angela medical update with some significance

well, i do have a bunch to tell about my LA trip last week... but right now i have medical stuff weighing on my mind, and folks asking about it, so i'll get that out of the way now. i had my first appointment (today) at the Kalamazoo Anesthesiology Pain Clinic. i was very happy with the docs i met and interacted with. first they sent me in to the pain psychologist, he does just what it sounds like, he helps you emotionally handle the pain you are going through and what it is doing to your life. then i saw one of the pain specialists. he talked with me forever in addition to doing a basic pain exam. it was nice not to feel rushed out of the office! they dont believe all of my pain is related. they think there may be 2 or 3 different things going on, but they are going on all at once, so some docs are getting confused trying to find one diagnosis that covers everything. so what this doc is going to do is, try to relieve at least 1 portion of the pain ( i think just which ever one subsides with treatment ) and we hope that if one of the pains will go away, it will help to figure out what the other pains are and how to diagnose and treat the leftover pains. does that make sense to you? it makes sense to me... but i was also in the office for about 2 hours talking this all through! so, this is what my schedule looks like:

(today) tuesday 8th for pain clinic consultation

(tomorrow) wednesday 9th drop of KaiYin to the vet surgeon in ft.wayne for her 6th cancer surgery

thursday 10th if all goes well, bring KaiYin home from post-op

friday 11th appointment has been rescheduled for monday 14th
friday 11th i have my first appointment for "lidocaine infusion" iv. i'll be learning more about this and i guess it's not as scary as it sounds. ( but i'm still kinda freaked about it )

monday 14th i have my first appointment for "lidocaine infusion" iv. i'll be learning more about this and i guess it's not as scary as it sounds. ( but i'm still kinda freaked about it )

wednesday 16th i see the pain psychologist for about an hour, then after him i see the occupational therapist who should be giving me a TENS unit.

thursday 17th i see the pain doc for an "occipital nerve" block injection ( direct injection to the nerve in the lower back right side of my noggin ) as well as "trigger point injections" for the pain spots. yay.

tuesday 29th i again see the pain psychologist

meanwhile, pain doc prescribed me with "Elavil" to help me sleep. but pharm is closed so i wont have that until tomorrow. for the appointments when i am getting iv and injections, they gave me paperwork with strict rules that i must have a driver or my appointment will be canceled. i havent been driving anywhom, but i especially wont take any chances with all of this going on.

so, this is all i know. they dont have a diagnosis for me since they dont know what pains are related to each other or what caused them. i could go on and on about all of the things i've been going through since what seems to have been the onset in april, as well as new issues that have arisen, but i wont bore you all with the details. i'll try to keep this simple until we know more. pain doc mentioned that if all else fails, then we might discuss the Cleveland Clinic or Mayo. but that ( i believe ) is going to be a last resort kinda thing.

thanks to all of you for the well wishes, love and support you have given me! i really appreciate it! even if i dont write updates or return calls or emails right away, please know that i am thankful for all of you!
take care of you and yours.
be well.
~angela

( i'll try to post an LA update in the next few days! )


*updated* 10 sept 09 at 128p
my appointment for tomorrow (friday 11th) has been rescheduled for monday 14th. also, last night was my first night taking the Elavil for sleep. yeah, it didnt really work. i took it about midnight and was wide awake at 230a. blargh. i was in and out of sleep all night/morning. it is only 10mg and doc said i can take more than 1 if i think i need to... for those of you that know me, i despise taking meds. especially for things that i think should just be natural. i dont have problems going to sleep... i have issues staying asleep through the pain. so, that is my update for now. thanks again for all the well wishes. i'll keep updating as i know more. *hugs*