Hi Everyone....thanks for the positive replies. Well we went to the Mayo last week and before leaving for the 3 hr drive the normal getting ready and bathroom trips before heading out the door. Well on the 3 hr drive up we needed to make 3 trips to a bathroom which was so unusual. Couldn't figure that one out.
Had the lab work done and saw the Dr 4 1/2 hrs later that day. The Dr was not altogether pleased from 6 months ago and was hoping things would be much better. Hubby made him aware how pleased he was personally with getting his life back for the most part and finding a way to deal with this overall. The monthly monitoring of the imuran he says is fantastic which is a good thing. His reliance on the pain meds bugs him and he wants him off them. Upon examination there is a fissure there and he explained all about that and what he needs to do to try to heal it which is accounting for most of the pain. Weird......after the exam as painful as it was it seemed to "paralyze" everything as he felt better and the 3 hr drive home was uneventful...lol...go figure!!!
He thinks his joint pain is primarily attributed to the zocor that his primary care increased from 20 to 40 mg last November and not the Fosamax he started in August with no ill effects. Soooooooooooo now we will re-introduce the Fosamax and cut the zocor back to 20 mg and see how that goes. He sees the primary care in August which will give us time to see if the joint pain improves. The Mayo Dr really wants him on a bone building med.
Having 6 different doctors for his different ailments is a royal PIA trying to keep everything straight and not directly conflicting with each other. I really like this Mayo Dr as he seems to see the "overall" picture the clearest of all of them we think.
So we will go back in November for 3 days -- another colonoscopy as he wants to see exactly what is going on in there now - meet with the colorectal surgeon and see how that fissure is doing. Also regarding the joint pain (hips and shoulders primarily) I will also ask if it is not better for other tests to delve deeper into this to get a better diagnosis if the cutting back on the zocor doesn't help. (He has been on 20 mg for almost 5 years with no symptoms and maybe the 40 is just too much....he may need a different one like Zetia that I am hearing a lot about)
Gonna try the canned spinach a few times a week and see how that is.
As I said - on a scale of 0 - 10 and having been at zero a year ago he just finds a way to not let it take over and depress him. Based on a lot of what I report to him from others much less fortunate on this community he knows he is in much better shape overall.
Enjoy your holiday weekend...........I know when we worked we looked forward to the long weekends and additional day off. Take care everyone.