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icarusGot an email from my Dad:
"The bones of my neck look like Sylvester Pussycat's tail after he's stuck his tongue in a light socket. X-rays don't lie, I saw it myself today.
Rheumatologist Michael Blackmkore comments, "Oh my god, look at that!" Not much of a bedside manner, but then there was no bed, just an office, a light box and the x-ray prints.
I have degenerative disc disease and some form of arthritis in my neck that makes bone spurs form all over the vertebrae, and the spaces between them shrink so the nerves don't have room to be there anymore. Nerves get nervous under these conditions and send out pain signals to the brain. You can bribe the brain with drugs not to respond, but like junkies everywhere the brain goes to the highest bidder. When the drugs wear off the nerves are right there kicking the pain gong and you're off again. It's a mess.
The x-rays are dated Jan '03 but I chose not to ask why the doctor had only just looked at them today. The important thing is I got his attention finally by sending him a well-composed letter describing life with pain and asking him what the future looked like for me. He doesn't know. He's ordering up a series of blood tests, CT scans and MRI's to determine the
exact nature of my problem and what the indicated treatment would be. If it's Osteo, that is, wear and tear, arthritis all he can do is pain management and fusion surgery to immobilize the bad joints. If it's Soriatic there are still drug treatments that may work.
The doctor points to a particularly ugly spot on the ray and I locate it with my finger on my neck. Yep, that's a painful spot, okay. And those spurs would explain that snapping sound when I move my head?
By the end of the interview, which was rushed because the doctor was running behind schedule, I felt a bit queasy. Got a feeling this is only the beginning.
Advice? If you have any inkling, the barest hint of any skeletal issue, back pain, pronnation in the arches, ...deal with it now. Don't go through this."
~*~*~
Any ideas, anyone?
"The bones of my neck look like Sylvester Pussycat's tail after he's stuck his tongue in a light socket. X-rays don't lie, I saw it myself today.
Rheumatologist Michael Blackmkore comments, "Oh my god, look at that!" Not much of a bedside manner, but then there was no bed, just an office, a light box and the x-ray prints.
I have degenerative disc disease and some form of arthritis in my neck that makes bone spurs form all over the vertebrae, and the spaces between them shrink so the nerves don't have room to be there anymore. Nerves get nervous under these conditions and send out pain signals to the brain. You can bribe the brain with drugs not to respond, but like junkies everywhere the brain goes to the highest bidder. When the drugs wear off the nerves are right there kicking the pain gong and you're off again. It's a mess.
The x-rays are dated Jan '03 but I chose not to ask why the doctor had only just looked at them today. The important thing is I got his attention finally by sending him a well-composed letter describing life with pain and asking him what the future looked like for me. He doesn't know. He's ordering up a series of blood tests, CT scans and MRI's to determine the
exact nature of my problem and what the indicated treatment would be. If it's Osteo, that is, wear and tear, arthritis all he can do is pain management and fusion surgery to immobilize the bad joints. If it's Soriatic there are still drug treatments that may work.
The doctor points to a particularly ugly spot on the ray and I locate it with my finger on my neck. Yep, that's a painful spot, okay. And those spurs would explain that snapping sound when I move my head?
By the end of the interview, which was rushed because the doctor was running behind schedule, I felt a bit queasy. Got a feeling this is only the beginning.
Advice? If you have any inkling, the barest hint of any skeletal issue, back pain, pronnation in the arches, ...deal with it now. Don't go through this."
~*~*~
Any ideas, anyone?
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It's a squeeky wheel problem, not a healthcare problem
Date: 2004-03-19 04:31 pm (UTC)If it makes you feel better, drugs for severe chronic pain beat the hell out of sobriety. I have a family member spending over $1K/month on scrips (powerful stuff like oxycontin patches, etc.) and I'd much rather have her loopy than staring at the ceiling with the grey "just let me die" look on her face. She couldn't do anything sober and crippled with pain, but she can act alive with the meds. (Stroke induced brain damage - diet and crystals and meditation weren't going to heal a dead part of her brain faster than she was willing herself to die, but the meds make her feel better and that works for me, and her).
Last bit of advice: don't dis the nurse practitioners. Doctors don't heal you in the hospital, nurses do. And you have to participate in your own recovery, no matter which is treating you. I've got one of each in the family, and I'd sooner make a "they're useless" call based on age than degree. Not that either matters - medicine is at best an inexact science.
So be glad the Xray wasn't sent to Pune, India to be read by a radiologist there, and tell your dad to apply his advertizing skills to convincing the doc that he needs more treatment and more information on self-care and all his treatment options. (And while he's at it, he could fill you in, too).
Good luck and stay strong.