Today's doctor visit

[serene]

Well, at least we know a little more of the puzzle. Seems I have
arthritis in both knees, and slightly in one hip. This doesn't really
explain why both hips hurt like hell most days, but it's something to work
with. There's also an elevated level of C-Reactive Protein that may mean
something else is going on (perhaps some inflammatory and/or degenerative
muscle disease), but may not, so he'll check it again in a few weeks. He
gave me some Celebrex for the pain. It already seems to be working. He
set me up with an orthopedist and some physical therapy so that I can
prevent worsening. He says he trusts me and someotherguy to do
the exercises. ;-)

In better news, my cholesterol "couldn't be better", my severe anemia is
now barely borderline anemia, my B12 was slightly low so I got a shot
while I was there, the lump on my thigh is probably nothing, my thyroid
and all other numbers were great (except there were a few white blood
cells in my urine and some other minor things). He wants me to lose
weight, as most doctors do, but he has the sense not to harp on it, since
I'm in excellent health overall. He accepted my unwillingness to have a
flu shot (they make me sick for three days and I can't afford the time off
work right now; I'll do it in a couple of weeks when I'm not at Ikea any
more). And someotherguy's numbers were *great*, which makes me
very very happy.

Not too shabby. And knowing at least some of what's going on with the
joints gives me something to work with. That's always helpful when
you're, well, me.