About an hour after the first email, I felt bad for insulting his name, so I sent another one apologizing for nastiness but reiterating my request not to get mail any more. And I got an email this morning apologizing for the intrusion and that he won't send me anymore mail. So it's all good.

I didn't mention yesterday -- the new gastroenterologist was so much better than the first one. He listened to me, and asked follow-up questions that indicated he had (gasp!) actually listened to me, and said a couple of things that let me know he looked at the results of my CT scan and MRI before the appointment, which pleased me.

He said based on the symptoms and how the pain responded to Nexium (and came back when I stopped the Nexium [which I did on purpose, to see if the pain would come back so I would have more data for New Doctor]), it's likely an ulcer.

He'd rather do an endoscopy to be sure, rather than just treat it, plus with an endoscopy he can get a sample to culture to see if it is caused by H. pylori. He said he doesn't feel an immediate need to to a colonoscopy, BUT (no pun intended) if the endoscopy is inconclusive, then he's going to want to do a colonscopy, so he recommended just doing them at the same appointment.

So, ugh, I'm getting them both done, on Sept. 11. He did tell me to restart the Nexium now, and then once there's confirmation of an ulcer, he'll add an antibiotic if that's what's called for.

So I guess...wish me an ulcer??? Because that's fairly easy to treat. And then this should finally be resolved.

As for Tim's tests, he won't have the results until next week. He said that doing the pulmonary function tests seemed a lot easier than last year, so that feels like a good sign. And even though I'm prone to letting my anxiety run away with me and assuming the worst, I've managed to stay fairly chill so far. Therapy has actually gotten me to a point where I can recognize -- and BELIEVE -- that if anxiety lies to *other* people, then *my* anxiety is also probably a big fat liar. And that is HUGE progress for me. I mean, I cannot stress strongly enough how big of progress that is for me.

That sounds much better, Steph. Yay for doctors who actually listen.

Tim's test results were sent to his electronic chart dealie today, and his CT scan results were excellent. No changes from last year and no sign of disease. I am unspeakably relieved.

That is beautiful news!

That is wonderful!

Also Steph realizations like that are important and huge even though it may seem small.

Dad had a physical and his tests results showed abnormalities with his kodnesy and liver. He has to go back in 3 weeks and can't have alcohol or pain killers and then they will run tests.

Can I have some health~ma sent his way. He is 75 and anything like this is worrying.

Also Steph realizations like that are important and huge even though it may seem small.

It's actually fairly huge. I 100% believed that of course other people's anxiety lies to them, but MY anxiety is always right. And now I think it's not. I just need to remind myself of that about 100 times a day, but the thing is, at least I remember it.

I missed your second post, askye. Fingers crossed for your dad. Hopefully it's just a little change that can happen with age. There's a "normal" range of abnormal, especially as people age, if that makes sense. Like, it's okay to be outside the range of normal to a certain degree once you're past a certain age.

Health~ma for your dad, askye.

My step-dad needs poop~ma. He came through his bypass surgery incredibly well, and it was super bad blockages in nasty places. Surgeon said it had been some time since he had one that bad. His recovery has been awesome, except he hasn't managed the whole bowel movement part. Since last Monday. I think part of it was his rejecting pain meds because he "doesn't need them", but instead he is avoiding at least sub-consciously doing stuff he knows is going to hurt. They finally moved him out of ICU today, but now he is getting an x-ray to make sure he doesn't have an obstruction causing this, which would not be good. He has been eating regular big meals 3 times a day since the day after surgery, so at this point he is mighty uncomfortable, and full of "it".