After all this time -have 1st uro appnt in 1.5 hrs.

[izazen]

IC Donna - you are right - the "not knowing" is the worst. Hopefully, I'll find out something today although I don't know what to expect or how much he will do on a first viist (big medical center.) Wish me luck. I just hope he's nice and compassionate and not one of those cool, crisp scientific dudes.

[Curly]

Good luck. I hope you have a great doctor. Let us know how it goes.

[marymove]

Still praying for you, Ro. Let us know how it went!!!!

[izazen]

Hey guys - I'm back home but still rather shaky after enduring the BIG appointment/waiting so long to do so. The waiting was definitely the worst and I barely slept all night. I did have to take a tranquilizer in order to just show up!!
First of all the doctor, Sean George at Illinois Masonic was great - he was nice, relaxed, not scary, let me (and my husband who came in with me for exam) both talk while he listened. I really lucked out as most western medicine doctors - I can't stand them - as they usually want to do all the talking, treat the patient like a child, 'don't want to hear what you have to say and sure don't want to hear a PEEP about "the internet" (horrors!!!) and personal research done therein.
He said that I have a may a mild case of IC but, as my symptoms are so quiet now, he couldn't really say if I had had one or not at this point. My worst period with terrible symptoms was last summer and since then they have, overall, subsided with a few "set backs" every couple of weeks.
I did have microscopic blood in my urine which is consistent with IC so I have to go back in a month for an office cysto but he said he doesn't suspect anything "bad" as he did look and feel around there today, took a specimen with a catheter, and gave me a pelvic exam.
Whew! I'm so relieved.
Thanks to all the great information I got from the ICN and the nice folks who took the time to answer my many questions.
Dr. George said I was "well informed" about IC, PFD, the diet, lifestyle restrictions, etc. I gave big kudos to the Network as a treasure trove of valuable information.
One word of advice - if you can bring someone with you when you go in to see a uro it really helps as I was so rattled with his poking around, et al, that Tom was asking his own questions, taking it all in while I was freaking out (inwardly) being catheterized, probed and all and when we went out for lunch afterwards, he remembered much more of what Dr. George said than I did.
Maybe if you don't have a good buddy to go with you - you might want to bring a tape recorder but I imagine you would have to ask permission to do taping.
Thanks again for all your kind help, especially MaryMover, Katrina, IC Donna, VM, Ashley and "Pumpkin."