Yesterday I had an appointment with Dr. Ahmed, the anesthesia pain doctor. First I met with his assistant/resident and was asked a million questions and then examined. More agony. Then the doctor came in, he was very nice, but of course had to do his own exam, so more torture. I was a wreck yesterday with pain from all the twisting and moving and bending.
Anyway, first the resident mentioned something about having an electric stim implanted in my neck with a battery pack under my skin on my hips. My hips are big enough and I don't really like the thought of having things implanted in me that shouldn't be there. I said that sounds a bit too permanent for me. I was quite surprised he mentioned it even before mentioning the epidural. A bit fishy, perhaps he's doing some sort of study with it. He also told me he thinks I have a rotator cuff problem and wants me to have an MRI. I said fine, I've been trying to get the doctors to give me one for 3 years, but I can't do it until my neck is sorted because I can't lie down on my back flat. Then he asks if I've had an X-ray study of my neck to see if it's lax. I was like - dude! seriously? My whole body is lax - that is why I was diagnosed with HEDS/ hypermobility disorder! I told him I wasn't going to waste my time and money (and I don't need the extra radiation, Lord knows I've had more than my fair share) on something that we all know is a fact already. It's not like it's going to prove something and give us a magical solution to fix this. I passed along this info to Dr. Panagos who said, and I quote, "The name of the game is strengthening. Of course you are lax because of the EDS. There is a rotator cuff component to everything, but I think it is related to your neck versus a separate problem. Once your neck feels better, we will see how much pain is originating from the rotator cuff." I'm going with my trust in him, he knows my body slightly better.
Anyway, Dr. Ahmed was very nice and at said I could have the epidural. I asked him how soon and he said he'd check the calender. First he came back and said the earliest was the 20th! I looked right at him and said there was no way I was going to make it that long. (Today is 7 weeks of this crap!). He went back and then a few minutes later returned saying he could ask some other doctors to shuffle around so he could get the OR on Tuesday afternoon (not his usually scheduled time). I was so so grateful.
Then of course something had to happen. Right before I left work last night I received a message from Dr. Wu's office that he wanted to do one more test. I flipped, especially since I tried to ring back directly and they had the service on already. I spoke to his office this morning and the assistant knew nothing and said I could ring Dr. Wu in Queens after 11am. I have to find out what this is about because now that I'm scheduled for Monday morning (oh - did I forget to mention that? Dr. Ahmed's office just rang and said they had a cancellation for Monday am so they gave it to me!) I am not wanting to delay the procedure for some blood test when everything else has come back perfectly normal.
The stress is killing me! Fingers crossed it all works out and I can have this sorted on Monday!
