Just Can't Stay Away From Those Doctors...

After being told last week that I didn't need to return to the NYU Transplant Center for a check-up for a full month, guess where I ended up today?

Seems I just can't stay away from the doctors for too long.

Dr. Thomas Diflo, who performed my Dec. 19 liver transplant, gave me a clean bill of health today after an examination and review of Monday's bloodwork.

I came in just to be sure after feeling a bit funny in the abdomen at around 6 P.M. Tuesday. I felt what I can only describe as tightness, rather than pain, in my stomach area. It was enough to put me off eating my POLLO EN MOLE POBLANO (chicken in spicy chocolate sauce), so you know it was somewhat serious.

Days spent wrangling over issues of Social Security payments and Long-Term Disability matters no doubt didn't help my condition - going against doctors' orders to rest.

Leaving the dinner uneaten Tuesday night, I laid down on the couch to rest and soon felt that the feeling passed into my groin. It was the hernia, which first appeared while I was waiting for an MRI at Beth Israel in early November, playing up again. Now, it looked like it was hiding a golf ball under my skin and it hurt to sit down. Nancy called the Transplant Center which consulted Dr. Diflo and advised Tylenol as the immediate treatment. I went to bed around 9 P.M. (about three hours earlier than normal) and felt normal at around 11 P.M.

So, after I get my T-tube out and my meds are reduced further, I get to look forward to a visit to the hernia doctor this spring.

For now, I'm going to dig in to that chocolate-covered chicken...
maybe I'll have an apple with it...to keep those doctors at bay.