January 15, 2013 – Tuesday
For some reason, my pain level on Sunday was off the charts. No matter what I did or took, I could not get it to abate. But by Monday, it felt a bit better, maybe because I took a Gabapentin for the nerve pain. However, that halfway decent feeling did not last. I saw the famous pain management doctor who proceeded to rattle off, in a very stiff and uncompassionate way, all my options. He didn’t even call me Marilyn—he called me Ma’am. He basically told me why nerve blocks, steroid injections, etc. will not work for the problems I have. He did, however, give me a prescription for Lyrica, a new drug for nerve pain and send me back to the original doctor who did my steroid injections. I took the drug last night and experienced dizziness (a side effect) until early this morning, but it seemed to lessen the nerve pain a bit. The dizziness wore off completely about an hour after I was up, so maybe that was not so bad. What amazed me was that there was a total lack of empathy on his part. What happened to the art of the bedside manner? I just don’t remember doctors being so aloof and distant when I was a child. Now you call the office and you NEVER get through to the actual doctor, just the nurse, who relays (supposedly) the message to the surgeon. Since my surgery 2 months ago, I have seen the surgeon exactly 1 time and that is it—pretty sad! I submitted a letter to the surgeon and the nurse (more for me to vent than anything) telling them how shocked I was with their determination that I was “work ready.” I sure don’t expect any kind of response at all and I am not even sure if the surgeon ever got the letter at all. But, I felt better. I had a massage today too but felt very mentally bad afterwards. The reason is that I just had to admit that I may never return to that line of work at all. I cannot ever see that happening because you have to be physically able and I am not at all. I also met someone I knew at the Y who is the epitome of physical fitness. She was aghast to see me meandering slowly with my cane out the door so she wanted the scoop. I told her my sad story and she said she has been advised to undergo spinal surgery due to constant pain in her legs and arms, etc. I said she should think long and hard about that because back surgery is really hit or miss. There is an alarmingly high percentage of failed back surgeries (Post-laminectomy syndrome) where the patient has no relief or is even worse off than before. I think I fall into the latter category. If I had known this I never would have had this surgery. Now I just have to try to find a way to get better, or at least accept this hand that God has dealt me.