Lupus Never Looked So Good

So I realized recently, thanks to the recent heart monitor and diagnosis, that disregarding the first year of my illness, I have been extraordinarily lucky when it comes to doctors.  I am so grateful to these people and all the work they have done to be amazing at their jobs, really.

Yes, the first year I had terrible luck with a shitty drug pushing Rheumatologist and an ignorant Dermatologist, both of who gave me terrifying and blatantly incorrect diagnosis.  But since then?

When I was 14 I found the woman who saved my life.  She diagnosed me instantly, treated me without heavy drugs, taught me about my illness as she was treating me. She brought me back from an utterly dismal state.  When I moved out of state several months ago, she cried.  I mean, we’d been together 11 years in our doctor-patient relationship but still.  No one expects their doctor to cry saying goodbye to them.  

She introduced me to an incredible team of people.  A Chiropractor, Acupuncturist, Physical Therapist, and all these people who all had so many different angles and perspectives that they looked at my illness from.  The Chiropractor helped repair some of the damage that stress had done to my body during diagnosis.  The Acupuncturist gave me an herbal tea that rapidly repaired my highly dysfunctional menstrual cycle and was the first person to notice that only the left side of my skin was being affected by lesions, a pattern that linked eerily to my neurological symptoms.  The Physical Therapist helped me learn how to continue in my exercise and dance in the least harmful way possible, to live my once active life without aggravating my symptoms.  All of them wonderful people.

Then I moved to South Carolina and, albeit after a long procrastination period, I finally met with a cardiologist.  And he was…So gung-ho and amazing.  After all the time I spent seeing cardiologists in ER’s and confiding in my family and hearing about how it’s all being caused by anxiety…speaking to this man was a huge relief.  He listened to my list of symptoms and didn’t skip a beat.  He had a plan of action, a few hypothesis’, and more than a few encouraging words.  He set me up with the most thorough of tests without even suggesting that it could be in my head.  Upon returning for results, the first words out of his mouth were, “Hey, Let’s talk about this, but first I want to say that none of this has been in your head.  I see it, and I see why the doctors before me let it past them.”  

I feel so overwhelmed by these people and their goodness.  Their intelligence.  Their ability to have so much personalized empathy after hundreds of sick people crossing their desks.  

And I guess I just really hope that this is something you guys have some stories to share over.  What doctors have you had that are completely inspiring and make you feel safe and taken care of?  What doctors have you completely failed with or regretted?