Surprised the Neurologist Today

The last time I saw my neurologist, he offered me pain medication, when I hadn't complained of pain. The time before that, he told me I had a definitive diagnosis of FSH muscular dystrophy, and that physical therapy wouldn't do me any good. I asked him about the blood test that had he had ordered that indicated a positive scl-70, and did he think I should see a rhuematologist, and he said no. So, when he asked me to come back in six months, I decided I would, and I'd tell him what I had been doing -- which I decided was not to listen to any of his advice.

So, this morning, I filled him in on how my condition remained static until I started on doryx, and how after I began taking that in mid-July, all of my muscles started coming back, and how I'd been diagnosed with scleroderma by three doctors, and one said I have scleroedema, and why that makes sense, and how one rheumatologist said he thought that as the scleroderma reversed with the doryx, he thought my FSH would, too. I told him how I don't have to hold my head up to eat and how I took a four-mile hike last month, and how my shoulder is no longer dislocated.

I explained to him how I think the scleroedema was the cause of the shoulder being dislocated, and that as it is still impacted, that there is more room for improvement.

This really upset the doc's applecart. First of all, he didn't recall that the blood work had indicated a positive scl-70 -- good thing I looked at it. Then he wanted to know who told me I had scleroderma. Then, he was surprised that one doctor told me I would probably recover from the FSH as the autoimmune disease got better -- because that's what he was seeing in another patient.

He asked how often I was going to physical therapy, which is every day. He asked if I was doing the same exercises every day, and I said, "no, I joined the cardio class about two months ago on Tuesday/Thursdays, and M-W-F I do my regular work out." He asked me how long I worked out, and I told him two hours a day. He cautioned that that might be too much, and I told him I didn't think so.

I told the doctor that I'm a fighter. He said he could see that I am. And, I'll go back in six months to show him what one woman, determined to get well, can do.