~ June 2011 Dr appt., MRI & Lawyer

I went to see a Lawyer RE: filing an appeal for Social Security Disability Income. I have NEVER met with a lawyer ever... So needless to say I was scared to death! She asked a lot of question's and I told her what's been going on since 2003, and who my Dr's were... She agreed to do the case, we agreed to hire her! We were there for a few hours, due to the Appeal paperwork that needed to be filled out. She wanted answers to all the test I had done for the "new neuro dr" but I didn't have a followup appt with her until the next day to get those results. She said if I have "dizziness" that I would be golden for SSD, because neither one of my conditions are SSD approved... I told her I had a ton of tests done, but don't know the results... Jeff & I had mixed emotions when we left the office. Bitter Sweet. When I had the tests done, I prayed nothing else was wrong with me, now i'm praying there is something else wrong, to help this process go smoothly since IH & Chiari are not approved disabilities... The next day, we meet with my new neuro to get all the test results.

New Neurologist appointment, Dr DeLeo, she meets with me at 8am, before reg patients! I felt 100% of her attention, she made "special" time to meet with me!!! Well, as it turns out, I do have some serious Vestibular Disorders! I suffer from Dizziness!!! BONUS! I'm only happy about that because I started to feel like people didn't believe me, that all the times I have to pass on "get togethers" parties, special occasions, etc... I now have proof! I have something serious going on in my right ear, inner ear, she wants to prescribe me a med, but wants me to think about it/research it right now! (I liked that! She didn't shove pills down my throat) My MRI, is just a constellation of problems, ventricles, Chiari, decompression surgery, I need to have another shunt revision, she really wants me to get a "programmable" shunt, but we already know how that turned out once already, but she see's to think that with "enough" weight loss, that a programmable lumbar shunt will work for me in the future. Dr DeLeo is going out to dinner w/ my NS Dr Munoz later this month, and they are to discuss this! (I like that too!) I also have another issue that I've been fighting w/ Dr's about for years. I have a Positive ANA... AGAIN!!! It comes & goes, I've been trying to get a Dr to look into it, but they always say it's no big deal, well this time, my # was sky high... It needs looking into now! AnA is AntiNuclear Antiboby = autoimmune disorder... To go along w/ it, my ESR & C-Reactive proteins are very high, which is also an indicator of autoimmune disease... And to top it all off... I am here today at my regular Dr because I need to get a follow up chest CT, because the one I had done in Feb showed a spot on my lung... Radiologist recommended a follow up CT in 3 months...