Sometimes you get news that is good but could be better.
Tuesday I had a phone appointment with my Lawyer for my case. He said he had good news but it wasn't the best scenario. The best news would have been that my case that is in the federal process would have had an overturned decision with the negative response being automatically rendered as a positive response. What did happen is that the decision was remanded (I think that's the term he used), and that we would have another court date to be able to have a new judge hear the case. I had said it was odd that the original judge had stated on the findings and court transcript that he had no doubt I was disabled as the professional witness had stated that someone with my current limitations would not be able to find or keep gainful employment, but that he was rendering a negative decision on my case. I was told that does sometimes happen and it is strictly up to the judge whether to approve or deny a claim based on their own feelings about the case overall, rather than giving a positive decision based on all the facts and witnesses statements.
Either way, I'm taking this all as a positive step, though it's been a very long and tedious process thus far. I think part of the issue is that a doctor may state something to you in person, and then not write it verbatim on your records. Such as when I saw the neurosurgeon and he told me I'd be a bad candidate for back surgery for reasons such as, since I have numerous spinal curves, both scoliosis, and Scheuremann's Disease, that we could only choose one of the curves to attempt to correct and that it would likely result not only in numerous procedures rather than simply one, but that also, it would likely exacerbate the pain I have from the other curves causing greater pain from those. I'm not altogether sure that he stated things in that way for my records, though I appreciated his candor and honesty to me regarding my overall health. The issue for such things is that a judge wouldn't have the benefit of seeing and knowing that there is no possible option for said health issue to be corrected or the state of that issue to be improved. My two options for my issued with my spinal pain are live with it, or take pain meds, and the danger there is that I would exchange spinal pain with a potential drug addiction and I don't feel that that's a very good or healthy option.
Recently.....the end of last month, my primary doctor did more kidney function tests since my test in May had shown I think renal functions at 59.4 where 60 and above is normal and desired, and she found that I'd dropped 11 points in 4 months, I think it dropped to 48.3...? Either way, I've now been asked to adhere to a diabetic diet as much as I'm able, to not take my metformin, and to drink copious amounts of water and we'll retest at the end of this month. I'm not sure, but some of my medications for anxiety could also affect my kidneys, and that's been the only medication that's been adjusted in the past year, and I'm not totally sure about some of the others, but I'll retest minus the metformin, consult with my psychiatrist at our appointment, and touch base with my primary doctor when my results come back. I've not really talked about this with anyone, because I don't want family to needlessly worry, since it could be an easy fix....or it could be more serious. Since my PCOD affects my ability to process food, and to attempt to assist with digestion, and kidney functions I've added some supplements to my daily routine. I've added, cranberry pills, garlic pills, cinnamon pills to help with sugar processing since most foods break down into complex sugars and I don't have the metformin at the moment to help with that, and a multivitamin since it was saying that vitamin D helps with kidneys, so I figured what the heck it can't hurt to add more vitamins.
I'm not sure that everything I'm doing will help, but I am hopeful since if it's more serious and I've developed kidney disease it could result in several weekly trips for dialysis and I don't relish that thought, nor do I relish the thought of losing kidney functions and needing to seek replacement and going through surgery etc. I choose to remain positive and think that it's just a simple issue with medication and that it can be reversed and improved. That's where I'm determined to stay until notified otherwise.
All I can do is hope and encourage my doctors to document what they're telling me, and hope that all this helps with my next court hearing, which will likely be at the beginning of the new year.
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