I saw my family doctor, and he had no problem prescribing me pain killers, as he knows the condition of my back and the pain I'm usually in. And he also had no problem giving me "official" verification that I can't work (I knew this, and the person I directly deal with for the program I'm on could see this, but she had to have something official for the records).


AND he was very happy to help me with an attempt to stop smoking, although with the day I had yesterday, it won't be an easy chore, since I tend to smoke a lot more when stressed, and yesterday was an extremely stressful day

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

Gonna do Chantix?

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The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.~ Betty Grable

If I wanted your opinion, I'd remove the duct tape and ask you for it.~ Me
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
One man's dream is another man's nightmare~~~~> §¤ Lilith ¤§
~>My Scribbles<~
==>Gone Shopping<== ~Just a Quickie~ *~A Celebration Vacation~* ~Surprises~ Sleeping With the Window Open
What Did You Do Today? Self Defense Class ~Short Sweet Snippets~ § Summer Spin § Story Challenge Submission Pajamas

That was what his first suggested. But because of the chance of side effects that include depression and increase in suicidal thoughts (which a friend of mine did get when she attempted to quit smoking with Chantix), I decided against using that as I experience enough depression and sucidal thoughts on my own. I'm not exactly sure what the help is going to be, but I'm going through my state's quit smoking help line, just waiting on them to get in touch with me. My doctor thought that maybe they'd help with nicotine patches.

And if they don't get in touch soon, I'll go back to my doctor, as one of the other suggestions he had was Zyban (aka Wellbutrin). I've heard a lot of people were able too successfully quit with that.

Of course, there's always the cold turkey method. Which might work currently since I'm so zoney on my current pain medication (which are just a bit stronger than the ones I was put on via the ER on New Years Day) that all I relly want to do is sleep. Not even getting my normal nic fits, or nicotine headaches. Currently this is the route I'm going until I hear from the quit line, but only cause I have no choice, no money to get cigarettes

But the main thing is, I think I am finally ready to quit, and that is the most important thing. It was completely my decision, not due to nagging from my doctor or surgeon or family members, but one that I decided to do for myself. But my son is extremely happy with the decision, he hates the fact that I smoke(d)

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

Great to hear. Just hang in there and it'll all work out in the end. Keep in mind that (I'm sure I'm safe saying this) everyone here has your back.

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"BOY: On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses? GIRL: Will he offer me his mouth? BOY: Yes. GIRL: Will he offer me his teeth? BOY: Yes. GIRL: Will he offer me his jaws? BOY: Yes. GIRL: Will he offer me his hunger? BOY: Yes. GIRL: Again, will he offer me his hunger? BOY: Yes! GIRL: Yes. BOY: On a hot summer night, would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses? GIRL: Yes. BOY: I bet you say that to all the boys!" -Meatloaf

You all can have my back, it's pretty shot with all the problems I have

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

If you're giving away body parts, can I have your spleen?

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Do I even want to know your plans for it?

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

All your spleen are belong to us.

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Well, from every forcast I've seen, I'll be able to go in for my torture,....I mean doctor's visit tomorrow. THe fun part is where they stick all those needles into my legs muscles, but hopefully all that will pinpoint the problem and I can get an idea of what exactly is the next step.

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

Mainstream doctor, or acupuncturist?

(yes, I'm being a smart-ass again).

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Smart-ass how? I've had acupuncture before, and may have to do so again.

But a main-stream doctor

__________________
To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

Ok, just got back and the news is this: No surgery will help at all. Nothing is bulging into the spinal cord or on a nerve, so surgery won't help at all, I was told it wouldn't make any kind of difference.

The nerve induction test showed the old nerve damage in the left leg (and this is the leg that is causing me the most problmes with weakness and loss of strength). However, apparently there has been some new nerve loss in the right leg, but that leg hasn't caused me any problems.

So the surgeon refered me to a physical therapist (apparently a specialized therapist since the choices for where to go didn't involve anything closer to home than the surgeon was). Basically, from what I understand, the PT I'll see is trained in pain management, physical therapy for back problems and the like. It sounds like what I'll have to go through is a combination of physical therapy (wihch is going to kill me, considering how limited my mobility is currently), meds, pain management, and possibly (not sure if the surgeon was serious or not) acupuncture.

Needless to say I'm both relieved and extremely frustrated. I really didn't want to be laid up trying to recover from surgery, but frustrated because surgery would at least provide me a good chance of being able to do more than I currently can in a quicker timeframe than PT likely is. And the therapist I'm likely to see is the same doctor that preformed my needle torture....I mean nerve induction test today.

So, things go along pretty much as they have been for at least the next two weeks, me unable to do much and on painkillers to try and control the pain.

The only real good news I have out of this is the the PT I'll be seeing will be able to definitively saw what my limitations I have, so there is the possibility (provided things don't get a lot better) of having a doctor backing me on disability.

Speaking of disability, the day after I see the PT, I have to go visit another doctor for testing to see if my depression is bad enough to qualify for disability.
I never really wanted to go the disabilty route, but after having so many people last year (including several health care officials) telling me I should apply for it, I did go ahead and do it. Right now, I think the application for the back/physical issues has been put on hold, but the mental issues (or at least, the ones I KNOW I have ) are what I need further testing on, so I have an appointment for that too.

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

So, you got tests so that you could go get more tests?

Talk about a runaround. And you can't run.

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

And not even nice tests either. Needles put into the muscles in both my legs and a few in my lower back. Additionally a little bit of current sent through the nerves in my legs, which really sucked in my right leg, but the left leg I barely felt it (unfortunately, that is all old nerve damage)

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

New update: Just saw the physical rehabilitator (or whatever his title is ) and he's put me on physical therapy 2-3 times a week for a month (but, fortunately, I can do that locally, starting this afternoon), and put me on 3 different meds (a new muscle relaxant, a pain killer that specifically targets the nerves, and a tpical analgesic to help with the back pain). Then, in 6 weeks, I get to go back to the doctor to see if we continue with this route, or if we have to try something different for relief.

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!