Medical Test Dummy?

I've suffered from migraine headaches since college. When I first started experiencing them, I thought they were extreme hangovers. Now I know they were more likely the result of dehydration from a night of beer drinking.

Partying at the White Rose in Atlantic

As I aged, my body found more headache triggers - menstrual cycle, air pressure, looking into the sun for long periods. In the early 1980's there weren't many meds for migraines. My family practice doc prescribed something that kinda helped.

By the time we moved to Creston and had kids, I was spending about one day a month out of commission - lying in my darkened room. Twice Paul took me to the hospital where they gave me injections to relieve the pain. If someone had given me a drill before the pain subsided, I may have put it into my eye. It's hard to describe migraine pain to those who haven't ever experienced one. 

Finally, I got a referral to see a neurologist in Des Moines. One CTScan later my headaches were pronounced likely migraines. Dr. Brenton tried various meds on me - but my cranium (and the rest of me) is a tough nut to crack. Finally, a new med came out as a self-injectable shot - Imitrex. At $10 a shot, I had an inner self-debate every time my head began to hurt. Is this headache "worthy" of a shot? I didn't have the guts to push the button on the injector - so Paul had to do it. He didn't have a problem jabbing me! Oh, the wonderful feeling when the pain started to ebb.

Our new house - Creston 1998

A few years later, Imitrex came up with a pill version of the med. Yay! I switched to a female neurologist who seemed to better understand how hormones can affect women and brain pain. Today, I have a different woman neuro. I've blogged about her before - Dr. Schmolck. She's very direct and helps me manage my migraines.

And about that. At my September appointment with Dr. Schmolck, we talked about new meds on the market for migraines. Finally after all these years! I had read about them - a story about a woman in Davenport who had almost daily attacks who had been helped.

In the past four years, each fall I've suffered from frequent migraines - 5 days at a time. They do respond to the medicine I take, but the medicine takes its toll. The doc said to call when this started - so today was the day after a long week of gobbling high powered meds nearly every day. The nurse showed me how to self-inject aimovig. I will do this once a month to see if it helps reduce the number of headaches I get. I'm happy to report that the self-injector is much easier than the old Imitrex one used to be and I was able to handle it no problem.

I hope this helps. I used to think fall was my favorite season. I do like it - but it doesn't bring out the best in my head. And I like heat. I pick summer. Wish aimovig and me luck! 

Post Doc

My Doc (in this case beloved Nurse Practitioner) retired. Congratulations to her! What a wonderful care provider.

Sheryl Young wasn't just my care provider - she's a friend! I'll miss catching up with her on her family during my healthcare visits. I've known the Young family for many years - back before Sheryl went back to school to become an ARNP, MSN. Then they moved away from Creston. We were lucky to catch up with her when we moved to Des Moines. Sheryl always asked about my family as she cared for my health. She knew they are a key to my well-being! I hope Sheryl and Bob enjoy retirement. They've earned it.

I've been spoiled. Before we moved to Des Moines, I knew my previous healthcare providers well too. When you go to a doc in a small town, it's hard not to! It's not like we hung out, but Dr. Chuck Hoyt treated our whole family for years. He moved back to town just after Jud was born. Paul traveled back to Creston for his physical with Chuck this year. Word has it, Dr. Hoyt will retire soon too. He too has put in some time in the trenches.

Growing up in Atlantic, I had one doctor through age 18 - Dwain Wilcox. He was a kind, serious man who watched over the Bullock family. In fact, he brought several of us into this world. His own daughter Tressa eventually became an Atlantic doc.

Dr. Wilcox even made housecalls. I don't know why Mom made the formal living room into the examination/shot room. Sometimes on Saturday nights, he could be found at our house playing poker, smoking and drinking with my folks and other friends. Yep, smalltown Iowa. That was the way I grew up.

I've come to the time in life when I must search for a new doc. And gulp...this one will be younger than I am. Sheryl's clinic was on the SE side of Des Moines. It was convenient for work visits, but not for those times I was sick at home.

It was one of those times I had to adult and find me a new doc. After doing some research, I selected a UnityPoint closer to home. There is a woman doc in her 40's - undergrad at ISU. Plus plenty of PAs. It takes a long time to build a relationship with a healthcare provider. I won't likely see them at poker club or at high school football games or riding their motorcycle like I did Chuck Hoyt. Those days are over. I'm fortunate Des Moines has many healthcare choices. Where nobody knows me. I guess at 60 it's time to grow up!

Dr. Wilcox and his black leather bag

I've had some health issues this summer and fall. One night, as I couldn't sleep due to this darn shoulder, I thought about health care. How does it stack up today vs. health care back in the day. I'm not one of those people who constantly reminisces about the "good old days" selectively weeding out the bad stuff. Because face it...there always was some... and there always will be! But here's what I know.

In small town Iowa our docs knew us from birth. And they cared. If you had a good doctor, like I believe ours was, you were in good hands. I remember Dr. Wilcox coming to our house and examining me in our formal living room. He took my temperature and gave me a shot in the butt - probably penicillin. He had a wonderful leather doctor's bag - similar to Mary Poppin's bag. I bet that thing held a little bit of everything! But back then...flu shots hurt like HELL. My sister still refuses to get them - traumatized from our childhood. (see, bad stuff)

Atlantic was blessed with good doctors. In fact even today as I visited my surgeon's office at DMOS, there was a picture on the wall of Matt Weresh - another orthopedic surgeon in that practice (not a shoulder guy). His dad John Weresh was an A-town doc. And for a Creston connection, I believe John's parents are buried at Calvary - the Catholic Cemetery in Creston. Another doc at DMOS - Devon Goetz, son of Larry, former Creston doctor.

Of course Dwain Wilcox's daughter Tressa went back to Atlantic to practice medicine herself. She treated Dad. It says a great deal about the profession and the parent that those children wished to follow in their footsteps...What does it say that neither Amy nor Jud have chosen to follow Paul and me into public service. haha. I don't blame them - it's not what it once was.

Our children were brought up with family doctors too - no house calls though. Sometimes for emergencies I would get Dr. Gandhi - who had an Indian accent. That was rough over the phone when one had a child with ear infection! Marty Meindl - was a pediatrician in Creston when we first moved to town. Mark Young practiced there and was our family doctor. He delivered Jud. Mark was the husband of someone I knew in college - small world!

The best thing about small town healthcare? The nurses. They would get to know you - and you them! Barb from Dr. Hoyt's office became a friend. I miss her!

Especially now. I call nurses who don't know me and don't seem to care as much as those who did. With the new medical software - which I think will be a good thing eventually - I dislike how the nurse spends her time facing a computer screen away from me. It's so impersonal! I think they'll eventually correct this with better computers - iPads? Besides taking my blood pressure, they hardly look at me. Ick.

Now I'm awaiting a specialists office to deem me worthy of a phone call. Really? Hmm think I'll shop around. Sigh. I miss Dr. Wilcox.

Another small world Iowa story

I wrote in a recent blog about being on the Cabinet of Shilling House - my 6th Floor Maple dorm floor sophomore year. Each floor had a cabinet to conduct business and social events. I served as Vice Pres (just like Biden baby - I had that doofie charm thing going). Our floor president was Pam (damn - I remembered her last name Saturday night and now it's GONE). I woke up in the wee hours with a headache, so I was pondering life again. Don't you just love aging? Now I'm trying to write about it and the last name is GONE. It will come to me, just give me time..... Winjum! There - I got it and it only took a few minutes. I'm not doing too badly today.

Pam Winjum was a serious, studious young women - a great deal like myself. Haha! I didn't know Pam very well, and I'm sure she thought my pals and I were a bunch of knuckleheads. She was right. But we were a bunch of fun-having knuckleheads! She seemed kind of like a fun-hater. I lost track of her when Sally, Jane, Vicki and I moved to our apartment at 239 Campus Avenue our Junior year.

Fast forward to 1987. Paul, Baby Amy and I had moved to Creston and I was meeting people around town - who do I come across? Pam Winjum Young is now an eye doctor married to a physician Dr. Mark Young. Dr. Young ended up being our fam physician and my ob/gyn guy. I'd already chosen the top eye doc in town, Dr. Donald Evans McKim for eye care at that point - so I didn't see her professionally. I believe she may have briefly joined our sorority, Beta Sigma Phi - the group that helped me meet most of the peeps who still claim me as a friend (I think that's the case...)today. Small world!

After I finished that whole thought process...I started thinking about doctors through the years in Creston. Like it or not, when you go to physicians and other health care professionals, you become pretty intimate with those folks! Mark Young was one - and he was a great guy. He saw me through two pregnancies - Jud and Patrick and actually was the doc who delivered Judson David, all 9 lb. 4 ounces (his 24th birthday is coming up on the 30th of this month). Mark had a great bedside manner and was a very caring person.

Patrick was breach, so had to be delivered by C-Section. When he collapsed with heart problems Mark followed up and he felt so bad that he hadn't caught anything earlier. Today's ultrasounds do catch things like hypoplastic left ventricle, but back then - nope. Mark did research to try to find out if the defect was genetic, or if the fact that he was breach could have tipped us off. But he didn't come up with anything. Paul did find out later that a cousin's baby had a similar problem, so we do think there are some genetic origins.

About that time, Mark and Pam Young announced they were moving to the Indianola area - where they were from originally. I was so very sad. You depend on doctors so much! But I'd met a new doc in town - more about him later.

When we first moved to town, Creston actually had a pediatrician! The clinic was in the old location back then - across from Jack Davis's "Corner of Savings" where my pal Linda sells marvelous campers today. Dr. Martin Meindl's (it took me until morning to come up with his last name) office was down on the end - they also gave allergy shots there. I spent lots of time hanging out in the mini waiting area reading kid's books and playing with the toys. The rooms were also set up for kids - I liked that. My kids probably picked up lots of good germs from all those previous patients! Dr. Meindl wasn't great with kids, but not bad. I was sad when he moved away - headed for Mason City I believe?

The new doc, just out of Med School when Dr. Young left town was Dr. Chuck Hoyt - a local boy. But he was no spring chicken. The son of a Creston doc, Chuck had been a pharmacist when he decided his calling was really to be a physician - so he went med school. He must have been in his mid 30's when he graduated and came home to Creston. I'm glad he did. I grew to trust and enjoy this compassionate man a great deal, as does Paul. He was the kids' doc too. He really "got" Jud, and that was important through those years when we didn't know how do deal with tantrums. We got valuable advice and he's turned out to be a well-adjusted young man thank you very much!

Creston Medical Clinic brought in a wonderful Nurse Practitioner, Sheryl Young, later. She had gone back to school to achieve this level of education and we were so glad! We could get in to see her for stuff like ear aches and sore throats. When Sheryl and husband Bob relocated to DSM, I began seeing her here!

Creston has some other good medical folks - but just like us, they're getting up there in age. Dr. Bob Kuhl, longtime surgeon took out Jud's tonsils and did both Paul and my colonoscopies. We saw Bob and wife Denise at the Rusty Duck in Dexter Saturday night when we met Bobbie and Jeff there. Dr. Jim Mansour just retired from his practice as a general practitioner in Creston. He and wife Kris are wonderful community members and I know his retirement left a lot of people in town scrambling to find another provider. He was always kind and caring when we saw him when our doc wasn't available.

Good health care is important! Although I wasn't always happy with the administration part of Creston's system. (Sometimes I felt like Nurse Ratched was in charge of the books at CMC, and the lab...). From dental to eyes to medical care, for a smaller town, Creston is very blessed in that area. All those problems solved - my meds kicked in, and I went back to sleep...