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@frances007
I’m sorry to hear about your ongoing medical problems plus lack of response from your PCP.
I have recently been thinking about how sad it is to lose contact with friends/acquaintances when living with a chronic illness.
I have had continuous GI problems for 13-14 years, some time periods better. Right now I don’t have contact with anyone locally- we moved here 3+ years before I got sick. I had met many women through tennis as well as in the neighborhood- just about everyone retired. Little by little everyone faded away- I didn’t have the energy to keep contact and I wasn’t able to play tennis much.
At one point I tried to get back again and thanks to a woman I had played with before I got into a group again- until Covid arrived and everything stopped. Sadly, the friendly woman died suddenly.
It takes energy to maintain new friendships.
I have contact with a friend from my youth- we write now and then- her life is not easy either.
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Yes, losing contact or rather, having "friends" move away from one when they become chronically ill as we have, is a very hard pill to swallow. I am especially sensitive to the behavior of others because I have always strived to be a humanitarian, supportive of others in my community and things of that nature. I am also an artist with a typical "artist" personality which sometimes makes it even harder.
I see my PCP this week and am trying to decide whether to ask him what the purpose of the online message system is if he does not respond to many of my requests. I asked him a few weeks ago if we could increase my antidepressant because I was feeling hopeless and depressed, and he did not respond. I suppose I felt this way because I had to complete a very long questionnaire for the hepatologist I will see in March, and that question appeared on the form, and checked "yes."
Having said this, I will find a new PCP after I see the liver specialist in March, the very same one he told me I would never be able to see. Go figure that one out.
I have some close contacts where I live, one of whom is 84 and I go to her apartment every day, sometimes just to hang out because it is a good place to relax, something I am not very good at doing right now. I have an older sister who lives not far from me, but cannot discuss my medical issues with her because her 73 year old husband has dementia and she is under enough stress dealing with him. I do have another older sister, but 2 years ago she chose to cut me out of her life because of my medical problems. She said she only wanted to talk about recipes and things of that nature. I accept that. As long as I can maintain a relationship with my "big" sister, I am good.
I have other doctors who are very supportive toward me, so I know there will be another primary care doctor who is right for me. I am just dismayed that it has taken so long to get the right care and medical attention I think I need.
Best of luck to you. I really appreciate your nice and thoughtful note to me. Every little thing counts, but your response made my evening. Thank you