Greg - Covid - Day 2

 I spoke with the doctors a couple times today and nothing much has changed. Greg is not on a vent, although his O2 levels are still only around 80. He is on the BiPap machine because the Vapotherm is not working too well for him. The only problem is that he can only be on the BiPap machine for 48 hours. The potential vent is also a problem due to the left side of his diaphragm being paralyzed. It's not with putting the vent in, but with removing the vent. I'm not sure I understand it all, but I have to have faith that God is directing the doctors and they are doing what is absolutely best for him.

Aaron is here now and staying with me for a few days, so we took Greg's phone and charger and his glasses to the hospital for him. Because of that, I was able to have a short video chat with him. It's hard for him to talk because he's having a hard time breathing so it was very short, but at least I got to see him. And, I took a picture of him on the screen. I am believing that soon, I'll be able to take a picture of him giving the "thumbs up" like he did back in June.

Please continue your prayers for Greg and I will post updates as I am able.

Love to all.

Blog Resurrection -- News on Greg // Covid Day 1

Well, it looks like it's time to resurrect this blog!  I stopped writing in it last year because of the SSS (my Scum Sucking Sisters) and I did not want them to know what was happening in my life.  If you don't know the story, then you are not a friend of mine on Facebook, and I'm not going to get into it here.  Suffice it to say they have earned their title.   I'm so far past anything they've done to me and our mom that I just don't care any more, and quite frankly, it's more important to keep everyone updated on Greg, than worry about the SSS. 

I am going to copy/paste the post I made on Facebook on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 because that pretty much sums up what happened.  So, here goes.   

With all the things we’ve gone through with Greg, this is probably one of the toughest posts I’ve had to make. The short version is: Greg is in the ICU with Covid. He wasn’t feeling well for a couple days, but we never thought covid. He was getting progressively worse, and I told him that if he wasn’t better this morning, that he was going to the hospital. When I went to wake him up, he was disoriented (confused) and didn’t have the strength to stand. I had to help him to just sit up in bed to take his meds and get some pants and socks on him.

When the ambulance got here and took is blood oxygen, it was only at 44. Normal is about 98. That would account for his confusion, as his brain wasn’t getting enough oxygen. The first responders immediately put him on oxygen. At the hospital, they tested him for covid, and obviously he came back positive. We don’t know where he got it, and frankly, that doesn’t even matter at this point.

He is currently in the covid ICU at Marshfield Clinic Hospital. He is doing OK. His 02 stats are around 84, which is way better than this morning. He is on a Vapotherm machine to help him breathe. They also have him on his stomach as much as possible, as that allows more oxygen to get into his lungs. Earlier today, the doctor thought that he would be on a vent before nightfall, which scared the hell out of me. A big part of Greg’s problem is his left diaphragm being paralyzed, which makes him struggle to breathe on a normal basis. Being the stubborn cuss that he is, he is so far, avoiding the vent! The next 24-48 hours are critical and will tell us if this is the worst of it, or only the beginning. I was able to talk to him for a few minutes tonight and he sounded pretty darn good, so I am choosing to believe that this is the worst of it and he is only going to get better from here!

We all know Greg is a fighter, and for him, his faith in God and his attitude are huge. We all know that Greg has been though so much and God has saved his life more times than I can count. I am choosing to believe that He will also save him this time. Greg hasn’t gone through all of his health issues only to be taken out by a virus. I refuse to believe that and I know my God is stronger than any virus man can make and He will heal him and bring him back home to me.

I know everyone has their own thoughts and conclusions about covid and treatments, but I am confident in Greg’s doctors and in their care. When Greg had cancer, I had way too many people telling me about all kinds of alternative treatments. We chose to believe the doctors and the treatments they recommended. Between the doctors and God, they saved him, whereas some of the alternatives people offered, would have killed him. At this time, I am simply asking for prayers for Greg. Please feel free to add him to any of your prayer chains. We all know that we serve a miraculous God and I trust Him to provide the knowledge and healing that Greg needs. I’ll be sure to post updates as I get them.

Left and Right Heart Catheterization for Greg Today

So, most of you on Facebook knew Greg was having the heart catheterization today and gave us lots of prayers and good thoughts and juju and we can't thank you enough for that!   

As per usual, Greg did not have an "ordinary" catheterization.  He had a left heart catheterization and a right heart catheterization.   When he came out of the operating room, he had one IV in the left arm, a catheter near his groin on the right side, a catheter near his elbow on the right side and a catheter in the artery in his right wrist.   

Below is a drawing of Greg's heart and what the doctor found (click on the picture for an enlarged view): 

Part of the reason for the "double" cath is because they needed a closer look at his Mitral Valve, as that has shown up as potentially being a problem over five years ago.  It was time to really look at it and fortunately, there is no significant stenosis of that valve.  Mitral stenosis is a narrowing of the heart's mitral valve where the valve doesn't open properly, blocking blood flow into the main pumping chamber of the heart (left ventricle).    The picture above shows that Greg does have some mild blockage, but it's not enough to do any sort of by-pass surgery, so that's goo.  The stent he had placed over ten years ago is still doing well.  

The most significant finding is that Greg has what is called a "stiff" heart.   A stiff heart occurs when the heart muscle thickens in response to high blood pressure. While initially this thickening helps increase pump function to maintain blood flow to the body, eventually, the pump starts to stiffen and pressure starts to build up in the heart leading to shortness of breath and fluid retention both in the lungs and in the legs. This is referred to as congestive heart failure.  Greg's heart failure was caused by too much of a chemotherapy drug called Adriamycin.  

The doctor ordered another Echocardiogram, even though Greg just had one in March.  Now that we have a diagnosis for Greg, I'm assuming the echo was needed to specifically review the "stiff" heart issue and the echo was able to done right in the room, so we didn't have to schedule another appointment for that.  

Greg does have to have another nuclear radiology exam next week.  Sorry, I don't remember the name of the test, but it's not one he's had before.  

Because they had to give him extra fluids to help to flush out the dye or whatever they use, there was a lot of time just waiting and I had some shopping to do, so I ran down to Walmart to pick up a few things.  It was actually the first time I've been in a big box store since early March!  I made sure to wear my mask, and was pleasantly surprised to find so many others also wearing masks, including all the employees.   I have not found that to be the case in our local grocery store.   I did my best to stay away from everyone, and was leery of even going there, but I had to pick up a prescription today, so I didn't have much choice.   I got back in plenty of time to get Greg ready to come home, and just as he was finally eating something. 

We finally got home at about 4:30 and Greg went right to bed.  The next couple of days are going to be a little rough for him, because he cannot use his right wrist.  That means no pushing up to get out of a chair or get out of bed, or using his cane in his right hand.   That is where they went into an artery.  If he does do that, he could develop a huge hematoma in his forearm, or blood could go spurting across the room!  If that happens, it's a 9-1-1 call for an ambulance!  Goodness knows we don't need to add an ambulance trip to his repertoire!   When he had his last cath, about 20 years ago, he had a "plug" in the artery near his groin, and blew the plug!  I was 25 miles away at work and called a neighbor to run over there and take him to the hospital and met them there!  My dad had the same thing happen, and ironically, so did Greg's dad!   I'll be keeping a close eye on him, and they gave him a sling to wear, so he remembers not to use that right hand/wrist.  We'll see how that goes. 

So, we are on the way to figuring out what's happening with his heart.  Now, if we could just get the tests done on his diaphragm, to see what can be done, we'd be really happy!  For those that don't know, we found out in March that the left side of his diaphragm is paralyzed or "frozen."  That is a huge part of why he can't even take ten steps without wheezing and being out of breath.  The tests that took six weeks to get scheduled were canceled because of COVID-19.   I sure hope we don't have to wait another six weeks to schedule those tests.  It really sucks when you can't even walk down eight stairs without being out of breath!   

Again, thanks to everyone for your prayers and well wishes.  We're getting there!  I have to say, Greg is probably the strongest person I have ever met and I am always astonished at how well he handles all these health issues.  He truly is Iron Man! 

Love, Peace and Prayers to all! 

Julie 

28 years ago tomorrow -- Greg's first cancer diagnosis!

I don't know how much I've talked about when Greg was first diagnosed with cancer in this blog, but the 28th anniversary of that is tomorrow, Holy Thursday.  The only reason I remember the date is because it was Holy Thursday.  I'm sure I could go look up what day Holy Thursday was in 1992, but why bother.  It's not that important.   What's important is that it was 28 years ago when Greg had his first cancer diagnosis and I remember that day like it was yesterday. 

Greg was scheduled for day surgery at a hospital across from the Zoo in Milwaukee.  I don't recall the name of the hospital, but it's not there any more.  His parents were babysitting Aaron, who was just a year old and we had just had his first birthday party the week before.  The surgery was for a lump near his groin.  The doctors weren't sure what it was.   In the previous year, they had found "something" in his gut area, but all the tests came back inconclusive, so they were just "watching and waiting" to see if anything developed.  When he found the lump near his groin, they decided that they needed to operate to find out what it was. 

It didn't seem to be a big deal, so I was alone at the hospital.  I was all of 26 years old and Greg was 35.  After what seemed like an inordinate amount of time, I went up to the nurse's desk and asked what was taking so long.  They said they would check with the operating room staff and let me know.  Next thing I know, a nurse is coming out in scrubs, telling me that they would like permission to cut Greg's gut open, because they think they know what might be going on, but they need permission.  So, I signed the form.  

A while later, I don't remember how long, the doctor came out to sit and talk to me.  He told me that Greg had cancer.  He was not comfortable telling me this, and I remember feeling like this is not the kind of thing he is used to telling people!  I asked some questions, and felt like I was doing OK, until they handed me a box of Kleenix!  That's when I lost it.   He said when they took out the lump near his groin, they realized it was lymphoma, and wanted to take a look at his gut.  He said it was riddled with cancer, and there was nothing they could actually remove, because there are too many lymph nodes that are in that part of the body and were diseased.  They checked all his other organs and put everything back where it belonged and stitched him back up.

I remember calling Greg's mom and telling her that her oldest son had cancer, and that I wasn't sure what time I would be picking up Aaron, because we had to get Greg settled in a room. 

The doctor and I agreed that we would wait until tomorrow to tell Greg that he had cancer.  At one point, Greg did say to me "what happened, it feels like they ripped my stomach open!"  I looked at him and said "They DID!"  Ha, ha!    

I remember, after getting Greg situated in his room, that it was time for me to leave.   As I was walking to my van in the parking lot, I heard someone calling my name.  Confused, I turned to look, and there was Greg's sister, Jody!  She told me that their mom had called her at work to tell her about Greg's cancer, and she left work, telling her boss that her brother was just diagnosed with cancer and her sister-in-law shouldn't be all alone at a time like this!  That was probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me before or since!  I was pretty much in shock, and trying to figure out how I was going to work the next day, and do everything that needed to be done with a one year old baby, all by myself, when I had just been told that my husband had cancer.  Jody and I went into the hospital and she visited with Greg for a bit, and then we left so he could get some sleep.

The internet hadn't been invented by Al Gore yet, so there was no going home and doing research.  There was just going home and taking care of my baby boy. 

I remember telling my boss that I would not be at work the next day, but having to stop in the office to pick up my shoes for Easter Sunday service!  I always wore tennis shoes to work, and kept all my "heels" at my desk, so I didn't have any shoes at home to wear to church on Sunday!  LOL 

I then went to the hospital and the doctor and I sat with Greg and told him he had cancer.  Specifically, he had Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and needed to start chemotherapy within a week.   We had a lot of decisions to make at that point, as we discovered that chemo could make you sterile, and I wasn't done having babies!   (Spoiler Alert:  We had two more babies!  Ha, ha!)   We ended up freezing as much sperm as we could before chemo started (that's a whole 'nother story in and of itself that I won't go into here). 

So many memories.  So many feelings.  This time of year always pulls me in a direction I don't like to go.  We've had so many crisis issues during the Easter season.  I'm always somewhat fearful of this time of year and am always grateful for Easter Sunday for so many reasons.   With Greg's current health situation and the Corona Virus, it's been more stressful this year than ever before.  

But, Sunday, April 12, 2020 is not only Easter Sunday, it is also Aaron's 29th birthday, AND the 20th Anniversary of Greg's Bone Marrow Transplant!  Be on the lookout for more memories on Easter Sunday!  We have been through a lot, but we are well and truly blessed!

Love to all!  

Horrible Treatment at UW Health Pain Management Clinic!

Yesterday, we left at approximately 8 a.m. for a much-anticipated appointment with the University of Wisconsin Pain Management Clinic.  Unfortunately, we were, shall we say, less than pleased!  

Below is the letter I just sent to the UW Health Patient Relations Department:

RE:          Leslie Liegel, PA, Complaint

Dear Sir or Madam:

On August 20, 2019, my husband and I had my husband’s first appointment with the UW Health Pain Clinic.  Unfortunately, that appointment was with Leslie Liegel, PA.  We live in Athens, Wisconsin, a drive which took us approximately 2-1/2 hours.  We left our home at approximately 8 a.m. for our 11 a.m. appointment.  Unfortunately, traffic was not on our side, and we were 13 minutes late to our appointment.  The receptionist explained that there was a 15 minute window, but that we were within that window, at 13 minutes.  While speaking with the receptionist and completing the last-minute registration information, Mr. Liegel informed the receptionist that he would not see my husband and that we would have to reschedule the appointment.  Needless to say, my husband and I were flabbergasted.  We pleaded with the receptionist, who again asked Mr. Liegel, who again declined to see us, even though we had traveled 173 miles to this appointment and I had taken the day off of work.  As we were pleading again with the receptionist, the office manager happened to come out.  The situation was explained to her and I’m assuming she discussed the matter with Mr. Liegel and came back out to advise that we would be able to see him after all.  We were able to complete the registration information and were escorted to a patient room. 

We spent approximately ten minutes finishing additional information with another woman (possibly a nurse?), and then Mr. Liegel entered the exam room.  Upon his entering the room, he introduced himself to my husband and completely ignored me.  He reviewed my husband’s information on the computer and asked a couple of questions.  He then did a brief examination on my husband and asked him to walk towards the door and walk back and then to attempt to walk on his toes.  After that, Mr. Liegel indicated that my husband may be a candidate for infusions and that our time was up.  I asked him what the infusions were and what was the difference between infusions and a pain pump and why was he not a candidate for the pain pump.  He briefly explained the lidocaine infusions and when I asked for additional information, he rummaged through the desk, but was unable to find any information relating to them.  He then wrote the words “lidocaine infusion” on a business card and told us to “Google it.” 

At that point, I asked Mr. Liegel how my husband’s pain medication would be handled, because he has a doctor with Advanced Pain Management that prescribes his Hydrocodone.  Mr. Liegel informed us that UW Health Pain Management does not write prescriptions for pain medicine and that we would have to continue seeing my husband’s doctor at Advanced Pain Management.  He then stated that we should make an appointment in three weeks to go over the infusions and schedule any tests that may be needed and left the exam room.  We arrived at UW Health at 11:13 a.m. and left the exam room with Mr. Liegel at approximately 11:50.  A total of approximately 37 minutes was spent at the Clinic, after driving more than two and a half hours. 

To say we were disappointed with Mr. Liegel would be quite an understatement.  Mr. Liegel has absolutely no compassion and did not care that we were stuck in traffic or that we had driven 173 miles just to see him. 

My husband is in an incredible amount of pain on a daily basis.  He has a very complicated health history, having had cancer 3 times, a bone marrow transplant, congestive heart failure, a pacemaker defibrillator, bulging disks, a history of shingles and neuropathy in both his hands and feet, among other issues.  We came to UW Health, in part, based on the information on your website.  We expected, after having had to wait approximately one month for an appointment so that all of his records could be gathered, that his records would have been reviewed by your “team” of doctors and that we would be meeting with more than just a physician assistant.  We assumed our appointment would last a couple of  hours and that we would be meeting with these additional specialists on the “team” and a plan of action would be put in place.  We did not expect that we were only allotted 40 minutes with an egotistical PA who appeared to have not even bothered to look at my husband’s records prior to his appointment.  Instead, we were met with a physician assistant who at first refused to see us, and when he did see us, was nothing less than arrogant and condescending.  Additionally, I have since discovered that the doctors at UW Health Pain Clinic do indeed prescribe pain medications, so Mr. Liegel outright lied to us.  

The lack of compassion expressed by Mr. Liegel for someone in constant pain (as stated on his form, my husband’s pain is generally an 8 out of 10) was infuriating, and quite frankly, disgusting.  Instead of even attempting to obtain information relating to the lidocaine infusions, Mr. Liegel told us to look up the information ourselves by “Googling it.”   As the internet is full of inaccurate information, and we specifically wanted information on UW Health’s lidocaine infusion program, advising us to “Google it” was completely unacceptable. 

Neither my husband, nor I, understood the need to come back in three weeks to further “discuss” the lidocaine infusions and to schedule whatever testing may be necessary prior to any potential infusions.  We have no intentions of driving almost 350 miles for yet another less than 30 minute appointment with a physician assistant with a sneering attitude and complete and utter lack of compassion, only to have to schedule more appointments to have tests completed at a future time.  Additionally, I absolutely refuse to see any professional who outright lied to me and my husband.  That one lie has proven Mr. Liegel to be completely untrustworthy, unreliable and absolutely unprofessional.  I do not trust Mr. Liegel to tell us the truth about anything after lying about prescribing pain medication.

We currently have an appointment scheduled for September 9, 2019 with Mr. Liegel.  I will be canceling that appointment, as we will never waste our time with Mr. Liegel again.  I refuse to be treated in such a horrible, condescending manner.  I refuse to be lied to by a medical professional and I refuse to have my husband treated by someone with absolutely no compassion.  Mr. Liegel is the epitome of everything that is wrong with the medical profession and I will be filing a complaint with the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board and the Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services with regard to Mr. Liegel’s unethical behavior. 

Sincerely,

Gregory P. Miklaszewicz

Julie A. Miklaszewicz

GPM:bms

My Sweet Protector -- Sophie the Newfoundland!

Most of you know that we have a Newfoundland named Sophie that we acquired almost two years ago.  Sophie is the sweetest dog, even if a bit of a drooler!  LOL (That may be a bit of an understatement!  Ha, ha!)  

Anyway, this morning before starting work, I let Sophie and Mater out and walked out with them to enjoy the cool morning air.  There's a couple rabbits that have made their home near our barn, and they've been driving the dogs nuts in the morning.  This morning; however, was different.  Sophie was looking to the east and started barking like crazy!   Because she was barking at something, of course, Mater had to start barking, too!  

I looked and looked and couldn't see anything in that direction.  Mater eventually decided that Sophie was nuts and stopped barking, because he couldn't see (or presumably smell) anything, either.   But Sophie wouldn't stop  She'd run to the end of her rope and bark and bark, and then come back and stand in front of me, as if she was protecting me from whatever she was barking at.  She did this for at least ten minutes!  

Greg came outside to see what the fuss was about, and we realized what Sophie was barking at and protecting me from.    See the picture below: 

If you look closely, to the left of the shed, there is a wheelbarrow leaning over a tire.  Yes, indeed, my precious Sophie was protecting me from a WHEELBARROW!     How sweet is that?!  

Normally, the wheelbarrow isn't there, so Sophie was wigged out about it!  We knew it was the wheelbarrow because I went to get it and when I brought it to her, she ran around it, sniffing it, like she had never seen it before and needed to know what this thing was!   

This was the first time I had ever seen her protective instincts!  My dear, sweet, 135 pound Newfoundland!   I must say, this beautiful giant is one of the sweetest, gentlest dogs I have ever met!  Even though she's a lot of work, and a lot of extra cleaning (she sheds more than four dogs combined!), and of course, there's the slobber (and lots of extra cleaning), it's all worth it!   

(Don't worry, even though we're in Wisconsin, this picture isn't from today!)!  

Greg's Health Saga Continues -- Next up -- ACUPUNCTURE!

So, even though I haven't written for a while, not much has changed as far as Greg's health is concerned.  He is still in an incredible amount of pain on a daily basis.  He's had some back procedures (radiofrequency ablation) that have done absolutely nothing for his bulging disk pain, even though it's been five weeks since the first procedure.  

We used a program through our insurance called "2nd MD" and it provides a second opinion.  A Harvard trained and educated pain specialist was chosen for Greg and after reviewing his records, we had a 45 minute video conference with him.  One of his biggest suggestions was to put Greg on a time-release pain medicine, with additional meds for "break-through" pain.  Greg's pain doctor at Advanced Pain Management was not very receptive, to say the least.  His attitude appeared to be that he knows what he's doing and did not like the fact that we went for a second opinion.  He appears to not like it when I question him!  And trust me, I have a lot of questions!  (Imagine that!)   I have not had a favorable opinion of this doctor for a while now, but there was literally no one else available, so we've been stuck with him.  I have had disagreements with their staff and have made formal complaints to their head office.  I am a thorn in their side, and I don't care.  If I don't advocate for Greg, who will?  Too bad if they don't like me questioning their treatment or not being happy about waiting 24 hours or more for a call back.  They treat their patients like we should be lucky they are there, instead of being compassionate, caring doctors and staff who are treating people that are in pain 24/7.  It's not right and I'm sick of it!    

The doctor did agree to put Greg on a time-release medicine and after a huge shit-show of trying to get it approved and then getting it at Walmart, Greg was finally able to start on it.  Suffice it to say that the medicine prescribed did NOTHING for his pain!  We have a case manager through our health insurance and she put us in touch with one of the head pharmacists, who told us that the dosage given to Greg was outrageously low, especially considering the amount of pain and the length of time he's been on opioids.   Greg was on this medicine for a week and it was doing absolutely nothing for his pain!  When we went to see the doctor, and he tried telling us that it could take up to two weeks to begin working, I stopped him in his tracks and told him that was absolutely NOT ACCEPTABLE!   (By the way, the pharmacist said that the doctor is full of crap on that point!)  We ended up going right back to his regular pain meds, and the doctor had nothing more to offer.  Zip, Nada, Nothing!    Suffice it to say I'm NOT pleased!  Trust me when I say that this is the very short version of what happened at that appointment!  

Because of that, I started researching more within our health plan.  As it turns out, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN (about 2-1/1 hours away) is in network, but none of the doctors are.  That's not helpful!  UW-Health, in Madison, WI has a Pain Management Center and the clinic and the doctors are all in network!  I contacted Greg's PCP and requested a referral.  Fortunately, his PCP had no problems referring him there and agreed we needed to look at another alternative (I'd have opened up a major can of whoop-ass on her if she argued about it!  They don't like to refer out of their Aspirus network, so I was prepared for an argument.  Fortunately, that never happened!)   They are requesting his records and have scheduled an appointment for us for August 20th.  Please keep Greg in your prayers that they are able to do something for his constant pain!  This is no way to live!   

In the meantime, I did more research on our insurance, and found that up to ten acupuncture visits for pain management are covered!  Unfortunately, the closest in-network acupuncturist was an hour away.  Oh well!  That's closer than Madison (2-1/2 hours), and if it can help his pain, then that's what we're going to do!  

So, his PCP again had no problem referring us to the in-network acupuncturist.  I have a stupid plan that requires referrals for EVERYTHING, but it only has a $1,200 deductible, so we deal with it and I make sure we follow all the stupid rules to the letter.  Greg's bills so far this year are around $220,000 and between my UHC coverage and his secondary Medicare Part B (that we pay for), we haven't had to pay anything additional.  We are very blessed that I work for UnitedHealth Care!   

Today was Greg's first appointment with the acupuncturist, and it was interesting to say the least!  The doctor (he's also a chiropractor) reviewed all the information I gave them (I have Greg's very extensive health history all typed out in a nice little spreadsheet -- I know, shocking that I would be so organized, right?!  Ha, ha!  I guess my OCD comes in handy for stuff like that!  I even carry a spreadsheet of his meds because there's so many! ) 

Anyway, as promised on Facebook, here are some pictures!  First is the table.  I know, doesn't look like much, but there's a heated pad under there!  

The doctor is pressing on various areas of Greg's back.  

In the next picture, you can see some of the pads they put on him.  He had them on his back and on his legs.  It's some sort of magnetic thing, I think!  Too much information that I just didn't absorb all of.  Sorry about that!  

Next are going to be pictures of the needles.  If you're squeamish, you should probably stop reading now!  LOL!  

There are some pressure points in the ears, so he started there!  

Greg said he barely felt the needles going in.  He said it hurts more when I put in the needles for his weekly IVIG treatments!  These needles are thinner than an earring stud!   Super thin!!!!! 

Here, you can see a bunch of the needles in his back.  The different colors are different lengths of needles. 

The needles stayed in for about 30 minutes total.  Apparently, this is a treatment that does require more than one to work, so Greg hasn't really noticed much relief yet.  But, we're still hopeful!  The doctor is going to be gone all next week, so he won't be going back for 1-1/2 weeks.  At that point, he can go himself.  There's no need for me to go with.   I always like to go for at least the first appointment with someone new, so I know what's going on, and so I can help add to the discussion of his treatment/history. 

We're also starting Greg on some CBD oil.  The doctor really thinks that this will help Greg, and it won't interact with any of his other meds, so why not?   It cost about $100, which seems like a lot, but it should last about 1-1/1 months.  And, if you think about how many times you go to the grocery store for a loaf of bread or gallon of milk and blow 100 bucks, well, there you go!  

Afterwards, we went for lunch at Charcoal Grill (we LOVE onion strings, versus onion rings, and they are one of the few restaurants around here that have them.  YAY!).  The food was excellent and we ate enough that we won't have dinner tonight!  

After that, we stopped at a store to look for a dress for me for Erica's wedding.  Unfortunately, we didn't find anything, so we'll be going to David's Bridal in Eau Claire on Saturday (about 1-1/2 hours away).  So, we went to their sister store in Marshfield, and ran into Aaron and Rachel there!  Aaron needed to get fitted for his tux for Erica's wedding and a friend's wedding.  I had a feeling we may run into them there, and it was great to see them!   There were also stopping at Abby's new house for dinner (in case you didn't know, our 21 year old daughter, Abby (the one that went to Australia for six months) bought a house!  How incredible is that?!   So, we stopped there on the way home to see how it looked after she moved in her furniture and painted.  It's absolutely adorable and we are so incredibly proud of her!  

I know I need to post more on our trip to Australia.  I have tons and tons of pictures I want to share, but between work, taking care of Greg, making stuff for Erica's wedding and bridal shower, I just haven't had time.  

If anyone takes CBD oil, or has more information on it, please let me know!  I'm curious as to how long it might take to see some results (if any), and of course testimonials of how it's worked for you!  Feel free to leave it in the comments section here!    

So, that's what's going on with Greg.  It's been quite a journey, and we're anxious for it to end.  I am very hopeful about UW-Health being able to help him.  They have an entire team of doctors that work together to come up with treatment plans, so we're not stuck with just one doctor with a god-complex!  

Hope all is well with everyone!  Love, peace and prayers for all! 

Julie