I am continually amazed by the medical community in both positive and negative ways. On the plus side, my primary care doctor is probably one of the most compassionate women I know and she has and is helping me more than any single physician I have worked with before. I saw her yesterday, told her of my situation over the weekend and she was supportive, understanding, and gave me solutions to my questions. What more can one ask for in a doctor? On the negative side, I had an arrogant spine doctor who one minute told me I was to have spinal L5 back fusion surgery if I followed his 12 easy steps,(meaning 12 weeks of rigorous physical therapy or physical terror as I call it) but then when I completed the 12 easy steps he decided I was miraculously cured by physical therapy and didn't need spinal fusion surgery after all. It's a miracle!! Or is it poor medical practice?
So, here's my situation and let's decide together. I know I have an impinged nerve at the L5 joint. Facet included. I am one of the lucky people who have a sixth lumbar vertebrae fused to that 5th as well. Together the L5S1 are giving me an enormous amount of trouble in my low back, sciatic area, down the length of my buttocks, the entire length of my leg down to my foot where I experience numbing, tingling and weakness. Over the weekend the flare I began experiencing over a week ago came to a head when the pain meds couldn't keep up with the pain and I was in a full on sciatic inflammatory pain problem that had I not had an appointment with another spine doctor (I was in 5th grade with) I would have been in the emergency room at Unity Hospital. Luckily, I was exploring my options, looking for second and third opinions and heard about Dr. Cohn from my good buddy from grade school, Steve Friese. I had made the Monday appointment about 10 days prior to my flare and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. Cohn had a cancelation and I was able to get an L5 injection that calmed things down considerably. Round two will be in two more weeks, the third shot two weeks after that. Amazing the different results one gets when asking different people.
Now, that morning, before leaving for that appointment, I received a call from Dr. X the other spine doctor who I had called, told I was miserable and would he inject me? He called to say no, that the shots didn't seem to work on me and that popping more pain pills and doing more PT would be my lot in life. Great. Now that is a great set of options don't you think? What a fabulous long term solutions, narcotics and exercise. Sorry, but I just don't buy it. I have to believe there's another way, I just do.
So, long story short, I go to Dr. Cohn get my injection, I am not perfect but I am a whole lot better and even decreased 10mg on my pain meds because I took this action. I went down 10mg while in a flare!! That is trust in my primary doctor and trust in the new spine guy.
However, the new spine guy suggested that I have a procedure called an EMG, which is painful first of all and I am a baby. I don't let anyone near me without some type of soothing medication on board and these spinal injections are nothing short of brutal. So, I did my research at home and found out that an EMG is an xray where they insert needles into the muscle of the inflamed area and gauge the muscles state at rest and during contraction. Now, here's what is really cool. I run this by my wonderful primary Dr. Wilkens and she says::" let's look at it this way. What is the point of the procedure. We know you have an issue with that area of your back, we know you have an inflamed L5S1 nerve that is wreaking havoc with your entire right side of your leg. Is it really all that important that we discover just how impinged the nerve is? Do we need to know exactly how bad/good the stenosis, spondelyosis or what ever that enormous word is, the degenerative disk disease, the blah, blah, blah, must we really need to know this in perfection or is it enough knowing that I have this issue and then how do we best treat it so I get the relief I am seeking, and learn how to handle the issue long term if surgery is not an option." Wow. How incredibly profound and said with such common sense. Now that is what I call a healer in a physician. There's a big difference in being a doctor and being a healer in my book. And Dr. Wilkens is a person who has been given the gift of healing. So, I am saying no to the EMG procedure because I don't need it. It is not a procedure that I require to tell me anything more than I already know about my little body and how broken it is. To do this to my body would add to stress and anxiety to me both physically, mentally, and spiritually and if I don't need it to ascertain an important question then I don't need to put myself through this. And I have the right to say NO.
My husband has really good common sense when it comes to this type of thing and he knows me and my body expertly because he has to watch the awful struggles that I have on a sometimes daily basis. Whether it be chronic pain or chronic illness (I have RA) he has been there for me for the past five years while I have struggled with this mess. He is the one that has given me the strength to stand up for myself in a doctor's office and say no to a procedure I don't think I need or say yes to something I do think I need. He's been my sounding board and my go-to guy and I love him all the more for his help, support, and loving guidance.
My next goal is to begin working with chronic pain psychologists at Maps and learn how the mind plays a role in chronic pain. I am hoping that this forum is a place where I may learn how to better deal with my chronic issues and how to deal with the cycle of stress, anxiety and pain. And I refuse to take any anti-depressants, period. I am going to get through this using every single resource available to me and trust in God more than I ever have before in my life. God will get me through this if I put all my faith in Him. It is in God where the true miracles lie. He can move the mountains that I need moved and my job is to do my homework and get the most experienced, Godly, gifted healing doctors I can find.
Oh, I am doing my first TM 20 minute meditation today. I will let you all know how that goes. My BFF has been doing TM for over 25 years and she swears by it. I know it can help calm my body. Calm the mind and the body will follow....so well said by Joan M. April.
More to come.....
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