PebblesFlorida
Hi Pebbles,
I am a new member here and I also live in the State of Florida and had a spinal surgery and came here for some advice and I am shocked about how some of these members have treated you!
I had a 3 level 360 fusion in November of 07, L2 thru L5. First of all, my surgeon asked me to donate 2 pints of my own blood before surgery just in case I needed them, and guess what????????? I needed 4 post-surgery! So yes, it is common practice for most surgeons to ask patients for a blood donation before spinal surgery or some other extensive surgery. I was in the hospital for 9 days and in ICU for 4 and felt worst leaving the hospital that when I came in, specially and evil pain in my left leg and complete numbness, I was dragging my leg...... So I went home and started my recovery. My left leg pain kept getting worst and worst as the days went by, oh BTW I forgot to mention, I had an infection in the hospital also that required a drain and 4 days of Vicomicin drip, thank God for the in-house Doctor, because my surgeon thought that it was unnecessary for me to be in such antibiotics but the Infectious Disease Doc's disagree with him!
Anyway, so the pain kept getting worst and worst, I went to see my surgeon and he said that this was "normal recovery pain"************** and prescribe Lyrica and I was on Vicodin for the pain, Yeah, right! Almost 8 weeks went by and I contacted my PCP here in the Keys and told him about my situattion and issues and he had me in the local hospital ASAP having an MRI w/contrast, that was mid-January. Well the STAT MRI report shows that I had pieces of bone and disc matter that were left behind after my fusion and that they were impinging on nerves on my canal between L2-3, so my PCP contacted my surgeon and talked to him about my issues. The surgeon proceeded to call me at home, screaming at me! and see said: "What the hell are you doing getting MRI's from your Doc in the Keys, I am your dam Doctor!!" and I am quoting word by word what he said! even though I had called his office that Friday and told his Nurse that I couldn't stand the pain anymore and I was dying here! When he said that I just started crying since at that point I was so weak and in so much pain that I would have cried over spilled milk.
Well, I ended up see him at his office on MLK Day January 21st and by then I have brought a nurse friend with me to my advocate and of course, he was sweet as pie and send me to the hospital STAT to be admitted to have a Laminectomy/w/Foramitonomy in my L2-3. I was in complete bed rest (not even getting up to potty) for 2 days until they were able to fit me in on the OR, that was January the 23rd. To make a really long story short, too late now, huh? I am 8 months post fusion, I have been diagnosed with Fail Back Syndrome, I am in chronic pain 24/7 and I still have pieces of bone left on my spine that I refuse to get out right now, because I am over surgeries! I fired my original surgeon because all that happened to me during my recovery and then his attitude towards me after the second surgery was nasty and I couldn't stand him anymore! Then I find out thru my PT lady that he had 3 patients in the Keys committ suicide in the 12 years that he has been coming here due to chronic pain and his un-ability to provide this people with adequate pain management!!
But nothing like that appears in the State of Florida site that I checked out before surgery, he was clean as a whistle!!
I found myself an NS that is very competent and he understood my chronic pain issues and send me to one of the best pain management Doctor's in Miami. I just had a Spinal Cord Stimulator installed 4 weeks ago that is taking care of about 50 to 60% of my nerve and back pain, but I am still taking medications for intractable pain, I lost my job as a social worker and I am now seeking SSD since my PM Doc does not believe that I will ever recover 100% from these surgeries! I came here looking for legal advice in my case, but I will be scare of getting any advice from people that treat others like drug seekers or drug addicts!!!!!!!! I guess that I will look in the yellow pages close my eyes and just pick a lawyer that I can speak to! For those of you that do not understand about intractable or chronic pain post-fusion here is a web site for you.
http://pain-topics.org/pdf/intractable pain survival.pdf. Yes, and I do have all of my medical records, all of my MRI's, CT's, X-Rays, surgery notes etc...... Not all of us are uneducated morons, some of us understand the system and came here for advice and help!!!!
Millie