"Sometimes you just wanna scream."

As you all know by now, Sue has been dealing with back issues. She has had her discogram. It was scheduled and just prior to it her family Dr. put her on a course of prednisone (6 days) and oh did she feel good for on Easter. However that day she started decreasing the strength and so did the good feelings decrease. Sue called her family Dr. to see if she could stay on the prednisone and the answer was a flat NO. Back to the discogram, it took forever to get it scheduled. It is a long story and it was frustrating to say the least but it got done. We realized that no follow up appointment was set so Sue called the neurosurgon's office and got the earliest one available which was June 5th. over 7 weeks away.

A week after the discogram (which by the way we won't go into other than to say, hope no one every has to experience one)Sue had a follow up visit with her family Dr. Sue told her that she wanted to hug her on Easter and said she was telling people how wonderful she was. The Dr replied, "so the prednisone made you crazy." Of course she was joking.

They discussed the reasons why she couldn't stay on the prednisone. Then the Dr. asked how Sue tolerated that awful test. Sue said, "well it isn't the most wonderful test in the world and she wouldn't like to go through it again, but to be honest, it isn't much worse pain wise than what she lives with each day." The Dr seemed very surprised. To which she responded, "really ?" Sue said,"yes."

The Dr asked when Sue was to go back to the neurosurgeon and when she was told June 5th she was appalled. Sue told her that was the first appointment she could get and she would have to wait until then to find out the results. The Dr. said that she had the results. So she went over them with her. She told her that her back is a "mess". Apparently there are 4 ruptures, and many tears. She also stated that there is a scale they use but that she not being a specialist doesn't know exactly what the numbers mean.

She asked what the neurosurgon was considering and they discussed it in great length. Sue told her she really wanted to avoid surgery but that she was to the point that she didn't know if she could deal much longer with the pain, but since Sue is adament about not taking pain medication there isn't much option. The Dr. said, "would you please try a medication I would like you to try"? To which Sue responded,"is it going to make me loopy?" The Dr. said it would be taken at bedtime and gradually build it up she wasn't sure of the effect it would have but taking it at bedtime would make Sue sleep more restfully and to please at least give it a try. So after thinking a few minutes Sue finally said she would try. So we are trying, and today is the 5th day and it has increased one time. There is a side effect that she does not like she is very sleepy in the afternoon but is hoping once her body builds up a tolerance to it that will go away. For now, we are trying and it seems to beginning to do something. We are praying for some relief and hoping maybe to avoid surgery.

Yesterday Sue got a voice mail on her cell phone. You won't believe this...this is where the "screaming" comes in. (the title of my blog) It was from the neurosurgeon's office. The office staff leaves much to be desired. Above we said we won't go into the scheduling of the discogram. Ok, Sue had it 2 weeks ago after a LOT of hassle to get it scheduled. The voice mail goes something like this, "Mrs. Hilt, this is Nurse.... from Dr. Young's office and we are calling because we see that you have an appointment scheduled for June 5th and when you were here in March they wanted you set up for a discogram and that the Clinic in Fishersville no longer does them so we need to set you up to have one over here in Richmond at Dr. ..... and he usually sets up a pre appointment but since you live so far away we thought maybe we could set up the pre appointment and the discogram the same day so you wouldn't have to have two trips to Richmond. We want to get this set up so we can have the results before you next visit in June." GOOD GRIEF. Sue called her back and of course got voice mail and left a message. Yet another nurse called back today and started all over again to which Sue told her she had already had the test...and her family Dr had the results and they should have them too. However Sue will go by the hospital here and get a CD of them and hand carry them when she comes June 5th just in case.

For now we are going one day at a time. We have great faith in our family Dr who has been wonderful to us and was great to Sue's mom and dad. Please keep good thoughts that this medicine will work without too many side effects and surgery can be avoided. Luv and hugs!