March 22, 2018, 2:00 p.m.
I put way more angst into anticipating this visit than I should have! How many times had I rehearsed and re-rehearsed everything I was going to say to Dr. Kalra?!? I wrote down carefully in my notebook the three things I wanted to discuss with him.
His medical assistant took me to Dr. Kalra’s exam room, asked questions, took notes, and then checked my blood pressure which was 111/69 and she said, “Good!”
He was a few minutes late for my appointment but I didn’t mind. It just gave me that many more minutes to rehearse!
I knew he was probably Indian, but he was younger and shorter than I had imagined. He was cordial but I knew he was a down-to-business no-nonsense kind of person and so I behaved accordingly. I told him that I couldn’t take more than 600mg/day of gabapentin or I get horrific headaches. He nodded and said that was common. I said I had heard of a painkiller called tramadol–and he stopped me with a half smile. “That is the next thing I was going to suggest for you,” he said, and I internally heaved a great sigh of relief.
The next item on my list was to ask him about meloxicam. I told him I was concerned about destroying my liver and kidneys with Advil and Aleve. He said he would prescribe Mobic (brand name for meloxicam!). Which he did, but only half (7.5mg) of the 15mg dosage that Linda had (and which I took for a few weeks).
Finally, I asked him about the c-reactive protein (CRP) lab test which Google said is “a blood test marker for inflammation in the body.” Is it valid, in your professional opinion, Dr. Kalra? He said yes and no. No, because your body’s level of inflammation varies so much. A negative test wouldn’t really tell you anything. A positive test wouldn’t really tell you anything. But (and apparently Kaiser allows the test, covered or not) he was willing to order the test if I wanted. I said no, that’s okay. But I just had to ask.
He said that I should have a follow up phone appointment in six weeks. He didn’t say it would be with a pharmacist, but I wasn’t surprised when his assistant told me that. She also told me I could pick up my prescriptions in San Leandro.
. . . .
It was raining pretty hard when we got to Kaiser San Leandro but I didn’t mind. I had just scored two new drugs! I also purchased, on impulse, a box of Salonpas pain patches, since someone on Facebook had mentioned that they worked for her husband. So…we’ll see just how—or if—everything works for me!
