MY BIRTHDAY & MAYO CLINIC!

Today I turned 28.

To celebrate we started off by bringing my brother Kyler to our house to watch the kids while Aaron and I headed to the Mayo Clinic for his appointment. Traffic was a lot lighter than we expected it to be, so we ended up up being more than an hour early. That was okay though, we didn't mind waiting.

At exactly 9:30, (the time for the appointment,) Aaron's name was called, and we were taken into a hallway where they got his height and weight. We were then taken into the room where the doctor would talk to us.

When we entered the room, all I could think was "WOW!"

Instead of chairs, there was a huge couch! Instead of a little counter for the computer, there was an entire office desk with all kinds of office supplies on it along with the computer. The chair at the desk was a very fancy high backed chair that actually looked quite comfortable. Instead of the usual plastic examination table, this one was carved from some kind of fancy looking wood.

We had been sitting there for no more than probably 2 minutes when the doctor came in. And he spent SO MUCH TIME TALKING TO US!!! This was a pleasant surprise because we are used to just seeing a doctor for a couple of minutes while they have their nurses do most of the work.

He told us that he is pretty much 100 percent sure that Aaron does in fact have Conn's disease, which a couple of other doctors have been questioning lately. He said that just to make double sure, he wanted to do some tests to verify it.

However, he is sure that some of Aaron's medications are probably causing the test results to be wrong. So, from now through Sunday Aaron gets to eat like a normal person! He is also off of some of his meds until Monday morning when all of the tests are done. He will have his next appointment with this doctor on the 29th of this month! This is another welcome change. The other doctor was making us wait weeks, and even months between appointments, and even then, he never really had anything new for us. He just had him repeat the same tests over, and over again. This doctor is sure that Aaron will need surgery, and from the way that he was talking, it sounds like it will probably be sooner rather than later!

There were also a couple of very interesting things about this doctor that really impressed me!

First, Conn's Syndrome/disease is VERY RARE, and most doctors no very little, if anything at all about it! When this doctor first entered this particular part of the medical field, he was personally trained by the doctor who originally discovered Conn's disease! What are the odds that Aaron was sent to hem?!

Second, Aaron will have to drop some things off there on Monday morning. When we were trying to figure out the timing of it all, the doctor said "Well, your wife can just drop it off if you want." We then told him that I am visually impaired and can not drive. His response to this was "Really?! I noticed when you were talking to me that the way you focus your eyes is a little different!" I then gave him a brief explanation of my menen itis story, and how have a traumatic brain injury, and was at one time completely blind, and how another portion of my brain took over my sight. His response to this was "WOW, that fits exactly with what I noticed in your eyes! Can you see my face?, are you able to read?,.........? ........? ........?!

This impresses me for a few reasons

A) This guy is a hormone doctor! I have see many different kinds of doctors over the years including a low vision specialist who really didn't know much about why my sight worked out the way it did!

B) I try very hard to be as normal , and as normal looking as I can possibly be, and I have done a pretty good job with that. To look at me, most people wouldn't have any clue what has happened to me! The only people who can tell are my family, and people who I am around a lot because they know what to watch for! So when this guy picked up on it right away, I was amazed, and even a little self conscious! I almost wanted to ask, "Hey, do you want to study me too?!"

After the appointment, we went down to the lab so that they could draw some blood, then we went to lunch. Aaron had been fasting for a very long time, and I had only had time to eat apple sauce, we were kinda starving!

We then came home and got the kids ready and headed to the store where we bought some oven pizza's, Aleve for my headache, and soda. (Aaron wanted to actually eat something that tasted good! :)

We then came home where Aaron baked me some very yummy brownies. My mom, Kimber, and Kyler came over, and they gave me a new purse with a matching wallet, and the movie Thumbleina which I LOVE! Kimber also got the kids some pumpkin shaped sugar cookies which they had been eyeing at the store when we ran into them while shopping!

Over all it has been a wonderful day, and We are so excited that we are fianally starting to get to the bottom of Aaron's illness!