In all honesty, I've been wondering the same thing myself. You see, since starting back to work on my regular schedule, things are kind of on hold right now. There just isn't a lot of time for extra things like writing a blog post. Work and the anticipation of starting another semester of school have been getting the best of me, as well as medical issues and appointments.
As you are aware (if you have read my previous blog post), I have a new diagnosis to add to my list: Interstitial Cystitis. I believe I gave an abbreviated explanation of what IC is and some of what is known about it (there really isn't much known, at all).
Last week I had an appointment with a pain specialist. This actually wasn't my brain child, (which is amazing, as I haven't really dealt with many medical professionals that are "on the ball" lately). Dr. L is the one who decided I should see a pain specialist. Funny thing is, Dr. S, the pain specialist and I have met before. Turns out he was my ER doctor when I was in for the GTC seizure I had on August 28th. He was the doctor I convinced to discharge me due to the fact that they were not finding reasons for these seizures, the tests they were running cost a lot of money, and I was not actively seizing at the time, nor was I in status. The first time I was in the ER for a seizure, I understood their reasoning for keeping me as I had been seizing for a minimum of thirty minutes. They gave me at least one loading dose of Ativan, and I believe they gave me another smaller dose postictal. But that's neither here nor there.
I really like Dr. S. Not just because he agreed to discharge me that day. It's also because of his philosophy as a pain specialist. He says "Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional". I am very happy to have him as a part of my care team. During my appointment, I talked to the nurse and then to a nurse practitioner before I saw Dr. S. They really did not have any information to go with the referral from urology. I can't say I'm overly surprised about this. I've been dealing with many people dragging their feet in the medical community for years. However, going through this so many times gets frustrating to put it mildly. Another situation which is neither here nor there.
During my appointment, Dr. S told me he wanted to perform what is called a "Hypogastric Plexus Block". To put it simply, it's a cortisone shot that is below the belly button. They use an x-ray to monitor the placement of the needle, but of course before the injection they inject a numbing medication in the area. I was also given Versed and Fentanyl before they did the procedure. The procedure went fairly well. I was nervous beforehand, which is very normal for me. No matter how many procedures I've had, I always get nervous, without fail.
Dr. S also said that my back looks "pretty bad" just by looking at the x-rays. I have a spine MRI scheduled for tomorrow, which is slightly less than twelve hours from now. My guess is that in addition to scoliosis progression, it will also likely show progression of Degenerative Disc Disease, which they found in the last MRI they did of my spine. We'll just have to see how it goes.
I am awaiting a call from the pharmacy on one of the prescriptions Dr. L wanted me on. They told me my insurance had to preauthorize it. Not a big deal really, but this was the day before Christmas Eve! It has been almost two weeks now and I have heard nothing. I'm not sure if it's because of the fact that the pharmacy hasn't received the preauthorization or it's because they have not called me to inform me that I can pick up said prescription. More frustrations regarding medical stuff. UGH.
There are several other things I could blog about. However, that would take up an insane amount of space. So for now, I may as well stop. More to come hopefully in the near future. There's been a lot going on in my mind and in my heart.
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