Mon, Jan 24, 2011

Monday, January 24, 2011

9:55 AM

Good morning, well, not so much really. Let me explain.

Okay, I've probably mentioned all of this before, but bare with me while I re-cap what's happened, and now what's happening.

On Sept. 29 last year I had my first implant surgery to help mask the pain in my hand and forearm. While it was working, I began to think that it might actually do some good in the long run. But on Thanksgiving day, Nov. 25th, the implant quit working. I felt this massive surge of electricity go up over my scalp, twice, until there was just nothing. I called everyone possible and being a holiday, I could only leave messages. So the next day, Nov. 26th, I went to the local hospital, La Paz Regional Hospital. I was afraid that there might be a leak in the battery or some other problem. So they did what they had to, ran some X-rays and said that I should be fine until the original surgeon was able to determine the problem.

Fortunately the following Monday, the 29th of November, I had already had an appointment scheduled with Dr. Lai, my pain management doctor. Plus I got lucky and was able to meet with Melisa, the implant rep, before my appointment with Lai. Melisa said that the unit shorted out or something. Whatever was wrong, was bad enough that it failed all of the diagnostic tests that she could run. She said she would fill in Dr. Bergey and for me to call and schedule an appointment with his office. Both Melisa and I explained the problem with the implant to Erin, Dr. Lai's PA. She said to go ahead with that plan and let her know what was going to be the next step.

On Wednesday, December 1st, I had an appointment with a Dr. Feldman, a psychiatrist that the insurance company wanted me to see. After about 5 hours, most of which was filling out paperwork, I'm serious. I felt like I wrote a book. I explained to him that the implant was causing me problems and that the pain in my hand and forearm were driving me nuts, I just cannot keep on dealing with this. He said that wanted me to look into getting help from St. Judes Medical Center in Los Angeles and that they have a chronic pain center I should get involved with. He also said that my life is being controlled by my arm, and that needs to change.

On December 6th, it had been a week and a half since the implant quit working, and everyday my hand seemed to be getting more and more sore. The pain was getting so much worse than before that I was taking just about one of everything I had every few hours. I called Dr. Bergey's office at 10:23mst and left a voice mail with Jessica to see about getting in to have the implant looked at. At 10:52mst I called Dr. Lustig to see what my options were, I was in so much pain, I just didn't know who to turn to. I was told to call Dr. Lai's office because he is my pain management doctor.

So at 11:30mst I called Dr. Lai's office and spoke to Holly, she is my nurse, or liaison to determine who I needed to see or what my needs were. I explained to her how much pain I was in since the implant quit working and that the pain was increasingly getting worse. She said that I needed to talk to Elena, in the back room. She handles all of the meds and prescriptions. So Holly transferred me and I got Elena's voice mail. I left her a message to call me back as soon as possible.

Well I gave Elena the rest of that week and called back again on the 10th at 1:40pm mst and left another message, but then I remember that the office was closed on Fridays. So I called again on Monday, the 13th at 9:10am mst and left another voice mail with Elena explaining that I needed something to help with the pain. I got no return call so I called again on Tuesday the 14th at 9:40am mst and left another voice mail. And I called again at 10:46. I called one more time on the 17th at 8:25am mst and left yet another voice mail.

Later that day, the 17th, I had an appointment with Dr. Bergey. We needed to talk about what was going on with the implant and determine what the next move was going to be. I also explained to Dr. Bergey that I had been trying to get some stronger pain meds from Dr. Lai's office and I had left a number of messages but no one has returned my call. So I asked him if he could get me something strong enough to help with the pain. He wrote me a prescription for Oxycontin 20mg and to take 2 - 3 times a day.

Okay, so I'm starting to get the pain under control, it's going from a 20 to a 15, and that’s on a scale from 1-10.

I go to my next appointment with Dr. Lai on the 30th and it is with his PA, Erin. She begins to tell me that they, Desert Pain and Rehabilitation, is no longer going to treat me because I began taking beds prescribed by Dr. Bergey. I about dropped my jaw to the floor. I explained to Erin that I had called Elena and left her messages a number of times and got no return call. And because of that they were tossing me aside. I told her that was childish and I couldn't believe what they were doing.

Well now it's time, it's January 4th, 2011. I went to Dr. Bergey's in Colton to have my implant re-done. I wasn't sure what all they were going to be doing, I just had an idea that they were going to possibly even wake me up in the middle of the surgery so they could ask me if I felt the "paddles" were in a better position than the first time by turning it on. Well I don't remember that happening, I just barely remember waking up and my daughter driving me back to her apartment. Somehow I made it inside, she made up the couch into a bed and that was where I stayed for just about a week. Every time I tried to move for the first 4 or 5 days, it felt like my arms were being pulled off my body, not from the shoulders either, from the neck. The doctor told me he had to open me up a lot more than last time to get the paddles in the right position.

Eight days later, on the 12th of January, I met with Melisa around 10:00am pst and then I had to drive out to Colton for my follow up appointment with Dr. Bergey.

Well while I was with Melisa, she set up the implant with 4 different settings and when I left her, I left it on setting #4. I went back to my daughters apartment to wait a bit before driving out to Colton. I was sitting back and enjoying the sensation I was getting from the implant.

Okay, so now it's time for me to get on the road for Colton. Because the implants sensation is so inconsistent, it would increase so high it was a distraction and sometimes there would be nothing there, so for the drive out to see Dr. Bergey, I turned the unit off. I didn't need the distraction while driving.

I made it out to see my doctor and went back to Tasha's, still leaving the implant off cause of the drive. But that evening, I went to turn it on and for some reason, setting #4 was dead, wouldn't come on. So I texted Melisa and told her to call me in the morning.

She called, helped me get the unit to a different setting and so, okay, it's working again, for now.

You have to remember, today is now the 13th of January. One day after programming the unit and I'm already having problems with it.

So I've got the implant working, 3 of the 4 settings, but it's working. It isn't really consistent though. I barely turn or tilt my head and the thing either quits, or it intensifies and I cannot handle that. But I leave the unit on 24/7, turn it down a little so it doesn't bother me while I am sleeping but I can still feel it tingling down my left arm.

Then all of a sudden, on Tuesday, the 18th, I woke up around 2 or 2:30am mst. That in itself isn't a big deal, I don't sleep that well in the first place. But on this day when I woke up, I was restless but wide awake. So I turned on the tv, started to mess around with the computer, and it dawned on me. I don't feel the implant tingling in my arm. So I grabbed the unit and tried changing settings and still I got nothing. I'm getting so fucking pissed and stressed out over this "modern technology".

So the next morning, I called Melisa and set up a time to meet with her. I drove out to see her and she ran all of these tests and confirmed that the unit was dead. She didn't know how or why, but she said they were going to have to open my butt cheek up with a local anesthetic and check the wires.

So anyway, if I missed something, maybe it was in one of the original notes I had made.