Well, we spent yesterday at St. Charles on the 5th floor in the infusion room. Irv had 2 liters of fluid IV'd into him again. Another change of medications. But, he didn't ever see the doctor or even talk to him. Everything was done through his nurse/receptionist. Another bunch of blood testing was done. One new thing is they are testing for H. Pylori, a bacteria that causes a lot of the symptoms Irv is having.
Now the thinking is that maybe he has something called "diabetic gastric paresis" which means the outlet of his stomach to the intestines isn't working correctly. It would be another rare diagnosis as he hasn't really been a diabetic and usually it takes a long time of high blood sugars to impair the function of the vagus nerve to the point it causes this problem. But, Irv got some medicine called Reglan for that condition. A newer, very expensive (>$500 for a prescription) drug called Dexilant was also prescribed. Luckily, we got 75 days worth of doctor samples to see if it actually helps the excess acid production from his stomach and allow the stomach to heal.
On Friday, Irv may have another endoscopy of the stomach and a little farther along the GI tract. A biopsy would be taken for that Helicobacter Pylori, which is the "gold standard" for diagnosis. Plus, the doctor could see what everything looks like since the CT scan done on Dec. 27 in the ER didn't show anything unusual. We are hoping someone will call and tell us for sure! Dr. Koteen, the bastard, is in surgery all day today (as well as yesterday) and so we are unsure just how much on his feeble mind Irv is present!
Initially, the doctor's office was telling Irv that MAYBE he could be seen on Wed. or Thursday of this week. At that point I became an enraged person and called back and told the nurse/receptionist that was TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. WTF! If we don't hear anything by noon look for nuclear bomb signs in Central Oregon. That will be me.
Love to you all, and I'll keep you informed.
Penny
15 years ago
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