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Thursday, June 30, 2005
Pain in the back
Okay, where do I start!?! For anyone that doesn't know, I have a ruptured disc in my back. I've been in severe pain for a little over two years now. I've been submitted to test after test, been referred on from surgeon to surgeon, no one wanting to or willing to do surgery, or anything to try to help ease my pain and suffering. I finally ended up at a pain management specialist, Dr. Rupert. After willingly undergoing very painful injections into the joints and nerves around my bad disc with no success at relieving the pain, Dr. Rupert then referred me to Dr. Gornet in St. Louis. (At which time he also ordered me off work. Since I'd been working two jobs, I had to quit my job at the Humane Society, and I went off work from Berry Plastics on short term disability.) In Dr. Rupert's words, Gornet is the best there is, that he has the best success rate.
I was finally able to meet with him in April of this year, just about 2 years after the pain started! We'll just say that Dr. Gornet does NOT know the meaning of bedside manner. He was very rude to me, especially after making me wait for 3 hours, after driving about 3 hours to get to him in St. Louis. He told me that just because I had the prescriptions for the meds that I had, that I was a drug addict, even though I barely, very, very rarely ever took any of them. Needless to say I didn't care too much for the man, but he did say that he could fix me. He said he would do disc replacement surgery on me, as long as I agreed to go completely off any and all meds. I have complete faith in Dr. Rupert, if he says the jerk can fix me, then I believe him. So, lucky for me, I was already a couple days off of taking any meds. Dr. Gornet ordered that I needed to be off everything for at least 6 to 8 weeks before he would even consider doing my surgery. He also insisted that I follow up with Dr. Rupert regularly, for drug screening, because he doesn't trust me.
Since then, I have had all 3 drug screens come back completely negative, absolutely nothing in my system. Of course during this time, the pain has gotten much worse, and now without even the hope of some med helping to dull the pain, at least long enough for me to try to get some sleep, I've been miserable. I rarely get any decent sleep. I can barely move most days. Most of the time I have to rely on J to help me up off the floor, off the couch, out of bed, etc. There have been many times when I've hurt so bad I couldn't move, felt paralyzed, and he's had to literally carry me into the bathroom, then back to bed. To put it mildly, things have been sucky-poo for us.
After my last appointment with Dr. Rupert a few days ago, in which I was in tears the whole appointment because I hurt so bad, he promised to call Dr. Gornet everyday if that's what it takes to convince him to move up my surgery to get me in there ASAP. (Dr. Rupert's nurses were shocked and told me that he's never done that before, and that they've never seen him go to bat like this before for any other patient. I knew I loved him for a reason!! He's the best doctor I've even seen.) He also promised me that if Dr. Gornet couldn't or wouldn't move up my surgery, then he would refer me to someone would schedule me and get me in for surgery immediately. As it stands right now, my follow up with Dr. Gornet is July 11th, at which time he has promised to schedule me for surgery. However, he was so booked when I saw him in April, that if he's still that booked, then I'll be lucky to get in for surgery before October. We'll see, I'll keep everyone posted.
In the meantime, Dr. Rupert agreed to send me to High Pointe Rehab, so I could get my very own home TENS unit, a portable E-stim. Which basically works like this. I put these electrodes on my back, then hook them up to the machine, and it sends electrical impulses into my back. It helped give me some relief when I used it during physical therapy last year. Only now, I have a portable one that I can use whenever I need to, and I can take it with me and use it just about anywhere. I just got it today, but so far it seems to be helping at least a little, taking a bit of the edge off the pain. It has a timer, so the lady said I could even use it to try to go to sleep. Which it does help with. So, at least there's a little happiness in all this yuckiness. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll update again later when there's more.
I was finally able to meet with him in April of this year, just about 2 years after the pain started! We'll just say that Dr. Gornet does NOT know the meaning of bedside manner. He was very rude to me, especially after making me wait for 3 hours, after driving about 3 hours to get to him in St. Louis. He told me that just because I had the prescriptions for the meds that I had, that I was a drug addict, even though I barely, very, very rarely ever took any of them. Needless to say I didn't care too much for the man, but he did say that he could fix me. He said he would do disc replacement surgery on me, as long as I agreed to go completely off any and all meds. I have complete faith in Dr. Rupert, if he says the jerk can fix me, then I believe him. So, lucky for me, I was already a couple days off of taking any meds. Dr. Gornet ordered that I needed to be off everything for at least 6 to 8 weeks before he would even consider doing my surgery. He also insisted that I follow up with Dr. Rupert regularly, for drug screening, because he doesn't trust me.
Since then, I have had all 3 drug screens come back completely negative, absolutely nothing in my system. Of course during this time, the pain has gotten much worse, and now without even the hope of some med helping to dull the pain, at least long enough for me to try to get some sleep, I've been miserable. I rarely get any decent sleep. I can barely move most days. Most of the time I have to rely on J to help me up off the floor, off the couch, out of bed, etc. There have been many times when I've hurt so bad I couldn't move, felt paralyzed, and he's had to literally carry me into the bathroom, then back to bed. To put it mildly, things have been sucky-poo for us.
After my last appointment with Dr. Rupert a few days ago, in which I was in tears the whole appointment because I hurt so bad, he promised to call Dr. Gornet everyday if that's what it takes to convince him to move up my surgery to get me in there ASAP. (Dr. Rupert's nurses were shocked and told me that he's never done that before, and that they've never seen him go to bat like this before for any other patient. I knew I loved him for a reason!! He's the best doctor I've even seen.) He also promised me that if Dr. Gornet couldn't or wouldn't move up my surgery, then he would refer me to someone would schedule me and get me in for surgery immediately. As it stands right now, my follow up with Dr. Gornet is July 11th, at which time he has promised to schedule me for surgery. However, he was so booked when I saw him in April, that if he's still that booked, then I'll be lucky to get in for surgery before October. We'll see, I'll keep everyone posted.
In the meantime, Dr. Rupert agreed to send me to High Pointe Rehab, so I could get my very own home TENS unit, a portable E-stim. Which basically works like this. I put these electrodes on my back, then hook them up to the machine, and it sends electrical impulses into my back. It helped give me some relief when I used it during physical therapy last year. Only now, I have a portable one that I can use whenever I need to, and I can take it with me and use it just about anywhere. I just got it today, but so far it seems to be helping at least a little, taking a bit of the edge off the pain. It has a timer, so the lady said I could even use it to try to go to sleep. Which it does help with. So, at least there's a little happiness in all this yuckiness. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll update again later when there's more.
Posted by: LLH / 5:25 PM 
