Tammy,
Man, how BIZARRE! I had literally just finished reading Jaye's post about KA members listing good rheumy's here in the forum so everyone here could locate a good doctor more easily, and of course that made me think about your October appt. with Dr. Q. I was all set to go send you a PM to ask if you had gone yet, but decided at the last minute to finish scrolling down the forum. Imagine my surprise when I see your post talking about the very appt. I was about to send you a PM on!!!! What a coinky-dink!
Very glad to hear that the appointment went well. I have been thinking about you going to see her several times recently and having second thoughts about recommending her so strongly. Not because I have changed my opinion of her--definitely not! No, I was more worried that Dr. Q has a personal style that may not be to everyone's tastes, and I was suddenly worried that you were going to go to this visit with raised hopes based on my glowing recommendation, only to be disappointed. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that my concern was exactly what I thought it was (when I stopped to think about it, that is)--a completely irrational worry brought about by nothing in particular.
I am glad to hear how well your appt. went, and that you do like her. It sounds as if she is being very thorough before she makes her final diagnosis, and that she also did a very good job of actually listening to what you had to say (one reason I liked her right away). I think it is obvious that she truly cares about her patients' well-being, and that kind of concern is worth its weight in gold. It is especially nice to hear that she agrees with you about that bony mass--I know that really bothered you.
I've had great success with Dr. Q lately myself. She put me on Cellcept to help with my recurrent--and increasingly severe--iritis and because she says she feels anyone on Remicade should be on MTX, Cellcept, or Imuran, although I know many others here have never heard of such a thing from their rheumy's, so I always wondered about this. I had never taken Remicade when she started me on Cellcept, but we agreed I should give it a try, since I had been feeling just horrible for about six months, maybe longer. I had already retired the Enbrel and tried Humira, but that didn't work at all for me and I went back on Enbrel while waiting to get approval for Remicade. Well, guess what? She told me that the Cellcept would take four to six weeks before I would feel any results, and lo and behold, after the fourth week, I suddenly realized that I felt GREAT. Not kind of good, not adequate (which is the best I usually hope for), but downright GREAT. We're talking "best I've felt in five years, as good as it gets, darn near pain-free when combined with my other meds" kind of GREAT, let me tell ya.
Well, needless to say, at first I held my breath and I didn't say anything to anyone, not even my mom, who helps me out with most of my medical stuff and can always tell from my voice how I am feeling (last part sounds just like a mom, doesn't it?
). Superstition crept in, and I didn't want to jinx things by telling anyone too quickly. But, after one whole week of feeling great, I couldn't resist anymore and let mom and dad both know about the sudden change in my status. They were thrilled, as was I. It's been three weeks since then, and nothing has changed, which I am just ecstatic about. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop--aren't all AS patients conditioned that way?--but so far so good. In fact, when Dr. Q called me to discuss some bloodwork results (it was nothing, just my usual anemia that caught her eye), I told her what had been going on and we both agreed that "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," and that we would not rock the boat by switching to Remicade right now. If I start to feel rough again, then we can give that one a try. Until then, I'm very content to use Cellcept and Enbrel together.
Anyhow, I didn't mean to make the majority of this post about me instead of you, but I am just so happy to be feeling this good that I couldn't help it. Believe me, I am just as happy for you as I am for myself, since it sounds as if you are very happy with your first visit and are optimistic about what the future will hold if you keep seeing her. That makes me very, VERY happy for you Tammy.
Any chance you can pop over to Windsor on Saturday to meet our KA group for dinner? If you want some more details, you can pop over to the KA party forum, where you'll find lots of info. If you want to find out my plans, just PM me and I can send you my phone number. Would be great if you could make it--I think there are eight of us attending for sure as of right now, with a few more maybes out there too.
Once again, I am very happy to hear about your positive first visit Tammy, and I hope this is the start of a very good doctor-patient experience for you.
Brad
and to all that supported me in being able to move forward from that bad place I was at!!! 
..I am happy for you, hopefully you can find some answers now.
