Still Trying, Part II

For those of you who are reading this blog because you are thinking about having a spinal cord stimulator implant, I say this: For your sake (and for the sake of your sanity) I hope very much that, if you do decide to have the surgery, you do not have any complications afterward. Because if you do, there is a fair chance that you will have a hard time getting them resolved.

This post is not a rant (well, not completely anyway) and I will try my best not to be snarky. But I do feel that I have to share with you what's been going on for the last several weeks, for the sake of honesty, and of full disclosure. That is, after all, the point of this blog.

So, I told you last month about the new, very wrong feeling pain that I've been having, and the declaration by the NP that I saw that it seemed to be "some sort of complication." She guessed that it could maybe be an infection, and ordered blood work. She also told me to go back to the surgeon to see if he could figure anything out.

Now, when I had my post-op follow up with the surgeon, he said that he probably wouldn't see me again, unless there were any complications, or anything went wrong. As much as I had hoped I would never see him again, it would appear that now I need to. Unfortunately, when I called his office to make an appointment, his assistant told me, basically, that once I'm out of surgery they're pretty much done with me, and my other doctor needs to deal with it. (I'm paraphrasing, but that's pretty darn close. She said it pretty harshly, too.) Needless to say, I felt very blown off.

After several phone calls to several different people, I finally learned today that the pain clinic sent another referral to the surgeon (which is apparently what they had to have before they would consider seeing me.) I also learned that they sent it 15 days ago! Apparently the surgeon's office is still in no hurry to help me. (You have to love how painfully slowly everything in the medical field moves.) So, now that I know about it, I will call the office again tomorrow, with my fingers crossed, and hopefully they will finally agree to see me.

I also found out today that, so says the blood work, the problem is not caused by an infection. I guess that's good, but in a way I was kind of disappointed, because at least then we would have known what was going on instead of having to continue the tests and the guessing. But now they want me to have a CT scan. (The NP kind of had the same look on her face as she did when she suggested the blood work. She doesn't know what the CT might show, but hopes that maybe it will show something, 'cause she doesn't really have any other ideas.)

She also gave me a prescription for morphine. So, if you've been wondering just how painful and miserable this whole thing has been, that might give you some idea.

So there we are. Still trying. Still hopeful. (Still frustrated, but I think you can understand why.) I still maintain that the surgery was a good thing, though, despite all that's happened since. And I still believe that once we can figure out what the "complications" are and take care of things, life will be grand.

Still Trying

It occurred to me that my last post was kind of harsh. And, judging by some comments that I got from some of my readers, I guess maybe it was a little too harsh. ... On the other hand, I got a comment from another reader that complimented my honesty, and cited it as a reason to read this blog.

Now, the cynic in me could go with the old adage that "you just can't please people." But I'm not going to do that. Instead, I will just try to remember to always strike a balance between being honest and not being too honest.

For those of you who are wondering, we haven't yet figured anything out about the new pain issues that I told you about last time. I'm growing increasingly frustrated with my doctors, who don't seem all too interested in helping me. I'm sure they care on some level, but outwardly it sure doesn't show. It's getting tiresome, but I'm still hoping that I will get some answers eventually.

Fortunately for me, the stimulator and the new medication that I'm on have combined to make things a little easier, so I'm handling the pain better than I was. It's still there, though. And I'd still like to know what is causing it, and, you know, make it go away. But for now at least I can be happy that it's gotten a little easier to deal with.

So that's it. Nothing new, really, except that I'm dealing with the pain and frustration better than I was at the time of my last post. At least there's that, right? (And I knew some of you would want to know.)

But before I go, I do have to leave you with this. My kids have been running around the house singing this song a lot lately. And no matter how annoying the song might be, hearing my kids sing it just makes my day every time.