|
| |
|
THERE'S NO QUIT
IN CHRONIC PAIN
|
|
A good friend of mine's 87-year-old widowed father, who lives
alone, called her very early on a Saturday morning recently.
"Oh, thank God you answered," he said. "I was so
worried."
"What's wrong, Dad? Are you okay?"
"I just needed to hear your voice," he replied,
clearly relieved. "I woke up this morning and nothing hurt. I thought I
was dead."
I loved hearing that story, because I can relate to it these
days. In fact, I can relate to it for the last 2 ½ years. And I'm obviously
not alone.
According to the 2019 edition of the National Health Interview
Survey, a whopping 50 million American adults, or 20.5% of the adult
population, suffer from chronic pain, which is described as pain on most
days or every day.
That's a lot of people. Obviously, some are worse than others
(17 million suffer "high-impact" chronic pain), but we're all
searching for solutions. And sometimes it's difficult getting reliable
answers from the medical profession.
That's the point of this column. If I've learned one thing over
the past 2 ½ years, which hopefully culminated in the lumbar fusion back
surgery I had last week, is that you have to be your own advocate. No doctor
has the time, or the energy, or the interest, in finding solutions for you.
I know that sounds a little harsh, but it's generally true.
Doctors aren't up in the middle of the night worrying about you. They have
other things to think about. They're sympathetic to your pain, but
they're very busy. They move on.
I consider myself a good example. I've practically
bankrupted Medicare in the last 2 ½ years (sorry, kids) trying to find a
solution to the right leg pain I've been dealing with. Including
chiropractors and acupuncturists, I've seen 15 different doctors and gone
through eight unsuccessful procedures.
I liken my journey to watching a soccer game end up in a
scoreless tie---one big disappointment after another.
I've had epidurals in the back, radiofrequency ablations of
different nerves in the leg, nerve blocks, MRI's, Cat-scans, and enough
X-rays to make me glow for years to come. Everybody makes a lot of money
with all these actions, and no one has answers. Lots of guesses, though.
You just have to keep trying---there is no quit in chronic
pain. And maybe, just maybe, you'll get lucky.
That's what I'm hoping happened in my case. After seeing four
orthopedic surgeons, two pain management specialists and two neurosurgeons
who were no help at all, I tried one more orthopedist. He took one look at
my X-ray and MRI and said it was obvious I needed surgery.
"Why didn't the other guys say the same thing?" I
asked, thinking of all the months I wasted. "They're looking at the
same imagings."
His response was typical of doctors these days. "Beats
me."
Before undergoing surgery, I got a second opinion from another
well-credentialed surgeon. He also said there was no doubt about it---get
the surgery. And they were both looking at the same imagings I'd had in my
possession for at least 18 months.
The other doctors never looked long enough, or hard enough, to
make sound judgments. They were too busy. They'd make a recommendation and
then be done with me. They'd perform a procedure and I'd never hear from
them again. They didn't care. I was the only one in the partnership who
cared.
Hopefully, this surgery will do the trick and I'll rejoin the
200 million American adults who don't have chronic pain. I'll know fairly
soon. What I do know is I wouldn't have any chance if I didn't keep pushing
for answers. I consulted doctor after doctor after doctor until I hopefully
got it right.
So if you're among the 200 million without chronic pain,
rejoice and appreciate your pain-free life. If you're among the 50 million
who are suffering, don't give up. Ever. There may or may not be an answer
out there, but you'll never know without continuously looking.
|
|
|
