She's called a Primary Care Physician because she primarily cares about taking your money.

Duuuuuuuuuude.

What. a. week.

I'm sorry I've been so quiet, but honestly, I've been so busy. It has been bananas over here. I've gotten so many emails and Facebook messages wondering how Brian is doing and offering up prayers and encouragement, and I am so thankful for so much support. I have no idea how people do this alone.

"Hhhhhhhhi, Baby. Ohhhhh, my breeeeaaaath is baaad?"

Firstly, I'll bring you up to speed on Brian's condition. (The condition where he is dizzy, not the one where he is super sensitive to smell due to his new meds and is apparently incapable of shutting his mouth about my freaking "garlic breath halitosis".)(Seriously, I get it already.)(I mean, I'm sorry my poor hubs is suffering so and my breath is rank.)(But honestly? California Pizza Kitchen has a frozen white pizza with spinach and garlic that is out of this world.)(Like, divorce worthy.)(Also? I totally went and bought him falafal and chicken shwarma because it was the only thing that sounded appetizing to him, so really, hey Pot, wanna keep talking smack about the Kettle you married?)

Last I blogged, Brian was waiting for an evaluation from a physical therapist who specialized in vestibular rehabilitation. He was evaluated last Thursday evening, and had a Friday morning session to see if they could make any headway, but I was called into his session because Nick the Therapist did not think Brian had Benign Positional Vertigo. He was hesitant to keep treating Brian, mainly because he did not want to waste our time or money unlike our primary care physician who will eventually rue the day she met me. He recommended we go back to our primary care physician and get a referral to see a neurologist and/or an ENT doctor.

This is where crap got real.

We've had a bit of a rough time with our primary care physician (let's call her Dr. G) mainly because she is a horrible person she was hard-pressed to actually spend five minutes with Brian before she handed us some sheets filled with exercises (that she refused to demonstrate) and referred us to physical therapy for a condition Brian doesn't even have. So...we went out on our own.

We found our own PT (Nick) who would see us sooner than mid-November. We finagled a neurology referral from Dr. G's staff in her name, and managed to see a neurologist first thing Monday morning*.

(*This story is amazing. Will you indulge me on a tangent? I'd be ever so obliged. Brian had PT Friday morning at 7:45. (Um, yes I dropped him off and went and ate McDonalds.) I was called in around 8:30 to talk about the next steps. We left around 9:00 with Nick's promise to email Dr. G right away with his report so we could get cracking on the neuro/ENT side of things. We had a referral by 9:30. I sent out a Facebook plea to see if we had any connections in the neurology world. It just so happened that my friend Lina checked her FB while she was sitting in a neurologist's office for an appointment her daughter was supposed to have had the day before, but got rescheduled last minute. She pleaded our case to a compassionate doctor, who in turn got us an appointment Monday morning at 8:45 am. This is usually a 2-3 month process, and we got in the next business day. Whaaaaa?)

Not Dr. G. But I'm pretty sure she looked
like this while talking to my dear, sweet, sick
husband whose wife just wants his normal
sense of smell back so she can eat more
spinach and garlic pizza.

The neurologist turned out to be the best kind of bust; Brian's vertigo doesn't seem to have any neurological cause. His tests all came back clean (!) and the brain doc referred us to the same clinic Dr. G originally referred us to - except not for Benign Positional Vertigo this time.

When Dr. G. got all the paperwork from Brian's neurology appointment as well as his MRI and MRA results she flipped the heck out in the most unprofessional way possible, calling Brian at home and giving him a "stern lecture in an irritated manner" (this is how Brian describes it because he's not the Drama Queen in our relationship) concerning the way her staff dropped the ball and how we should not have done the things we did to ensure Brian had, I don't know, actual medical care.

At the very least, this conversation seemed to light a fire under Dr. G's tush because she (in tandem with the neurology department) tagged us as "expedited" on the University of Michigan Vestibular Clinic waiting list. This clinic has upwards of a year waiting list. Dr. G marked us "urgent" before, and that gave us an appointment mid-November (remember the one we wouldn't wait for?!). I did not hold out much hope even with such a fancy word like "expedited" attached to Brian's name, but apparently I don't speak the magic language of insider medical scheduling, because "expedited" is freaking golden.

We received a phone call that day to schedule Brian's appointments. The clinic requires a series of three appointments of multiple hours of testing before you can even see a doctor. (I'm trusting this makes sense because I have to believe these people know what they are doing.) Our first appointment was scheduled for October 10th, our second the 21st, and the third the 31st. We were scheduled by my current favorite person in the universe, Judy, who promised she was still going to try to get Brian in sooner. Boy, did Judy deliver. She called the very next day to say she found a block of all three appointments for this Friday, and she got Brian an appointment with a doctor next Thursday.

Judy is getting a puppy. Or at least a fancy cup of coffee and some flowers if I ever meet her in person.

I am really thankful.

Right now Brian is better than he was, but that's mainly because he quit taking all the anti-vertigo drugs and his body is learning to compensate. He gets tired very easily. He has started to take short walks down the block once or twice a day, but they are very taxing. He can't drive or watch our little kids (he's okay with Eve and Hosanna), and if he overdoes it he is in bed all day long. He is currently on short-term disability (which is another hilarious post for another day)(and Dr. G actually charged us $20 to fill out our disability paperwork)(which she forgot to sign)(and I had to drive back the next day and get her signature), and I really can't stress how thankful I am to get into this clinic so soon.

I'm still coveting your thoughts and prayers, and a huuuuuuuge thank you to so many of you who have babysat or brought food, and the numbers of offers to be available for anything we need. We are abundantly blessed to know all of you.

Some of the support crew - Sister Wife Rachel, Sister Wife Lyndsay, me, and Sister Wife/Running Partner Extraordinaire Rose - holding me up on Sunday morning

This kid. Seriously.

While I'm talking prayer request (it got all church up in here), I need to drop another request on you all. I planned to have this post ready yesterday, but, you know, life, so while I was going to ask for prayers for my sweet 6 year old nephew who was having brain surgery, I'm now asking prayers for his complete recovery. We are praying he will be moved from ICU to the regular pediatric unit today, and that he will have everything he needs to manage his pain. Keep my sister Cassie and her hubs in your prayers as well. This is one of the hardest things a parent has to endure. Please and thank you.