Hi, yeah, kind of forgot about this for a bit. But I'm back now!

Yesterday I had another appointment with my urologist. I didn't expect any new diagnosis or medications to be prescribed as it was just a regular check up, but I was still a bit disappointed when I left. Here's what went down.

I went in, waited in the waiting room with my mother, gave yet another urine sample (holy CRAP am I sick of giving those), and waited some more. Finally got called back to speak with my urologist, who I love. She asked how I was feeling and I told her that I was feeling better than I had in the past year. She was extremely happy for me and I loved that! She then showed me something super cool: a DNA analysis of the bacteria that was in my urine sample from my last appointment. This is really new technology, we're talking within the last year here, and so we were both excited to look at the results. It tells you all of the bacteria that's present, as well as if you're resistant to any antibiotics. If you read one of my previous journal entries, you'll know that I'm terrified of being resistant to antibiotics because of how many I was put on. Luckily, I'm not! The bacteria that was most present in my urine was E. coli. That was part of the reason why my pain had been so bad these past few months. At my last appointment, my doctor had prescribed my ciprofloxacin, a strong antibiotic that wiped out the E. coli within a week. There were other bacteria present but the E. coli was the most present and there had been a lot of it.

After discussing the DNA test results, we quickly transitioned into talking about IC. All my doctor had to say about it was: "I'm glad you're feeling better! Hopefully this continues on an upward trend, but you're going to be dealing with this for the rest of your life. I'll be seeing you every six months from now on out, but if you get a lot better I'll only have to see you once a year!"

That's why I left her office disappointed.

You see, there was still some part of me that hoped that my pain was acute and not chronic. Hearing her say that really finalized everything. I'll be living with IC for all of my life and besides a restrictive diet and daily medications, there's nothing I can do to change that.