I just adore my doctor!!

I just got back from my appointment with Dr. C. She was *wonderful* as always. She gave me all the time I needed for questions and concerns (which is great considering she was almost an 1.5 late b/c she was delivering a baby--thanked me for waiting...she's worth the wait). She even was *very* interested in my book Sudden Menopause and borrowed it from me (I can't believe a dr. borrowed a book from a patient...I'm even more impressed). She agreed with me that Dr. S is full of it for claiming he doesn't know his schedule in advance and that it was wrong for him to leave me hanging. I told her that I made it clear to him that if she wasn't such an awesome dr. that I would have been in a very sorry situation. She chuckled (he'd better send that TY Ltr to her) at the "awesome" part. She was pleased to hear that the treatments are working and that I'm down to 2.5 mg of Percocet (she says that I"ve eliminated 3/4 of my drugs). I told her I didn't realize the fog I was in until after I was off everything. She said that my recent hot flashes could be from stress. Apparently, when sick or stressed, the body uses more estrogen, so the fact I've been working late nights and stuff at work, that could be the cause. I told her I'll keep track of it and get back to her if there's a significant increase. We talked about my leg cramps and since they weren't too bad and I didn't show signs of clots, that magnesium would be a good mineral to add (or bananas when I can eat them again), but for now the children's chewables were fine (she understands my aversion to swallowing pills right now). We addressed my paranoia about Endometriosis returning. She said that the medical community finally has a enough case studies to show that Lupron is not the wonderful option for Endo as has been believed over the last 10 years. She said, as in my case, that the Mayo Clinic dr.s at her recent conference (in Hawaii) said it's the equivalent of giving patients water (the Endo community has believed this for years). I told her that I at least tried it and she agreed. She said that she can't explain why there was so much more Endometriosis. She said that if we feel that it's coming back she'll up my progesterone, but she really felt that she got it all and it wouldn't come back. I asked her to look at my surgical notes to see how much more and she said she didn't list everything she found and where, but that she has noted that I was covered in it. My theory is that the Endo grew like wildfire when my Estradiol was up at 800 from the Lupron. She said that there really is no way of knowing whether my pain was all the Endo or if the uterus was also involved. She is inclined to think it was both since so much of my pain and other issues cleared up after the hysterectomy whereas they never really did after all my laps. I think she could tell I still needed the reassurance that I would have needed the hyst regardless of whether we knew about the nerve damage and the increased amounts of Endo. I asked her how long she expects me to remain on HRT. She said until about age 50 yo. I old her that my mom went into natural menopause at about age 52 and she said that 50 was a good number for me then. I ask about my breast cancer risk and she said that it was low, but going off the estrogen put me at a greater risk of early osteoperosis. She said that there are other things that can be done for the hot flashes and mood swings, but she preferred to use the estrogen patches. She reassured me a few times that anytime I wanted to change the game plan, I could. We talked about lowering the estrogen patch, but decided that I was fine where I was at and left it at "re-evaluate at a year". So after that discussion, we proceed to the CBE part of the annual. Ironically, she finds a "fullness" in my left breast that concerns her. I told her that I've felt nothing different in my SBE, but she felt this was something new. She made notes in my chart and then asked me if I could tell the difference between the Endo pain and nerve pain. I said I thought I could and she said then she was going to lower my progesterone from 200mg daily to 100mg daily. If at any time I feel the Endo is returning, Dr. C said that she would increase it back up. She ordered an ultrasound and possible biopsy for Nov 23rd. I'm kinda worried, but trying not to let it get to me. *sigh* The rest of the exam was so wonderfully pain free!! I haven't had and annual that didn't have me flying off the table in years!! Dr. C even commented on it. She was pleased to see that everything is healing well after my hysterectomy and my cervix is still nicely suspended where it should be (no prolapses here). I can't believe that I am 10w6d post-hyst. Dr. C was wonderful as always. Compassionate and a good listener. I am so blessed to have her as my doctor.