Friday, March 27, 2009

The Dr's Appointment

Well, I made it back from my doctor's appointment. There are three interesting aspects to note.

The Greeting
I'm particularly fond of my doctor since he irritated me with an attitude the last time I saw him a couple years ago. I've been avoiding him ever since and seeing his colleagues instead. I don't go into that office very often anyway; the last time was for a sinus infection. So, he comes him and says "nice to meet you," and asks me who I normally see. I think he was surprised when I said, "You." What I meant was that he is officially noted as my PCP.

The Homeschool Discussion
I hear about people ending up in these discussion with their doctors but haven't really had it happen to me before. He noted my kids in the room and asked if school was out. I replied that he homeschooled and briefly noted that it was for academic reasons. He then commented that the social aspect of school is important, too, and mentioned things like friends, playing, and cliques. I nearly laughed at the mention of cliques...as if they were important or healthy. I kept my cool, though, and explained that we get plenty of socializing through field trips, classes, park days, and friends. He seemed satisfied with that answer.

What I Was There For
So, he thinks that the pop I felt in my head was actually in my sphenoidal sinus, which is located behind your nose and eyes about half way between your ears (or pretty far into the middle of your head). He said that if there is an infection in there and an air bubble got in there, I might feel it pop. Ok, I can see that as a possibility since I've had sinus problems as far back as I can remember and have been stuffed up since October. In fact, my last two appointments at this office were for a sinus infection. No, the antibiotics didn't get rid of it completely but I try to ignore my sinus infections until they actually start to hurt. Most of the time, they don't hurt...just stuff me up and take away some of my sense of smell. They usually resolve by themselves in the summer. I was a bit surprised that he didn't give me an antibiotic for it, though, especially since he could see that I was significantly congested.

The headache, he thinks, was a migraine. While I do have a history of migraines, two kinds of migraines actually, that was acceptable as well. I did question him on this one a bit though because this headache did not resemble my usual migraines. In my teens and early 20s, I used to get very painful migraines, complete with photosensitivity, but without the aura. I haven't had one of those in about 12 years. Now I get a classic migraine aura but only a mild to moderate headache that lasts just for that day. This was neither of those.

So, the final decision was that everything was probably OK. If the headache isn't completely gone by Monday morning, I'm suppose to call the office to have an MRI ordered. That's to check for aneurysms which could be the other possibility. He doesn't think it is that because my symptoms don't fit that very well. He did some fun neurological tests which my kids thought for funny. If I have any neurological symptoms pop up, it's ER time.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Dr's have such attitudes! A couple months ago I went to see a podiatrist in the orthopedic practice. I was reading a parenting/discipline book, so she subjected me to a 15-minute lecture on what book I should be reading and "how" I should be disciplining my children. She doesn't know me from Adam and I never mentioned problems or issues or discipline areas with my children. I was just reading.

The Four Week Vegan said...

Ia m glad you went and it is most likely nothing. Perhaps he learned something from your little conversation about homeschooling.