The New GP

I met the New GP two weeks ago. 

When my Old GP and I were discussing who would take over my care, she threw out a few options for names. Mostly which doctors at the clinic were a) female and b) unlikely to be retiring soon, but not much else to go on. When I mentioned needing someone good with mental health, she said “oh, they’re all great!”, though I tend to be a bit more cautious after previous bad experiences. 

It was actually Dietitian’s opinion that swayed me to New GP. Of the other names in the hat, she said one of them “can be a bit scary”, and the other “is very thorough, but might be a bit too thorough”. I know I can always rely on her for an honest opinion. 

Compared to the last time I needed to find a new GP, it went really well. I told her what I needed from her. Medical monitoring, bloods and whatnot. Maintaining my prescriptions. That I’m working on harm reduction versus active recovery, and that I prefer to keep all ED-related discussions to Dietitian, including weight. 

New GP was understanding, and recognized that it’s a big change for me. And that, in her words, she has some very big shoes to fill after Old GP’s retirement. 

She seems happy with where I’m at with my various medications. Even the benzos, which Old GP was unsure if her successor would be comfortable continuing to prescribe me (because I know I’ve been on them a lot longer than is typical). I do want to potentially continue reducing my seroquel, which we started to do last year. But first, I feel like it’s time to get rid of the naltrexone.

Since I’m over a year sober, and it doesn’t particularly do much if you’re not drinking, it feels kind of pointless. For the past six months or so, it’s been more like a security blanket than anything else. I’ve been thinking about it since the hemicolectomy, because I felt like I was treated differently because of the naltrexone (regarding pain management, because of ‘my history’), and it all felt very icky. So, I think it’s time. 

I wasn’t sure how often I’d be seeing New GP, but she wants to keep the same routine I had with my Old GP. And it turns out that she actually does work on a day that my Dietitian does, so I can keep my fortnightly back-to-back appointments, it’ll just be Thursday afternoons instead of Tuesday mornings. 

Since Old GP retired, and thus all her patients needing new GPs, she was booked flat out with no open appointments for the next seven weeks. But she found a couple of on call appointments to block out for me, before we’ll settle into a regular time. 

When she was booking my next few appointments, she noticed that I didn’t have any lined up with Dietitian, and took the incentive to book them so they lined up with hers. I’m really glad she did, because I was struggling to convince myself to sort it out. So I’m also seeing Dietitian on Thursday, after almost 8 weeks. 

She said she’d understand if I decide to see someone else, if it doesn’t work out. But I told her I was cautiously optimistic - that I’d gone through so many GPs before finding Old GP, and it was already going exponentially better than last time I needed to find someone new. 

Miss Persephone has also been back at the vet this week. She had a good run - two months since her last visit! But in the process of weaning her off her meds, her urinary issues flared up again, this time having also developed a crystal in her bladder. I’m glad it’s nothing more serious, but it means that it’s time to move her to prescription food, since it’s the only thing we haven’t tried yet. It seems like it is indeed going to be a longterm issue for her, the poor little muffin. 

Just a short post this time. I’m really trying to push myself to do monthly posts, even if there’s not much to say (because there never is, until there is). Which is why I’m sat here at 5pm on the last of the month. I know I’ve been saying that for years, and hopefully I don’t jinx myself, but I really do miss it, even if there’s not many of us left in the blogosphere these days. 

A very fitting sticker for my pill organizer

The babies, who are finally coexisting peacefully 

(…most of the time)

xxBella