January 23, 2022
Sunday
Some people prepare for the new year with a night on the town for celebration and "ringing in the new year". Maybe not so much THIS year; many of us still being in the midst of our COVID 19 - Coronavirus pandemic. It seems that the coronavirus was making the rounds to all the parties though, having a good time whooping it up and laying people out!
Here in Austin 32.3% of the population has not yet been vaccinated and 28.1% has been vaccinated AND gotten their coronavirus booster shots. As a person who is defined as having the following risks, I have spent minimal time outside my home over the past year:
1. Immunosuppressant medications take for kidney transplant
2. Hypertension
3. Non-alcoholic cirrhosis of liver
4. Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia ("HHT ~ What we're all here about!")
One of the things I was meaning to do around New Year's Day and am finally getting to it today, is writing about my gratitude to all the multicultural team of doctors who've served me with dedication, brilliance, and veracity throughout the year.
Through it all has been Dr. Russell Krienke, my primary care doc (ARC) for 40 years now who has been there for me through thick & thin; been authentic, knowledgeable about everything I threw at him over the years (allergies, asthma, sprains and internal stuff and make great referrals to most of the others) The rest, in order of appearance, include Dr. Joseph Leary, who operated on my nasal polyps, helped me with nosebleeds and helped me realize the need for my further medical work related to HHT; leading to Dr. John Battaile at Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas where I've had minimal on site contact but even though... Battaile has emailed me, sent HHT Genetic Testing Kits, and consulted over the phone with me several times about my liver issues.
And, of course, even though he retired several years ago now, I would be seriously amiss if I didn't mention the guy that originally told me "...this cadaver kidney looks so good, I'd take it for my daughter if she needed one!" That guy is the former director of the St David's Kidney Transplant Center; Dr. Richard Lewis. There's lots of mentions and stories about Dr. Lewis in my other Blog, Jack's Kidney Adventure. After Lewis left St. David's, I returned to Austin Kidney Associates and have been a patient of Dr. Ashvin Baru, another doc I consider to be a genius because of the way he has adjusted and creatively handled my medications and because of his patient communication skills. He has also stayed abreast of my other docs, what they are prescribing for me, and why.
Dr. Lewis also connected me to three of my other incredible docs, Dr. Grady Bruce, my favorite urologist, who has helped me deliver a kidney stone one time, kept track of my prostate meds, and offered to install a VCD if I thought I needed one. Then there's my heart guy, Dr. Robert Wozniak, the cardiologist who keeps track of my blood pressure related to kidney and liver issues, sets up stress tests when necessary, and most recently an echocardiogram on Liz's birthday! Dr. Baru suggested I might lower my blood pressure by having my old friend Fistula removed, and Dr. Wozniak agreed so we found a vascular surgeon, Dr. David Nation to consult and then put me back in Seton hospital for the fistula operation on June 15th (see Post #469 in Jack's Kidney Adventure for more on this "procedure').
Dr. Lewis also sent me to Dr. Stacia Miles for some blemishes on my skin he was worried about and she became my favorite dermatologist. She meets with me every 6 months and goes over my body carefully and has over the years found two patches that turned out to be basal cell carcinoma which she then had to dig out and send somewhere for analysis. The last one was just recently, in her office, on November 15th. She's very nice and always interested in conversing about teaching, working with people, and my most current medical adventures.
This year I also added Dr. Neeraj Manchanda who discovered my stroke from viewing my recent MRI, called early on a Sunday morning, and sent me immediately to St. David's South Community Hospital ER for treatment and analysis, of an acute cerebellar stroke, and whom I've been seeing ever since to ensure I'm not one of the people aged 70 to 79 whose mortality rate is 13.4%.
In May I found myself with a "macular hole". Dr. Mark Levitan put me in Seton Hospital for a vitrectomy after I was referred to him by Dr. Lindsey (my eye doc) related to seeing funny parallel lines coming together on one of her "Amsler Test" cards...nestled in our kitchen sundry basket for years... which I would look at every so often to see if the lines stayed parallel (see Post #14 in this Blog). Well, they finally moved closer together. I visited Dr. Lindsey and she sent me right over to Dr. Levitan and he explained macular holes and set me up for surgery on May 5th (Post #15).
Finally, in October I met my most recent new doc, Dr. Delfino Lorenzo, who identified that my ongoing groin pain when walking or climbing the stairs too many times a day... was an inguinal hernia (Post #20). It was not a linguine hernia, like my fuzzy brain keeps wanting to call it. A couple of weeks later, he had me in St. David's South Austin Hospital for tucking, screening, and patching and back home after noon that day.
So, I offer this post to announce to my blogsters the boundless gratitude I have for my amazing team of ardent doctors who have each been an important part of my ongoing medical adventures. As I identified and was appreciated each one of these folks above I am reminded (as Liz frequently makes me aware of) just how many medical issues and procedures I had in 2021! It's been quite a year... and we have done really well, considering our whole nations immersion in the ongoing pandemic that has involved practically every human on the planet!
Fortunately, I continue to work from home and can arrange doctor's visits either virtually or at times when it is easy to slip in and out of the doc's office safely by following safety procedures: ~~😷 + 6👣 + 💉 + 🤲🏻💦 = 🖖🏼~~
No comments:
Post a Comment