Friday, August 11, 2017

Hopkins: Can You Feel Me Now?

I had a return visit to the Sjogren's Center at Johns Hopkins Medical Center earlier this week.  I'm not sure I have ever posted here exactly how much I love this institution, its physicians, and the staff there.

I suppose that there were two enlightening things about my visit and both concerned my peripheral neuropathy.  The first is that a physician stayed overtime for an hour-long nerve conduction study which I was not scheduled for.  (I ask you. . . who in the regular world of medicine would do that?)  The test revealed that there are no signs of large fiber neuropathy as seen by my local physiologist on the same study, and the more interesting thing is that my physician knew enough to know that the NCS done by my local doctor just three months ago had inconsistencies which needed to be explored; for the findings either meant that I could add another diagnosis like vasculitis, or the test results were incorrect.

The previous test results were incorrect.

Yet my small fiber neuropathy remains and seems to have traveled to other parts of my body at great speed.  At my last visit four months ago, I never even mentioned my hands or arms as troublesome spots, yet now they are.  Small fiber neuropathy is often described as having a "stocking and glove" distribution, yet my lack of sensation has - very quickly it appears -  moved to  "gaiters and opera glove" coverage.

Oh, insurance Gods, please approve those IvIG treatments promptly!