I have a long term illness. I have been ill for many years and didn’t know it. If you have patience for my story, please continue reading, otherwise here is your out. I would take it if I could, but I am stuck with it forever. But if you are brave and continue, don’t feel sorry for me. Celebrate, because each day is a gift.
Twelve years ago, I had a few of surgeries, one of which was called a “Bilateral Mitchell’s”. That is a fancy name for a bunionectomy. It hurt like hell, really didn’t fix the problem and it sure didn’t make my feet look pretty. But you live and learn that doctor’s really do not know everything… that is the reason that they practice medicine.
So in the succession of my devolving, I have found that I am latex intolerant. (I really don’t know what they put in that rubber, but it makes me bleed if left on me long enough. Same for band-aids. Come on! Really?) I am allergic to quite a few medications. I have Restless Leg Syndrome. I am Hypoglycemic. And the new one… Fibromyalgia. This is the one that is really bad news and I have obviously suffered with for many years and didn’t know it. And for you naysayers… it is REAL. I hope you never get it.
Rewind. Last Year I had really had enough of my feet hurting so badly that I felt like I couldn’t walk. I had to force myself to get up and face my day. The pain was affecting my hips and back because of the way I had to get moving. I went to an Orthopaedic doctor who got me fitted for orthotics. WHAT A NIGHTMARE!!! I won’t go here. That memory makes me angry and I get ugly. Anyway, They did what they could and finally sent me to a podiatrist. LOVE HIM! Dr. Taylor is the BEST!!! He listened and sent me to a pain management center to schedule a pain conduction test. This was a bad experience. Short of throwing me up against a wall and doing a body cavity check, they treated me like a common criminal. They wanted me to sign a contract signing me over to them. YES! I am NOT kidding! I ended up turning that guy in to the AMA and wrote him a letter telling him I didn’t need a drug dealer. Funny thing is… I never met him. His staff caused the whole problem. I immediately left that office and told Dr. Taylor that he needed to not send people to this guy. So Dr. Taylor sent me to Dr. Hasan, a Neurologist for this test.
I met Dr. Hasan and we discussed what was going on. He sent me for and MRI for lower lumbar and then we were going to meet back in a couple of weeks and have the conduction test. I took my husband with me and he went back in the room. (I don’t do pain very well, isn’t this ironic?) So, we sit there while Dr. Hasan explains to me that it really isn’t my feet that are my problem, although they are not nifty as far as feet go. The problem are a few bulging discs and quite a few Tarlov cysts, to which I am going to have to be sent tot a Neurosurgeon for possible removal. *GASP!* Then we get on with the conduction test. For those of you that don’t know what a conduction test is, it is a machine that kind of looks like a fancy battery and they stick cables in it and they put these little stickies on your and clamp the cables to you. Then the doctor plunges a HUGE needle into your muscle and turns on the juice from said machine to see how your nerves take it. Now… I want to remind everyone that I don’t do pain. I help my husbands hand, laid there, gritted my teeth and took it, while tears ran out the sides of my eyes. I never said a word. I never screamed out loud. And when the torture was over, the Dr. said, “I am proud of you. I didn’t think you’d be able to go through it.” His diagnosis was that he thought I had Fibromyalgia. He medicated me with Lyrica and then he then farmed me out to Dr. Katz at Emery Spine Center.
Dr. Katz. Not much to say about his bedside manner other than he is professional. That is fine by me because Dr. House types aren’t my cup of tea. Dr. Katz said that the cysts were inoperable. He also confirmed the Fibromyalgia verdict.He also told me to not look it up on the internet. He said there are a ton of crazy people out there spewing crap about this disease and all I need to know is that it is REAL and that it can be managed.
I then had to find a primary that I could trust to go along with my Endocrinologist, Neurologist, Neurosurgeon/Orthopaedist. I let my Endocrinologist do the honors and she picked Dr. Ghosh for me. He is AWESOME!!! So is on the same page as all of the other people with regards to me. I even had a flare up (I call them episodes) in his office and was he ever amazed at it. He was so astonished, he called his Rhematoid Dr. friend in to witness it. I have no shame. Come on in…. Enjoy me perform!
So here I am, months and month later. I have had my share of changing meds due to ever increasing dosages and not being able to handle the higher dosages or Drs. trying the latest greatest thing and me puking my brains out because well… I can’t tolerate the chemicals. I have even gone to the extreme of having facet joint injections in my lower back to try to eliminate some of this hell which is my life. Hello… didn’t work. I will never do that again. And now you are up to date as well… and this is the condensed version.
- Gigi
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