I haven't seen this pain care specialist yet. I may like him. I just didn;t care for the surgeon. I think he needs to learn how to care for his patients. He has awful patient follow up care. And his pre-op surgical care was the pits too. I guess since he was being called in by my gyn he thought the gyn would do everything, which he did. But my gyn only detached the rectum from the vagina. The surgeon did the rest of the surgery. I know that my gyn will still see me. He is very busy with regular gyn patients and obstetrics. Since I live in Houston, he has tons of patients. So I will still see him for my yearly. And I know if I was to have trouble with one of these doctors that he would help me find another. I think he feels helpless in my case. He just doesn't know what else to do. I have been in the hospital once or twice a year for adhesions for the last 3-4 years. There is just not too much more he can do because they just come back more extensively. But if I don't get the help I need I will be knocking on his door.
About the pain meds. I think I need to quit trying to stop taking them. I mean I do want to be at a point where I can stop. I hate taking pills every day. But I notice that when I stop like that then it actually takes more of them to get the pain back under control. So it really defeats the purpose. I am just stupid! I know these things and yet I do them anyway. I think maybe they took my brains with the hysterecomy. That is one of the things I need more of. I have my tear ducts too!
I am sitting here listening to my son talk in his sleep. I wish I had a tape recorder. It is too funny. i just thought I would throw that in here. I need to get some sleep myself. I better get off here.
Thanks for all the support, love and encouragement. It is so much appreciated.
Love, Jenny
>From: Sally Grigg <lostcst@mcn.org>
>Reply-To: adhesions@adhesions.org
>To: Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS
><adhesions@mail.medispecialty.com>
>Subject: Re: Things I learned a lot of yesterdays ago
>Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 13:47:54 -0600
>
>Dear Jenny , Who says you can't go back to the doctor you like. Print out
>your
>letter from the board plus lots more and take them to him. Even though I
>also
>have no more female organs except my tear ducts (joke) and my brain - I
>used
>to be so proud of my high I. Q. and educational awards, but they don't
>matter
>now in a sea of pain. I still see my old physician who has been very nice
>to
>me. I wish I could be well enough to go off pain meds, but after all the
>surgeries, (each one makes it worse, by the way), most doctors don't want
>to
>see you again because they have failed.
> I literally can't stand the pain. Pain centers differ. I haven't
>found one
>yet that understands adhesions (Northern California). And believe me I've
>tried
>a lot of prestigious "pain centers", none of them seemed to care. If I
>weren't
>so laid up in agony I'd start writing letters about the dismal care we're
>getting to everyone in the world. Try to talk to the physcian who cared
>and
>print out hundreds of these adhesions e-mails plus see if you can get an
>advocate to send a letter to your doctor. He's still your doctor even
>though you
>have had the surgery. And its still a female problem. There are many
>articles in
>the archives that you can print out showing that pain medication helps
>severe
>pain, and does not turn you into an addict. Every once in a while I go off
>my
>pain meds to please me husband and show him I can. Big deal. It's awful and
>I'm
>in such agony that I lay in bed crying thinking of ways to do myself in and
>praying to God to understand. I'm sorry this is so heavy. I promised myself
>I'd
>try to keep my messages light and airy and happy, etc. but This is who I
>am, so
>anyway, love and good luck to you. Compile an impressive documentation of
>all
>the information from this board and don't let any mean old doctor or pain
>center
>walk all over you. Hugs and good thoughts, Sally
>
>jenny low wrote:
>
> > Dear Rose,
> >
> > Wow! This is wonderful! You know I experienced the almost exact thing
>you
> > did. I went and saw my gyn for my 3 week post op and when I told him I
>was
> > still in pain, he called the surgeon that did most of the surgery and
>they
> > sent me over for a STAT CT. The only bad thing with me is that I had a
>TAH
> > last June so I have nothing left but a vagina. So I am now considered
>more
> > of a general surgery patient. I hate this because my gyn has taken care
>of
> > me for 11 years. He has always listened to me and never doubted when I
>told
> > him I was in pain. And now that I have no female organs left I can't go
>to
> > him for the adhesions. And I am not real fond of the surgeon that helped
> > him. I never saw him in his office before surgery. I met him in the
>pre-op
> > holding area. I never saw him after my surgery either. I saw his 2
> > colleagues. And the day I had the CT I was supposed to go directly to
>his
> > office and see him. I saw his colleague. Then they were supposed to call
>me
> > on Monday or Tuesday with the results of the CT. I called them Wednesday
> > because I hadn't heard from him. He still hadn't looked at the films.
>They
> > said if I hadn't heard from him by the next Monday to call them. Well I
>did.
> > They were supposed to call me later that afternoon, well guess what?
>They
> > didn't. SO I called them Tuesday. He still hadn't looked at the films.
>The
> > nurse promised me he would call that day. Well he didn't call, she
>called.
> > The CT was normal, of course, adhesions don't show on those. When I
>started
> > telling her it was not in my head. SHe said she knew that and that they
> > believed adhesions caused pain. And I started asking her questions. SHe
> > asked me if I would like to talk to the surgeon. I said that would be
>nice.
> > So she put him on the phone and he said there was nothing surgically
>that he
> > could do for me. He thought I should see a pain dr and get the pain
>under
> > control so I could have a life again. Then he put her back on the phone.
> > When I asked what I should do if I ran out of pain meds, could I call
>them
> > for a refill you know what they did? Told me I would have to go through
>my
> > gyn. The surgeon had called me in a prescription on the Monday of the
>week
> > that I talked to them. Do you know how many they called in? Ten. Ten
>lousy
> > pain pills. My gosh I could go through those in 3-4 days. And that is
> > exactly what happened. So my gyn is so wonderful that they told me they
> > would refill until I got into see the pain dr. I go there April 10. I
>sure
> > hate that I can't use my gyn any more though. I trust him so much. And
>that
> > is what I am afraid of, not having a doctor who will listen to you and
>think
> > you are nuts or better yet just trying to get pain meds. I cried tonight
> > after dinner because I was really trying not to take any pain meds. I
>took
> > the last one on Monday around 2pm. Well after dinner tonight, I was
>hurting
> > so uncontrollably that I finally took one. But I sure cried because I
>don't
> > want to live like this. I hate taking pain meds just to function doing
>every
> > day things. I really pray that this pain dr will be trustworthy and will
> > listen to me and believe me. By the way, can anyone tell me what the
>pain
> > doctors usually do? I have had a few people ask me and I don't even
>know.
> > This is all new to me. So if anyone can share with me what their pain
>doctor
> > did, I would appreciate it. Anyway, this is where I am. I am just
>waiting
> > for my appointment on April 10. I hope this doctor will be the right one
>for
> > me.
> >
> > Love,
> > Jenny
> >
> > >From: anonymous@medispecialty.com (Rose Lunn)
> > >Reply-To: adhesions@adhesions.org
> > >To: Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS
> > ><adhesions@mail.medispecialty.com>
> > >Subject: Things I learned yesterday
> > >Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 07:34:49 -0600
> > >
> > >I saw my gyn yesterday, he was very sympathetic. Sceduled my for a CT
> > >scan TODAY, not later! Gave me pain meds. Explained exactly what he
>was
> > >looking for with the tests he was going to do. After I got home and
> > >took a pain pill, I got to thinking about why I felt so good even
>though
> > >he hadn't done anything other than give me pain pills. It turned out
> > >like this:
> > >
> > >Being listened to........think about it. We literally hear thousands
>if
> > >not millions of sounds a day. Does that mean we are really listening
>to
> > >them? NO! We only listen to the sounds that are important to us. This
> > >doctor listened to me. He asked questions to clarify what I was
>saying.
> > >He didn't just scribble a few notes, nod his head, and then do what
>he'd
> > >decided to do before he even saw me. I no longer felt like a
> > >non-person, a chart, an unimportant carrier of my disease!
> > >
> > >Being trusted..........how many doctors look at you like you have no
> > >idea what you are talking about? I thought about all the doctors I've
> > >seen over the long, long years and I realize that the only ones that
>did
> > >me any good were the ones that trusted me to know what was going on in
> > >my body. They are also the only ones that I remember both their faces
> > >and their names. To all you nameless doctors out there.......now you
> > >know how I felt!
> > >
> > >Believing in myself.........I have seen far more doctors that don't fit
> > >the above criteria than those few gems that shine in my memory. And
>now
> > >I realize that they had convinced me that I should be a good little
>girl
> > >and let the big, specially trained doctors do all the talking and tell
> > >me what I am supposed to feel and do. Well.......PHHHHHHHHHHT! I'm the
> > >one in this body, not them!
> > >
> > >Sorry to go on so much about this, but even though I still am in some
> > >pain (much less, thanks, Doc!), emotionally I am feeling GREAT!
> > >
> > >Thanks for listening to me ramble on!
> > >
> > >kcmo rose
> > >
>http://www.adhesions.org/forums/listcmds.htm
> >
>