the doctor's appointment

Wednesday I had two appointments at Baptist Hospital (WFUBMC) with Dr. Koch my Gastroenterologist. My Gastroparesis has been challenging over the past four months. We discussed my weight and how I need to compensate to make up for loss calories. We evaluated my meals and snacks that I eat through out the day and how I can get more out of fewer meals. A Gastroparesis patient is suppose to eat six small meals a day. Let’s face it, I work and I can not eat all three meals at work. It’s just not possible. So I am to increase my meal and snack size and calorie intake at work. That is going to be interesting.
Another thing we discussed was my nails. I am losing my nails. They are receding and popping off. He said that was not suppose to happen so he did some blood work. I did however to forget mention that my hair was falling out. I know that sounds stupid. How do forget to tell your doctor that hair is falling out? Trust me, it’s not that hard. When I say that my hair is falling out, I’m talking it’s everywhere. I’ve found it all over my area at work, on my key ring at the check out (this was eye opening), all over my room and bathroom and my clothes. The list goes on and on. Whenever I was checking out and I found hair on my key ring with my Lowes card, I realized I’m losing more hair than I thought. Hopefully the blood work will tell on me so I won’t have to tell Dr. Koch.
We also talked about my GI tract as a whole and how it’s not “functioning”. He added another other the counter medication to help move my digestive tract along. Thank goodness! I’m really not excited that I am going to be drinking a glass of this stuff in the mornings but that’s okay. It beats getting food stuck in your GI tract.
To finish off the visit, he said that he would like to do another Gastric Emptying Scan to see how my stomach is functioning. I agreed instantly. I would like to know where I am at. When I had the scan before my stomach function at 37%. Like before, I will get to eat those “delicious” Egg Beater eggs laced with radio active material and toast. Then I just wait until they move though my stomach. Last time it took a little over five hours so we’ll see. The test is Tuesday!