Friday, May 18, 2012

Forget the Apple, I Need a Doctor

Phew! Finally, some time to just sit down and relax. Now that finals are over, I'm moved back home for the summer, I've got everything set up for my mission trip to Alaska (leaving on Monday, so excited!), and got everything lined up with my summer job, I finally have some time to just breath. But with the semester being over and me being back home, that brings a new challenge: doctors. When my mom heard about that incident I had about a month ago when I collapsed twice without warning, she instantly when into protective mode, trying to figure out what exactly she could do to help me regardless of being six hours away. Her first course of action was to try and get some medical advice on what might have happened and to get me into a doctor. There was only one problem: I didn't actually have a primary doctor.


Now when it comes to someone's health, doctors play a huge part. The hard part is finding the right doctor for you. In my personal case, my medical history and incontinentia pigmenti has always made finding the right doctor for me difficult, especially because of the fact that I have so many of them. A primary doctor, optometrist, dentist, orthodontist, periodontist, prosthodontist, dermatologist, neurologist, otolaryngologist, geneticist... The list goes on and on. And it isn't only the number of doctors I have that makes finding the right ones for me difficult, but also the sheer number of practicing doctors in the area that I live. I can't count the number of optometrists my mom went through when I was little before she found one she approved of and that I liked. The same went for my primary care doctor. It took so long to find one that I liked that I stuck with her until I was eighteen, regardless of the fact that  I was the only teenager in a waiting room full of toddlers. It took a really long time to find someone whose advice I trusted when it came to my health, especially because of my ED. The more medical care that someone requires, the more trust they have to put into the hands of others when it comes to areas they don't understand. The many optometrists I met with before I found my permanent doctor, for example, all stated that I needed eye surgery because of the large amount of scar tissue around my retinas from my eye problems and the retinal bleeding I suffered from for many years. Eye surgery at the age of about six, mind you. But my mom kept looking until she found a highly recommended doctor who said otherwise. Now there isn't any signs of eye surgery in my future and I didn't have to undergo that unnecessary risk. Finding trusted and qualified doctors is difficult, but finding a doctor who you have faith in makes all the difference and really helps put your mind at ease. Unfortunately for me, my nineenth birthday put a wrench in my peace of mind because many of the doctors I had were solely pediatric doctors. That of course means I have to deal with the looming task of starting the search all over again.


So on that day when I collapsed, suddenly that problem was brought to my mom and I's attention. When I turned nineteen I lost my primary doctor and my neurologist (among others), the two doctors that I now need to check in with, both of whom knew my medical background very well. Of course there are plenty of other great doctors out there, but sometimes the idea of trying to explain nineteen years of medical history to someone who has only read of the condition I have in a textbook is rather daunting. My mom even got recommendations from her doctor for both a primary care doctor and a neurologist for me, only to find that all of the doctors recommended were either not accepting new patients at the time or would not treat nineteen-year-olds. Not a great time to need a check up, right? Well, that was back in April. Now it's May and I haven't collapsed again since then, but my mom still wants me to get checked out, just in case. For right now, we took the simplest approach to finding a new doctor for me: I have an appointment with my mom's doctor! She has been with her for so long and talks about me so often that she practically knows me any who, so it is worth a shot. Having a primary doctor wouldn't be such a big deal if I could see a neurologist without a referral, but alas that is not how the world works. I have an appointment with her on June 4th, shortly after I get back from Alaska. If she comes up with anything conclusive, I'll keep you guys updated. For now, take care of yourself!