When I say Amazing, I mean Amazing.

I gush a lot about Dr. Goslin. BECAUSE SHE IS AMAZING. But, I’m also prone to hyperbole. I get it. You might think I’m exaggerating. But here’s this thing that happened.

Lately, I’ve been having a few more rougher days than usual. Some depression is absolutely expected with a terminal diagnosis. Duh. And I was on antidepressants before I was even diagnosed, because broken brains run in my family and I am no exception. But this last couple of weeks I’ve been more prone to let things get to me, like the Ice Bucket Challenge haters, and slight arguments turn into self-hate sessions, and I am just having a hard time with things right now. In addition to this, things are harder to do, physically. They’re taking a lot more energy than I would think. I’m tired all of the time. And I don’t know if I’m tired because I’m depressed, or if I’m depressed because I’m tired? But everything seems so much harder than it feels like it should be. Friends and family have noticed, and my little brother has mentioned several times joking-but-not that I should ask my doctor for some Adderall. Maybe I’d have the energy to get things done and cleaning won’t be a herculean task that wipes me out for the entire next day.

Monday was a holiday, and a classic Depression Day with lots of sleeping and moping. It carried over to the next morning, which is unusual. I’m typically over it the next day. So I got fed up with being a mopey, tired lump and that afternoon I sent Dr. Goslin an email:

We have an appointment to meet in a month, but I wanted to let you know that when we do meet, I’d like to talk about medication adjustments. I’m not sure the wellbutrin’s doing anything anymore, and I’ve been completely devoid of energy. I know some tiredness is to be expected of course, but for example, yesterday I slept from midnight to noon, ate some lunch, then slept from 2 to 7. And back to bed at 11. It’s to the point my brother told me I should talk to you about adderall or get a speed habit or something. hehe. So when we meet, can we talk about this?

I was expecting maybe an email in a couple of days to acknowledge the question, a quick “Yes, we can discuss your medications when we meet.”

Instead she called me after work. We talked for about about my symptoms, where I was at, and where I thought I should be. She asked what I’d like to do. Do I want to attack the depression, the fatigue, both? I told her I didn’t know, because, (as I said up in that second paragraph) I wasn’t sure if they were separate issues, or if the one was feeding into the other. She gave me many options, made sure I was seeing a therapist regularly, and told me about different drugs, what they did, what their side effects were; she usually prescribes another antidepressant that deals more on the anxiety side, that is a nice compliment to the Wellbutrin, would I like to try it? Additionally we COULD try some energy-producing meds, if I thought that was something I would like to try. She carefully explained all of my options, made her suggestions, and ultimately left it up to me to decide which route I wanted to take.

I didn’t even have an appointment. She won’t get paid for that time, probably. But she made the effort, she called me outside of her office hours, to talk to me and see that I was taken care of. Because she didn’t want me suffering for another month if we could start to do something about it NOW. And this is why I tell people she is amazing. And why I love her. She is one of the most powerful players in my support team and I really don’t know what I’d do without her.

So, without hyperbole and in all seriousness, Dr. Kim Goslin is the mutha-f**kin BOMB.

2 thoughts on “When I say Amazing, I mean Amazing.

  1. You are so correct about Dr. Gosslin when Bob was with me and fighting ALS they only Doctor appointment he never wanted to cancel was when he was meeting with her. Even when he got down and depressed he looked forward to giving her a bad time cause he knew she would give it back to him and made him laugh and smile and even checked to see how I was holding up with this HORRIBLE Disease. Good for you bringing this to everyones attention.

  2. I adore that every appointment with her is just as much about how I’m doing emotionally as well as physically. And yes, she checks up on my caretakers every time, too. <3

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