Have I mentioned how AMAZING my surgeon is?

Interesting title given how I have felt the last two weeks. About two weeks ago, the pain changed. I called the Docs office and they said it was normal, gave me a list of symptoms to be careful of and that was that. Then - the meds STOPPED working. Don't get me wrong, they have never taken away 100% of the pain but they made life tolerable while I healed. Well, when they just stopped, I got a tad worried. I looked online to see max doses of the narcotics I was on and upped the dosage myself (bad I know). That didn't work. I stopped all narcs thinking it was rebound pain and I was addicted. That didn't work. Finally, after about 9 days of wanting to die, regretting my surgery and in tears every day, I broke down and called the Docs office again.

Spoke with his nurse, who knows me and she was surprised given how I was home the day after the surgery and how amazing I was moving around at my first follow-up. She never dismissed my pain but admitted her hands were a tad tied in what to do. There wasn't anything stronger she could call in for me. We decided to try a different narcotic, in hopes that maybe I had built a tolerance to the percocets and a different narc would help. I was instructed to call back if that didn't work and then I would need to be seen.

Well, a few hours after I took the vicodin I knew - we were going in. It didn't help at all. Called the Docs office and they said to head to the ER and they would call ahead and let them know I was coming in. I have never been to an ER just for pain, nor have I been to an ER when my Doctor told me to so I expected to be treated nice. Well, that didn't happen. I was shocked at how poorly I was treated, it is The University of Michigan for goshs's sake and they were all so amazing to me after my surgery. The nurses ignored me, the Doctor was rude and condescending and I was ticked!

They ordered a CAT scan, gave me joke meds that did nothing and then we saw one of the resident's from my surgery. He came in and said that I was officially under the ER care and I told him how rude they were and he said not to worry - they had a plan. Within minutes, the idiot Doctor was nice to me and told me I was being admitted but he didn't know why. While i was relieved that I would be back under my own Doctor's care, being admitted after a CAT scan scared me. They threw out several options when I got there - aseptic meningitis, cervical instability and a spinal fluid leak. None of which would be good answers. I was scared, annoyed, hungry and wanted to smoke.

We finally got upstairs after about 3 hours (they told me some people had to wait 23 hours so I guess I was lucky?) and was back on the Neuro floor. Super nice nurse. Resident came in again, said the CAT scan looked good but they have more tests ordered and new meds. They gave me some serious narc and sadly, after an hour and a half, the pain was back full swing and I was miserable. CAT scan came at 2 AM for a contrast scan and I slept an hour at a time all night. By morning I was not a happy camper. The resident came in and said they cannot see any reason for my pain and that's about it. When he left, I saw no hope. I thought - I am going to be one of the horror stories I read about of people who have Chiari and have no life. I was in tears and so sad.

Out of nowhere a Doctor from the pain clinic came in. Hmmm - maybe there is hope? He did an exam, asked me a ton of questions and said he thinks my pain is all from the tightness of my muscles and skin and my nerves regenerating. He changed ALL my meds and he really seemed to think he could help me. Hope. YAY! Saw a few more people from my Doctors team as well as my actual Doctor, all just checking on me. Amazing how many came to see me. I was really treated like a queen. My pain was not dismissed. I was not treated like I was drug seeking nor was I treated like living like this was optional.

The best news was that everything from the surgery itself looks amazing! That was a huge relief. With all the pain I had, I was sure something was wrong. So, I was sent home with new meds and hope.

I woke up the next morning and that sharp pain was GONE! Praise God the Neurontin and Lidoderm patch worked! Best part is they are not narcotic so addiction and tolerance are not something I have to fear. I hate being on meds but really hate being on narcs. I have had addiction issues in the past and that is one of my biggest fears - being able to control the pain without getting addicted. Again - Praise be to God - I have been on major narcs for two months now and no addiction :-)

So - all is well once again in my soul. I do not feel 100% but I have not cried, nor have I regretted the surgery. I am just amazed at how well my surgeon handled this situation, how the pain clinic docs figured it out and how the meds worked!! I am one happy camper who has her hope restored. I enjoyed an amazing day with hubby. We went to breakfast, dinner AND a movie! What a treat for us.

The pain clinic Docs have me hopeful for when I have to stop the prednisone. I am on steroids for my siatic pain - it is the only med that works but you cannot be on that long term. The plan is surgery down the road to fix the back but I am nowhere near ready so Dr. Sullivan had said before surgery that he would refer me to the pain clinic to handle the back pain until I could do surgery. Maybe they can actually get it under control and I can enjoy my summer before I go through this again?