Today Kira FINALLY got to see her new GI doctor.

Today Kira FINALLY got to see her new GI doctor.  I gotta say - I am pretty impressed.

It's no secret that she has been struggling with constipation since before we got her in 2017.  Once she was in our care she started seeing Dr. Eloubeidi in Anniston.  While they did some tests and tried to keep her comfortable I really don't believe that they got to the root of the problem.  They diagnosed her with "Chronic Idiopathic Constipation" which I kind of felt then and still feel is a cop-out.  I'm not saying that's not what she has, but they treated her with a rotation of IBS-C medications because nothing worked for more than a few weeks at a time.  They did do a colonoscopy, but aside from that - asking questions and mashing on her belly was pretty much the extent of their testing.  That could have been something specific to them or a Medicaid limitation - I don't know.  But I do appreciate that they kept her in samples to keep her bowels moving even after she aged off of Medicaid.

Anyway, her new doctor came in and got straight to it.  She's going to start physical therapy to make sure her muscles are doing the right things.  She's getting tests run on her blood and her poop.  She's also being referred to UNM for an imaging study.  For now she's been put back on Linzess and Omeprazole and was told to increase her daily Miralax as well.  The doctor asked very specific questions - like whether Kira still had pain when on the IBS-C meds.  (She did, which is another sign [besides the meds not working for long] that she may not have IBS-C or that her constipation could be caused by something else.)

Overall I truly feel like her doctor is trying to get to the bottom of this.  Our insurance pushed back on some kind of scan, but the doctor said that the other things she is doing should be enough to get that to go through at the next visit if it is still needed.  I am very hopeful that we can get her feeling all the way better.  That is one reason we're here - New Mexico expanded Medicaid and their doctors really seem to care.

You want to know something else that is blowing my mind?  Most doctor offices here have a whiteboard up that lets you know if your doctor is running on time or behind schedule.  I've never seen a doctor have more than a 15 minute wait here (unless you are a walk-in).  We'd barely sat in our chairs before they called us back to a room to have her blood pressure and all that done.  We'd spend hours waiting at doctor offices in Anniston.  I really didn't know it was possible not to wait like that before moving here. The efficiency! ❤️❤️❤️