Here I am, clocking my six-month visit with the neurologist Gary and I share.
I’ve been communicating with the doctor’s office on my husband’s behalf to straighten out some dosing confusion brought on by Gary’s exponential math.
I also spent a little time discussing Gary’s rash and joked that I might just switch him to a new dermatologist without telling him, and if Gary said anything I could blame his sketchy memory. I added, “But I would never do that.” The doctor remarked that no worries, the AI wasn’t recording. Pretty funny.
(Perhaps unrelated: I was astonished to discover the next day that Gary has never made me a HIPAA-approved contact. I can see why: it’s really important to him that he has medical autonomy. He doesn’t want someone checking him into the hospital against his will or checking him out of the hospital because they didn’t like a diagnosis. Or putting him in hospice, maybe? I respect that.)
Anyway, the doctor and I did talk about me and my MS.
I think my only complaint was some pervasive fatigue and lack of concentration. That earned me:
- A reminder that I am not in a wheelchair.
- A prescription for Provigil, which is a stimulant. (Yet not an amphetamine or caffeine. “Like Qat?” I wondered.)
Another excellent doctor visit. Just one more trip to the ophthalmologist and February doctor visits are over.
2 responses to “Neuro visit Feb 2026”
I think by default “yes, you can tell them what’s going on medically” (HIPAA) is split out from “yes, they can make decisions for me” (power of attorney?) although if the patient is fully incapacitated and not able to make decisions for themselves, then *something* happens and I do not entirely know what; in some long-term cases they get a court-appointed sort of guardian thingy but I’d guess that if it’s short term and there is a spouse who seems non-crazy, then probably they’d roll with that?
KC – True, now that yoh mention it. If I had HIPAA without POA then I would know everything but could do nothing. That would be worse.