It was just a talking visit. She wanted to know if the medication was working, if the side effects were too troublesome, and whether there was anything else we needed to address.
I have had only a couple of accidents--probably just BECAUSE I am trying to lengthen my holding powers. One was at work and my darling hubby brought me fresh jeans. I think the medicine, oxybutynin chloride, has just started to be helpful in the last week or two. It's not drying me out excessively. I just wake up with cotton mouth, but when I'm up and about and can drink when I want, that's OK. As long as I can sing.
It hasn't made the constipation worse. She led me to try Citrucel instead of the psyllium fiber because the former doesn't make people gassy--and psyllium was just plain awful in that way. That wasn't enough, so I added back in some Miralax. I'm still trying to find the right dose. 1/2 dose every day is too much. Full dose every other day is not enough. I guess I'll try a spoonful every day and see what that does.
The end of the conversation was about the neurological connection. Nothing big has changed since the first incident of transverse myelitis in 2007, just some slow worsening of things like the incontinence and the development of the sore eye from the atypical trigeminal neuralgia. When I have my next appointment with the MS neurologist nurse practitioner, I will have them request her records ahead of time. I don't need to see her again unless I want to try for 100% better instead of merely acceptable, or if things get worse. She will authorize refills of medicine as long as I want.
The neurologist already has the reports from the neuro-opthalmalogist about the TN. So I get to avoid doctors for a couple of months! I need to save time off so I can begin the terrible process of extracting a tooth and getting an implant for a failed root canal. (Actually two root canals, apicoectomy, and two crowns--all down the drain now.) The periodontist did offer to give it another try, but only with a 50% chance of success, so I don't want to throw more money at those odds. Heck, even the implant isn't a sure thing.