I had to wait many months for H's, mostly for toxicology. I hope your wait is not as long, Maria. It's emotionally draining to have that uncertainty, and not having the final death certificate really limits what you can get done with legal, financial, etc. matters. But coroner's offices are short-staffed these days.

Dr. Lipson wants to know why.

Doctors who want to know Why are wonderful.

Dr. Hwang, the God of Electrocardiology, is still my model for ideal doctor. He was doing a procedure to burn out a bad electrical generator in Hubby's heart, that was causing the rhythm problems, and he accidentally poked a hole through the heart wall. He came out personally to the waiting room to explain why things had gone on for an extra two hours, and when they moved Hubby to Cardiac ICU, he again personally went to get Hubby's stuff from the old room to carry them to the new room. This was at the end of a 20-hour day, too. I don't think big-league cardiac surgeons normally do that sort of thing.

Blerrgh. I now have a doctor appointment at 2:30 to figure out if the powdery taste in my mouth and the thick white coating on my tongue is a worrying side-effect of the new antibiotic. Whee?

Jilli, that could be thrush, which can definitely be a side effect of any antibiotic, b/c the antibiotic kills off the good flora of your tongue. It's also exacerbated by a weakened immune system.

Oh swell. Considering I'm on a "pulsing" regime of Cipro and Flagyl AND have a weak immune system right now, that's probably it. More probiotics in my future, I assume?

Huh. Now that I've read a description of it, I don't think it's thrush. I don't have spots, just a uniform thick coating.

You might need an antifungal drug for it, actually -- it's usually Candida albicans that sets up shop when your good flora can't oust it -- and then maybe supportive care with more probiotics.

t edit It doesn't necessarily have to be spots. I know that's what descriptions say, but the human body, she is weird.

Once again, I am going to whine about having to take all these drugs, but is anyone offering me laudanum? No, dammit.

Ugh. I hope it's swiftly dealt with, Jilli.

I have discovered the job I took for the next three weeks does not have return bus service after about 6:00, and I will be there until 10:00 every night.

There needs to be some kind of cancer ombudsman who does this stuff, not people who are already shaking piles of goo.

The VA, man. They are awesome with this shit. Everything gets scheduled for you and you are notified where and when to show up, and they have you booked for whatever specialists/physiscians needed. One of the many factors that plays a part in their treatment and efficiency records.

They are dealing with a poplulation of largely retirees without enormous demands on their time, so I'm not sure how translatable to the general population. But I'd give it a go.