i was in san deigo when i was in navy

Did you have your liver biopsy?

Thinking about you today.... your long drive, your short sleep, and the rest of the story. I hope all goes well in the Big City and you come home more or less intact!
I hope you can scribble something out soon when you get back and awake again. Some of us will be on pins 'n needles waiting - and with our fingers, toes, legs and eyes crossed with all these best wishes - this is VERY uncomfortable!!! So, as Engledink Humplebert might croon ... caf caf ... ahem.... mimimi... gimme a b flat ... no make that a p sharp ....hmmmmm ...
Please release me.... let me go .... my digits sting in this position! yadda yadda yadda.

I forgot to mention that when I was in nursing, we called those pretend doctors "Baby Doctorlings" and we were the Baby Nurslings on the wards.

And you're right about the medical profession treating its own badly. Same applies up here, from what I understand. I have several tax clients who work in the health pro field who have been prematurely 'retired' and worse! I think the best worst example I saw was the Salvation Army here. They might be the kindest people on the planet to people at the 'lower end' of the social scale, but when someone in their own realm is broke, they still have to shell out cash money for their Sally Ann uniform! We had to loan uniform money to Dave's sister when she decided she wanted to hand out sandwiches to homeless people in downtown Toronto in the middle of the night. She was happy to do all that, but they still asked her for a couple hundred dollars she didn't have to buy her uniform before she could go out. Even the volunteer ambulance group I belonged to provided us with uniforms so we could volunteer our time, energy and skills.

Took me half a minute to figure out what those CMP's were. We stick unnecessary u's in words and also Royal in front of everything in uniform, so it's RCMP for Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It used to be even worse with Royal NorthWest Canadian Mounted Police. Kinda glad I never needed one in a hurry! But yes, they do look nice in their serge. Not so much when they're entering your apartment when you're 25 and taking away the tape recorder your father bought across the border. Scared the bejeebers outa me at the time! Dad got me a new (home grown) recorder and I NEVER smuggle!
Those Crohn's Colitis folks have good advice! We have a local group at a website here too. I didn't like attending the 'live' meetings, but online it seemed easier to 'open up' with total strangers. They were friendly enough at the meetings, but it's a personal subject and not one I could discuss with people I'd never seen before.

I keep thinking of things after I hit Add Comment! and running out of room! Concerning probiotics and especially naturopathic medicines. READ LABELS, GOOGLE EVERYTHING and learn all the different chemical terms for 'causes diarrhea'. I was taking psillium powder for 2 years before I found out it was a stool softener.... something I really didn't need at the time! And watch what they give you in hospitals when you go there for something other than bowel problems. They "routinely" issue stool softeners for patients recovering from just about everything. Like with diabetes... be alert and aware of everything that goes into your body. I'm gonna hit the Add Comment now ... :-)

What does "medically retired" mean? You've retired from a career in the medical field, or you've just said Enough to the fine art of keeping healthy?
I wish I could help you more with your diet choices, but mostly all I can offer is myself as a good bad example! I think I've made just about every mistake makeable, so I'll try to steer you away from my own bad judgement, but I've been so restricted in my own diet for so long, I really don't know what I can eat now and am seeing a dietitian again, with a whole new frame of mind (and a working set of teeth!). Maybe we can lean on one another as we plod through this medical morass together. I do know about redesigning my bathroom to work for me now!

Try to keep the faith about the MDeities.... I know it ain't easy. My butt doc has actually turned out to be a pretty good friend. He was the first to dx my diabetes as I was without a family doc at the time. He got me through some gruelling times with this ileostomy and through a lot of red tape at hospitals. I spend a lot of time there so it's really handy having someone like him (a head honcho) to smooth the way for me... which he does, even on his vacations. I try to 'give back' - helping his kids with their resumes, and him with his speeches at the university, and jokes - ooooodles of jokes :-) but I really have grown to appreciate the few good doctors I've gleaned from what seems like a lifetime of medical mismanagement. Try to keep an open mind. They ain't ALL bad. Remember 50% of all doctors graduated in the bottom half of their class!