been a long week ... long from over. I don't know if anyone is actually reading this ... but I can't get a blog on here yet ... so ...
UPDATE: Fri. Aug. 9: Tuesday morning - went to Primary care dr....MISERABLE, at about a 5(overall) on pain scale (for the last 6 days) HOPING to get a FEW DAYS of pain meds ... she got up and LEFT THE ROOM while i was explaining my conditions and going to ask for meds ... i was sent to get MRI of lumbar on wed. (in order to get referral for pain mgmt)... got it (I walked out with a disc of MRI) the radiologist is across the street from primary dr.btw ... wednesday pain got worse ... no sleep, feet swelled to the point of bursting, at a solid 8.5 on the pain scale for a full 36 hrs ... I emailed the dr. at 6:30 am Thursday morning ... here is the email ... please read my earlier posts if u havent already (sorry about the ranting)

I wanted to pass on info that the pain mgmt office may ask you for ... my left femur rod was done at liberty oct. 2004, left foot pinned and right calcanius was reconstructed at KU in nov. 04, epidurals, nerve blocks, tinge unit trial at midwest spinal, and numerous mri through the same place i went yesterday and north kc hospital. since seeing you tuesday, conditions improved ... but my pain levels have increased since then. Tuesday my back was at 4, left foot at 2, and right foot was at 4 ... since then they have gone crazy !! I have been trying to manage them (like I always do) with heat/ice, rest, elevation, stretching/exercises, meditation techniques, aleve and/or enzyme/vitamin supplements, etc. It is 6:20 am thursday morning and my back is at 6-7, my left foot at 5, and right foot is at 8.5 (both feet are swelled up really bad also) it is not nueropathic (not sure about the term) and I also had 3 - 10/325 hydrocodone tablets i saved from a prescription I got when I had 23 teeth pulled in february ... they knocked it down for 4-5 hrs yesterday, and I will gladly come in to show you, if you could please give me enough meds to knock this down for a few days ... please feel free to contact me at XXX-XXX-XXXX with any questions or concerns !!! like i said i am in severe distress and can not afford to go to the ER ... 200 - 300 dollars is very hard for me to come by ... thanks

She NEVER replied,called, nurse didn't call or anything ... left to suffer thru it ... (she received the email at 8:52 am Thu)

Friday - The nurse from my dr. office calls me at 3:30 pm ... tells me "uuuuuhhh, we got your MRI results back ... uuhhhh ... you have 5 herniated discs and spinal stenosis (closing of spinal column of nerves) ... uhhhh ... we recommend that you go see a neurosurgeon as soon as possible" keep in mind there are only like 7 discs in the lumbar, and ONE of those is COMPLETELY GONE !! 2 vertebra are sitting on top of each other flat, no gap at all !! and the rest of my back is not much better ... but no MRI of that.

I asked her "did you get the referral to the pain mgmt office taken care of, they WILL NOT CONSIDER taking me as a patient until they get proof I am in need of it ??" she sez "you mean for the neurosurgeon?? i didn't know about pain mgmt referral???" and she digs a little and says "OH OK ... I will send that off too !!!" I asked for the referral to pain mgmt on JULY 26th !!!!!! I was in pain then (as always) She told me i wouldn't need one ... i called PM and they read me the riot act and rattled off the list of things MY PRIMARY CARE DR needs to send for me to "BE CONSIDERED FOR TREATMENT" ... SO I WENT BACK TO PRIMARY DR (using term loosely) in order to MAKE HER send the stuff to PM. ... I CALLED BACK TO MAKE SURE THE REFERRAL GOT TO PAIN MGMT ... to my surprise ... THEY ACTUALLY DID IT !!! although I am SUPREMELY CONFIDENT the PM office will NOT HAVE all of the things I need "TO BE CONSIDERED FOR TREATMENT"

2 WEEKS TO GET A REFERRAL SENT TO AN OFFICE !! OH BTW ... NO PAIN MEDS EITHER ... THEY MRI'D A SMALL PART OF MY BACK, SAW HOW MESSED UP IT IS (and at the moment is only about 1/3 of source of pain) AND STILL WON'T GIVE MEDS ... i didn't even bother to ask today !! ROFLMAO !!!!!!!!

I HAVE NEVER BEEN LABELED AN ADDICT ... granted ... I needed some help getting off them after the initial accident, and I have managed my intake, intentionally NOT taken them as long as I can stand the pain ... I have been on and off of them for 8 yrs and know all of the pitfalls, DO EVERYTHING I POSSIBLY CAN TO MANAGE CONDITIONS AND PAIN THRU ANY OTHER METHOD (supplements/exercises/rest/avoidance/etc) THERE IS NO REASON ANY DR. COULDN'T AND SHOULDN'T PRESCRIBE A FEW DAYS, WEEKS OR EVEN MONTHS OF PAIN KILLERS FOR ME !!!??? I WAS TOLD NOT TO EVEN BOTHER GOING TO THE E.R., THEY WON'T GIVE PAIN MEDS TO ANYONE EVEN IF I WALKED IN THERE WITH MY SKULL SPLIT OPEN !!!

HOW LONG WOULD MY DOCTOR LET HER DOG TRY AND LIVE WITH PAIN LIKE THIS ???? SHE WOULD HAVE IT PUT TO SLEEP IF SHE COULDN'T HELP IT ANY ... BUT ME ... IT TAKES 2 FULL WEEKS TO GET A REFERRAL TO "BE CONSIDERED FOR TREATMENT" BY A PAIN SPECIALIST ????