In our travels going from doctor to doctor for this horrible condition, my wife has run into all types of doctors - ranging from being completely clueless to being on top of their games. If you are recently diagnosed with this disease, it may not be easy to figure out who the clueless ones are. But after a while, it becomes quite noticeable who knows what they are talking about, and who is just making stuff up so that they can outrageously bill your insurance company.
Of course, you will also run into the doctors who are somewhere in between - they know about the condition, they are quite knowledgeable about it, but they just miss the mark ever so slightly on key aspects. Colleen went to one of these doctors; I am not going to say visiting him was a complete waste of time, because he knew what he was talking about (for the most part), but it also wasn't 100% worthwhile because I felt he missed the mark in a few spots.
One of the spots where I felt he missed the mark was when he told my wife, "You've had it for more than 6 months - it is not likely going away". This after reading her history and noticing something very obvious, yet ignored: Colleen's condition did resolve for a period of a few months before coming back again like a freight train. Of course, using a word such as "likely" covers the doctor - "Doc, I feel better now. You told me it wouldn't happen!" "I didn't exactly say that - I said it was unlikely!" There is no way for a doctor to ever be wrong in this scenario - if you don't get better, he was right. If you do get better, well he had the built-in excuse.
Here is the bottom line: If you read stories online, you will find that many people got better after years of battling this disease. A good number of those people got better seemingly out of the blue - a true, "One day I had it, the next day I didn't" type of scenario. Others sometimes get relief from procedures such as gall bladder removal, but that doesn't mean you should rush to a surgeon right away to get it removed. Gall bladder surgery can work when there actually is something wrong with the gall bladder. Makes sense, no?
Doctors do not know everything - especially with a condition like this. Remember this post from a while back when I said that a doctor that says "I do not know" is often the doctor you want to stick with - because it takes a major swallowing of a doctor's pride to freely admit they have no idea what your problem is.
This particular doctor tried to push my wife towards the gastric pacemaker device, something she wants to avoid and really shouldn't be pushed towards. (Interestingly enough, the doctor who told my wife "I don't know" told her he only gives the pacemaker to patients who basically pound on his door and beg for it. That is how it should be - don't push the patient; give them the information they need and let them make the final decision)
In the end, as you read this, I of course cannot guarantee you will ever get better or that you won't get worse - what I can say with certainty is that people do recover from this and it likely happens more than you think. Remember, the people you interact with online who have this condition represents a small percentage of the total population who has the condition.
I try to keep the positive faith, even when Colleen is at her worst points - as a loved one, you again have no real choice. I just hope that some day, we won't have to worry about statistics and wonder how some people get better and some don't. I hope the day comes where everyone can be healed instantly after diagnosis. We may not be too far away from just that.
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