Day 243 - Monday August 12, 2012

Today we had an appointment at Bigfork Family Practice with Michelle Helwig.  We needed to establish a family care physician here in Montana and so I called the neurologists office for a recommendation.  They told me that I should take Bridgett to Michelle; she had worked in their office before apparently and so she has experience dealing with TBI patients--just what we need!  I loved their suggestion because I had previously taken Tyler there to see Michelle and we both really liked her so much.  They scheduled an hour for our appointment, knowing that there would be a lot to discuss.  Everyone was so sweet with Bridgett and she loved it there.  Michelle really took her time to get to know Bridgett.  I think she always gets to personally know her patients; she was the same way with Tyler.  I really appreciate that in a primary care setting; someone who has an interest in what is happening.  Michelle talked to us about some of our concerns and had good suggestions for us.

• Concerning the itching of the scars--perhaps the nerves are waking up and just getting sensation now.  In any event, she prescribed some cortisone cream for us to try.
• Concerning the neck pain, which was at a three again--she said she could prescribe a muscle relaxant but Bridgett said she didn't want to take any pills.  She takes vitamins every day, but normally never likes prescriptions if she can help it so I thought this was a good sign that she felt that way--more of a normal response.  I did tell Michelle that I may call and have her go ahead with the muscle relaxant as we might need it while driving back and forth to Utah.
• We discussed the possibility of giving her a shot to bring down some of the inflammation.
• Concerning the erratic heart rate--it really just is all over the place--it was high and then low while we were there.  Michelle said she would call and talk to Dr. Lindsay and see if he felt it was neurological or what.  They will discuss what if anything we need to do about this. 
• We discussed the hormonal issues and the fact that we will see the endocrinologist at the U of U on the 28th of this month.

Michelle asked Bridgett what things she wants to do and of course she wants to get back to training for a triathlon.  Michelle asked which of the events she really wanted to do the most and Bridgett said run a lot, swim and then bike (last).  Michelle said that water therapy would be great for her.  She said to talk to Brian about this and that there are other places to go for water therapy besides the Summit.  I had mentioned to Brian on Friday that we were seeing Michelle and he knows her and said to tell her hi--which I did.  We gave Michelle lots of copies of records from Bridgett's hospital stays etc. and discussed lots of history of the wreck with her.  It was a great appointment and I feel very confident working with Michelle as we go forward.  Remember that when we were in Utah I kept looking for someone who had experience with TBI for a primary care, because it's very different than many other situations.  I feel so fortunate that we have finally found someone!