To think back now about how I felt then (about 12 years ago), I have so much more insight now. I had a great deal of pain. I didn't know how to express it to my doctor, but nights were very, very long. My mom and dad would come with me to my GI appointments every once in awhile and when my doctor would ask how I felt, I would respond for how I felt at that moment, "I feel good!" It made my mom crazy to hear me say that. Especially, when I would call her in the night crying because I hurt so bad. During the day, when I was up and moving, I did feel pretty good. I don't think I knew what "normal" felt like, so even if I felt good, I was on the good side of bad...if that makes any sense.
I know I had the best GI doctor in Tulsa and probably beyond. I knew I loved him, but when I became a drug rep and called on him, I learned just how much his nurses and staff loved him...that is the true test. There are many doctors that patients love because they may have a great bedside manner. However, having worked in the hospital and seen the "behind-the-scenes" in doctors' offices, bedside manner doesn't come close to indicating a doctor's skills. There are many very nice doctors that I wouldn't let near my family members. Gratefully, in Dr. Aran, I got nice and extremely skillful.
Week after week I would go see him, test after test. There was always inflammation, always ulcers, but never once did any of the biopsies come back as a positive for any GI disease. Dr. Aran was certain I had Crohn's, but couldn't verify it through biopsies. So, he treated me as though I had Crohn's Disease. I have just about taken all the conservative drugs for Crohn's. That is another reason I loved Dr. Aran is that he was very conservative in my treatment. He didn't take it lightly that he was prescribing me potent drugs. He didn't dive into any treatment with me without explaining it completely and getting my approval.
Dr. Aran had me do stool samples all the time...my least favorite of his tests. He was always checking to make sure I didn't have a GI bleed. I had more colonoscopies and endoscopies than I can count and blood work galore. He was the first and only doctor who mailed me every test result from every test I had. He wanted me to be armed with my own history and my own file. He wanted me to know exactly what was going on with my own health. He told me if I travelled to always have my file with me should I ever have any emergency. And let me tell you, my file was thick.
I learned from Dr. Aran that as a patient, you have to advocate for yourself. He can ask you questions, but miss the one question that needs to be asked. You can't be embarrassed about anything. If you are seeing a GI doctor, I promise they have seen or heard so much worse! As an OT in acute care, I worked with some painfully modest people and some that would stroll the halls with it all hanging out. What patients need to know is that by the time the doctor (or therapist) is seeing you, seeing a new behind or hearing about poop is what he does all day long. It doesn't phase him in the least. You are the only one who is embarrassed and there should be no reason at all. He CHOSE to be a gastroenterologist, which means, he chose to hear people talk about their poop!
Dr Aran would ask me all the time about the size and consistency of my poop. I finally got to where I could answer without laughing. But let me tell you how much I am able to help myself now. At the time, when I pooped, it was long and thin. (I told you I don't mind talking poop!) Because I told Dr. Aran that, he deduced that I had major inflammation. My intestines were so inflammed that there was very little room within the intestine for my bowels to move through. By finally admitting to him that my bowels were thin, told him a lot of information. I kept telling him I felt constipated, but I wasn't truly constipated. I was inflamed...two very different problems with two very different solutions.
What Dr. Aran did do and no other doctor has yet to do was test me for Candida Yeast Overgrowth. At the time, I had no idea what it was and asked him one day why he always included that in my blood work. He said that he was curious for me because my tongue was always white...a symptom of yeast overgrowth. My blood tests always came back negative, but he told me many times how difficult it was to yield a true result in a blood test for yeast. He was the first and the last to test me for yeast. Yet, another fleeting moment where I could have saved myself from a heap of pain had the knowledge been available. Quite honestly, I am not sure the research was there at that time. But I do know that Dr. Aran was heading down the right track.
Hindsight is always 20/20.
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