I just realized, after some recent questions from some of you, that I never gave an update from my appointment with the Pain Management Specialist at the Swedish Medical Center last month.
The appointment went much better than I had hoped, although admittedly, my expectations were very low. First of all, it's not often that you find a doctor with good bedside manner anymore - at least in my case it hasn't been. We quickly discovered that Dr. B. has an insanely odd sense of humor...for instance, when I was rating my pain levels, he asked if we had any kids. I told him we had one on the way, and he very seriously stated how much work they are, that he had 4 himself.....and then he flipped the pain chart over and showed us his "kids" which were his 4 cats.
Leigh and I, being the animal people that we are not, gave him a polite giggle and sneaked a look into each other like, "what the....". I had a difficult time telling when he was joking at times, but it sure was nice to have a doctor relate to you as a person, rather than someone who treated us like another number ready to shoo us out of the door as quickly as we came in. Dr. B. was extremely thorough. He asked a lot of questions, answered all of mine, and even asked if we had more - which never, ever happens. This may seem a little shocking, but he was also the first doctor, in all of these years, to actually physically examine my body and try to figure out why I'm hurting. You could practically see his wheels turning, and it was so nice to know that a doctor was actually making an effort to figure out what's wrong with me.
Dr. B also seemed to be knowledgeable about Lyme disease, which for a non-LLMD, is quite impressive. He told us that he doesn't think the numbness in my hands and feet are related to my pain - that they are two separate problems. He listed off a number of possible causes, one of which is infection of some sort. Although he can't be sure, it seems to him as though Lyme is a very likely culprit here. The answer here is to see a neurologist. I told him about my attempt to see one in Olympia, and how they rejected my referral from Dr. R., most likely because they saw the words "Lyme disease". I think he determined this to be as much poppycock as I had! Thankfully he has a different network to channel through. So I will be seeing a neurologist in Federal Way on the 23rd of this month.
As far as the pain goes, we discussed my history and he talked a lot about nerves - most of which I honestly can't remember at this point. Long story short, he wants to do an injection procedure in my back - which is happening next week, back up at the Swedish Hospital in Edmonds. This will hopefully help them determine which nerve is the root cause of my problems. The whole process will take a few hours, and the numbness will wear off in a short amount of time - so it's not a fix, not yet anyway. But if they are able to isolate the source of pain, then they can numb that specific nerve on a more permanent basis - a selective nerve root block.
I'm a bit nervous about it, but not really for the procedure itself. Before my back surgery a few years ago, they did a similar thing - and the injection did help my pain. But it also gave me horrible flu-like symptoms for weeks. Then I had the back surgery and things got worse. So obviously I'm a little hesitant to get back on the saddle, so to speak. Dr. B. says that what they use for this injection is different. But let's just say I haven't had the best of luck with hospital procedures. And still in the back of my mind, lurks the possibility that this could still all be related to Lyme, and that no "regular" fix is going to help. It may be worth a try, but what if that "try" ends up makings things worse? However, I'm obviously quite desperate for relief, so we're plunging ahead full force.
On another note, Dr. B. also mentioned that I also have hypermobility which could be causing muscle and joint issues. I've never heard this before, but in doing research, I'm find a lot of people who are diagnosed with Lyme are also told they have this syndrome.
So although I didn't walk away with any definitive answers, we are hoping that it's a step in the right direction. Now I'm kind of wishing I would have agreed to see this doctor sooner! Praying for good news next week....
