Disability Hearing and UK Urologist

My disability hearing was yesterday. It went well, I was confident with my answers to the judge's questions, felt very prepared and I didn't get emotional like I sometimes do out of frustration when talking about my health problems and how it's taken most of my quality of life away. The judge seemed to listen to me, believe what I was saying and really understand how all of my health problems would make it impossible for me to work. My lawyer is also very confident and said he's at least 90% sure that I will win my disability case. I won't know one way or the other until I get a letter in the mail from the Social Security office sometime in the next couple of months. Even though I don't really know if I won or not, it's a relieve for me to have that over with so I can relax a little. 


Today I went to see Dr. Katie Ballert, a urologist at UK that is much more specialized then the urologist I have been seeing because that urologist knew I needed more testing done then she can do.   I really like this urologist. She listens well, is down to earth, doesn't try to scare her patients but also tells it like it, isn't intimidating like some doctors can be, doesn't play games but is medication/procedure/surgery happy, and I feel comfortable with her which is a good thing because the testing that I need done is pretty invasive. She believes my bladder problems are either from one of two different causes: 1. neurological- which falls in line with the what my primary care doctor is thinking or 2. intentional damage from the open abdominal surgery I had to have last March. I have an appointment with a nervous system specialist at UK in May which should hopefully be able to determine one way or the other if the nervous system is the cause of my bladder problems or not. The urologist is going to do her testing after I see the neurologist so that she can have all of the information to come up with a plan once she has the results of the testing she will be doing. Until then though she put me on a muscle relaxer because the muscles around my kidneys and bladder are extremely tight and so muscle relaxers can really be helpful with that which would settle down the symptoms until they can figure out what the problem is truly is. Also, I will be trying pelvic floor physical therapy since that normally helps with symptom control both in the short and long term. 

March 5th Update

Went back to the ENT this morning for my last post-op visit and to get a tube put in my ear. It ended up being only a post-op visit because my eustachian tubes have become unblocked most of the way since the inflammation has started going down from my sinus surgery. The ENT said from what my sinus look like now you would never know that I recently had sinus surgery or even had sinus problems. So for now I'm able to avoid ear tubes and physical therapy for my balance so unless I take a turn for the worse or get an infection I don't have to go back to see him until July. He said I should continue to get better as time passes with regards to my balance, ear pain/pressure, sinus pressure/pain, sinus headaches, sinus drainage, and dizziness. 

Not much else has changed with my health. Still vomiting on a consistent basis but have been able to keep myself pretty hydrated so I've only had to get IV fluids once in the last 5 months. My primary care doctor put me on a medication that is helping me sleep better and might even help with some of my nausea. Eating is still day to day but I haven't lost anymore weight which is a good thing. I'm still having kidney and bladder problems when it comes to urinating but I will be starting urgent pc therapy (http://www.uroplasty.com/patients/urgentpc) once a week for the next 12 weeks as soon as it gets approved by my health insurance company. I went off of the medication for migraines because even at a pretty high dose it wasn't helping a lot but since I went off of it my migraines have got worse. My GYN thinks my issues when it comes to my issues in that area actually are being caused by my GI system and putting me on medications seems to make it worse and really the only option that would help would be a hysterectomy which due to my age isn't an option. 

Otherwise I've been trying to prep for my disability hearing at the end of the month and our yard sales which also will begin at the end of this month. I'm really trying to work smarter and not harder this year since we have some experience and my medical bills continue to add up (I've already paid over $6,000 since the beginning of the year) and my endurance isn't nearly as high as it was this time last year. Please email me at craigslist_seller_tiffany@yahoo.com if you want more information about our yard sales and/or have items that you would like to donate. Thank you ahead of time for this and all of your good thoughts/prayers.