Doctor Day for Juli

Juli is sleeping (at last!) and hasn't vomited in almost 48 hours. This evening, she has an appointment with a new primary care physician, and tomorrow, with a gastroenterologist. Hopefully, we can start on the path to a diagnosis and treatment with these two appointments. If neither of those can help her, then we will press on to the next options.

I've been researching on the internet about a possible auto-immune disorder having to do with her thyroid gland. The symptoms seem to fit her situation, so if the GI doc rules out anything in his specialty, I think an endocrinologist should be the next stop on the medical bus.

Juli and Kerne are understandably frustrated. Juli is just so tired of being sick, and is still not entirely convinced that her body's malfunction is causing the stress and anxiety, rather than her anxiety causing her to be physically ill. Anxiety is easy to diagnose--it's the number one mental disorder in our society right now. Now that her medical chart is full of notations citing her "panic disorders," any new doctor is pre-disposed to confirming that judgment, rather than looking for a physical causation. I'm hoping that this new GP is a curious sort, someone willing to change the paradigm and challenge the previous assumptions.

It's a pleasure to be back in Seattle, even though I'm missing my own mommy something fierce. I had breakfast downtown at Pike Place Market with Friend Christy (who sent me back to Juli's with an armload of cheerful tulips). So even though the situation with Juli is serious, I'm still grabbing opportunities for having fun.

How shallow is that? I rationalize by saying that even the caretakers have to take care of themselves to be effective, right?