New member here.

[Guest guest]

Hi, My name is Christi, I am 42 years old and live in New York State.

I was injured at work in 1987 had a needed operation to repair a

hernia then had over 35 other surgeries to remove the sutures due to

the fact that I have an allergy to absorbable sutures (that was never

known until then) and I ended up with a chronic pain syndrome called

RSD.

A lot of things were tried such as pills, injections into the

spine and tens units but the pain would not go away and I was sent to

a neurosurgeon who said he could cut the nerves that were causing the

pain.

I agreed hoping the nightmare would be over and during surgery he

messed up and took the bone out of my back in 7 levels of the spine

in order to get to the nerves. He did no fusion and after surgery my

spine collapsed and I ended up with a kyphoscoliosis and spinal

stenosis which has left me bed bound most of the time or in a

wheelchair when I am able to sit.

Instead of telling me he had made

amistake he wrote a letter to the insurance company telling them that

I had this kyphoscoliosis since birth and when I went to another

doctor to try and fix his mistake, I ended up waiting almost a year

before they would approve the surgery because they were calling it a

pre-existing condition.

Over the year I worsened and my condition

became serious as I was now having trouble breathing due to my lungs

being compressed. I had to obtain my elementary school records and

search through many many years of records for the information stating

I was checked for scoliosis and never had it. In fact I dropped from

5'8 " tall before the surgery to 5'2 " today.

I sued him in a

malpractice case but all the money in the world would not ever make

this pain go away or give me the time that he took from me. The case

had to be settled even though I did not want to because he had 4

other malpractice suits against him and the insurance company was

only liable for 4 a year.

I would have gotten a great jury verdict

but then he would have claimed bankruptsy and I would have ended up

with absolutely nothing. I try to calm myself with that fact but

still believe he needs to be punished somehow for lying and changing

records which we had proof of.

I have been through hell trying to find a doctor who would actually

treat my pain with enough medication and finally found one but

continually have problems with nurses after all my surgeries because

they believe my dosage of morphine and duragesic is too high and they

refuse to give me what I need.

I have the following diagnoses (plus others) which are all injury

related. Kyphoscoliosis, partial spinal cord injury, spinal stenosis,

TMJ, Compressive lung disease, RSD, herniated discs in the cervical

and lumbar areas of my spine, loss of bladder and bowel control, and

migraine headaches.

Mainly I am looking for people who, like me, suffer daily, and try

to get through each day as it comes. Like a support group that I can

share my experiences with and I could get ideas on how to get through

episodes of pain. I feel like an outcast as I have few friends who

understand what I am going through and have missed many family events and

friends weddings and other things because of the pain.

In July of 2007 I am going to attempt to marry my best friend who has

loved me through so much. We have had to cancel our wedding 4 times

before this because I have had over 12 spinal surgeries and almost

died on him a few times as my heart stopped and I was on a vent for

14 days and I also went through a really bad case of meningitis.

they always seem to come before important events.

The last try was in

2003 and we had the date set for October when I was getting dressed

and my Fiancee noticed blood on the back of my shirt and on

inspection, informed me that the rods that were placed in my back had

pierced the skin and poked through the skin. I needed to go back to

land immediately and have 3 surgeries in the next three months to

remove rods and then wait and then have more rods put in through the

front and back.

I was flown back to NY and spent a week in the hospital here before

being released to home under the care of nurses and aides and my

Fiancee.

All together over the past 19 years I have gone through a total of 48

operations to date and the doctors see more in the future as my body

is not taking to the fusions well.

I hurt all the time. I don't know when there is a minute out of the

day when I am not in pain. I hardly sleep and when I do, I awake

within 2 hours and am in worse pain because I am so stiff. My Pain

doctor I have now is great and he understands my high tolerance to

the meds and my great need for them.

So as for my meds, I am okay now but for awhile I was doctor

searching to look for a doctor who would help me get through the day.

I do not take him for granted as I have lost more than one doctor and

it has been very discouraging.

So there is a little bit about me. I hope to get to know you all very

soon and help out anyone who may need my advice as I was a RN student with 11

more hours of clinical to finish when I was injured at the hospital.

Hope to be an asset to the group and in return meet some friends who

share my day to day nightmare and my yearning to rid myself of this

pain.

Christi