankle.  The test took about forty minutes and they gave me headphones with quiet music to listen to.  During the test I was not allowed to move.  That wasn't a problem, except that I kept falling asleep.  Every time I did I would jerk a little.  It must not have been an issue as they did not have to redo any of the tests.  On the way out the tech told me to expect a call on Monday from my doctor and to make a follow up appointment with her.  From that conversation I was pretty sure that they saw something.  I know that the x-ray was abnormal, so I am guessing the MRI was concerning to them.  I decided not to worry about it as I will be finding out soon enough.