Irising shut

I was in another city this weekend because I had two appointments there. The first one was with a doctor who I had been seeing for a long time. Our doctor-patient relationship was a little off-kilter in the beginning because of the rarity of the Condition; I felt I should be under a different care regime than he did. Over time, we compromised as we both did research and came to a care regime we both agreed on. One thing that cannot be disputed is that this doctor *cares*.

I passed a pretty major medical milestone today and to my surprise, my doctor told me, "Well, looks like you're all set for surgery. Book an appointment with me after you're all healed up. If you need a refill for your meds, or if you have any odd symptoms, call. Otherwise, good luck and I guess I'll see you in a year's time."

Wow. He's pretty much closing up my case in preparation for handoff to my surgeon. It feels...odd after such a long time under his care.

After that appointment, I went in for a medical interview and examination by another doctor at another hospital, who is verifying the diagnosis for yet another doctor (my medical case officer) of mine. This one was the next hurdle; if his diagnosis contradicts my case officer's, it's back to the drawing board for as we run test after test to figure out if it's the Condition or not. It was a long process today as we covered my entire medical history from start to finish, including that of my family's. At the end of it, the doc smiles at me and says, "Yep, I concur with Dr. and looks like surgery's the right treatment for this."

After nearly 3 years, it's finally starting to draw to a close (I hope). The government being the government, it'll take some months before things really happen but at least it's probably going to happen.

It's also the first time that I've had my family with me on a trip like this. My dear sis wanted to make sure she and the kids were there to support me on this milestone, especially if the medical interview didn't go well and I got tossed back into the treatment pile. Thanks, sis and kids - it meant a lot to me that you were there.

Now, I get to cool my heels while my case officer is on vacation and about a month from now, I get to travel almost 8 hours round trip for a 15 minute slice of time with him. If he signs off on the surgical order, it'll be a most worthwhile 15 minutes of my life. So, we'll see.