Rhandom Schittshowe Cancer Journey: 2025-01-14: GP Call re: Lung Function
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| After chemo infusion #3 on July 26, I ended up going in to the Sturgeon ER on the 27th with chest pain. I didn't think it was a heart problem - I thought it was muscular, but the chemo directions are very clear that you have to get looked at anytime you have chest pain. So, after a visit from paramedics, Brent took me in to the Sturgeon ER, where they checked me over very very thoroughly. The doctor there referred me to Cardio Connect in St. Albert for additional tests, which I had on August 8. For good measure, Cardio Connect also pub me through some breathing tests.\n\n Anyway, my heart is fine, but in December I got a call from Premier Respiratory Centre to come in and see them in January. I'm frustrated by all this \"extra\" healthcare that I don't believe I need when other Albertans are begging for healthcare that they can't get. So, off I went to Premier on January 7th. The doctor spent all of ten minutes with me and then foisted three months worth of Alvesco, a steroid inhaler, onto me and said his office would call me for re-testing after three months.\n\n I do NOT want to use a steroid inhaler unless absolutely necessary. I've used one before and gotten such bad thrush that I couldn't speak because my vocal chords were so gummed up with goo. At this time, I don't have any shortness of breath or other problems. I seem to be back to pretty close to normal with regards to walking/hiking (and, I assume, cycling). \n\n I took the inhalers home but I wasn't sure if I would start using them or not. Fortunately, I had a phone appointment with my GP that very afternoon and I asked for her advice about whether I needed to use them. She said she would go back and review my situation from August and call me in a week.\n\n She called this afternoon and she said that testing that was done in the summer couldn't be used to determine if I need inhalers or not because I was anemic at the time, which would impact my lung function. She said that she would get me re-tested as soon as my hemoglobin is above 120 and is sending me a requisition to get bloodwork done in early March to check my hemoglobin, which was up to 107 at my last bloodwork, so... close, but not quite there yet. \n\n The moral of this story is that you need to think about stuff and advocate for yourself rather than just blindly doing everything that a doctor tells you to do. I will get my lung function re-tested WITHOUT steroid inhalers first to validate whether I need the inhalers or not. If it's determined that I do need them (e.g., if they will stand between me and COPD), I will use them and hope I don't have a repeat of the thrush problem. But, if I had just blindly followed the pulmonary doctor's path, I would be using inhalers right now, and he would attribute any improvement at re-test to the inhalers, when it may very well be just a result of my recovery from the anemia. Ugh. | ||