Another Update

We return you to the thrilling day of yesterday as our medical saga continues.

After months of planning and delays, I finally did get steroidal injections in my neck between c4-c5 and c5-c6. That’s the good news. I don’t have any bad news. What I have a is a long list of delays and roadblocks to finally getting here.

Here’s a quick recap:

• August 2018: wreck my right shoulder doing something stupid.
• February 2019: while rehabing right shoulder, left shoulder starts getting ‘pins and needles’.
• March: 1st doctor’s visit diagnosis – tendonitis. Treat with oral steroids, exercise.
• May: ‘pins and needles’ getting worse and going through left bicep and shoulder blade. 2nd doctor’s visit; xray, – set up MRI.
• June: MRI results – set up specialist visit.
• July: Specialist: Dr. Beacham’s office – set up cervical injections.
• August: Insurance – cancel injections, set up PT.
• August 27: Specialist – PT not helping (and not recommended by Specialist) reschedule injections.
• September 7: injections approved by insurance.
• September 19: Go in for injections.

Here’s where our story picks up.

Thea takes off work and we go for it. Since the appointment was at the OSSO center off of I-235 and Britton at 9:20, we leave at 8:00. Because of traffic, it takes all of that time to get there. Per instructions, I haven’t eaten or had more than a sip of water to clear my mouth after brushing my teeth. Outlook: optimistic.

I approach the first available consult station and am told that the sign-up sheet is in the small, unattended window that’s helpfully free of identifications and instructions. I enter my 9:20 appointment time and list Dr. Beacham as the attending (even though I’ve never met him, just his assistants). My name is called and it starts getting confusing. It seems that my appointment had been moved to September 16th and no one had told us. And Dr. Beacham isn’t there today. And no one else can do it. They are sorry, but any new arrangements will have to be made through my doctor’s office.

Fortunately, the doctor’s office is in the same building. So, we head up there. The receptionist is very kind and visibly irritated by the situation. She checks my history and takes my paperwork with her as she heads back behind the counter to get to the bottom of it.

There is no bottom. After consulting other people, no one knows why I wasn’t contacted but there is a record of rescheduling and no record of contacting me about it. That leaves two options:

1. Dr. Beacham’s next opening at OSSO is three weeks away and I can be scheduled for that day.
2. Dr. Beacham is doing the same procedure at Mercy on Monday the 23rd. And they’ve checked, Mercy is able to take me at 1:40pm.

And that’s how we came to be at Mercy on the 23rd at 1:30.

Before we even got there though, Mercy had called to get information and verify my insurance. They called back and gave me an estimate. We didn’t hear from them on the day of, but when we got there they had everything set up. Everyone knew my name and made sure that I did too. They knew my birthday and made sure that I did too. And the knew what was being done to me in a more exacting way than the ‘poke in the neck’ response that I gave them. It wasn’t until I was in the procedure waiting room, in the provided hospital gown with an IV tap in the back of my hand that it was mentioned in passing that we sure did show up early for my 3:15 procedure.

Like my experience getting my gall bladder removed, there is the before the procedure wheelchair racing and getting on the table. And there’s the after procedure standing up and being handed my glasses. Except instead of losing a couple of hours, I only lost about twenty minutes. And I had a bandaid on the back of my neck.

I wish I could say that I’m cured. And I’m looking forward to actually saying it soon. But while the symptoms are reduced, it could take up to a week for them to go away. I’ll keep updating. One thing. I may have had an unnoticed headache for some time. At least, my head feels better today than it did yesterday even though I hadn’t realized yesterday that my head didn’t feel okay. If you know what I mean.