Re: Bad news or good news-Who knows

[Guest guest]

Pat,

I'm so sorry that Dr LaGrone has decided not to treat you. While I

think that it's up to the doctor to choose to not treat someone, I

think that it is appalling for a doctor to send you on your way with

no suggestions for further action. You obviously have complex spinal

problems, and you're having a lot of problems still with pain. I

would have hoped that if Dr LaGrone was unable to help you, that he

could have at least pointed you in another direction to find help.

Can you try to find another surgeon who will review your case?

As far as your pain pump & oral pain meds go - I'm sorry that I don't

have any suggestions for you other than please don't give up. Am I

right in understanding you - that your pain doctor is doing things

for you, but your insurance is refusing to pay for oral pain meds?

Since the claims adjuster denied things, can you file an appeal to

the next higher-up person at the insurance company? Do you have it

in writing from your pain doc that your pump doesn't address pain in

other areas of your body and that you therefore need oral pain meds

for that? Is your insurance company a large nationwide provider, or

is it a smaller/local plan?

>

> Hi all,

>

> I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's

nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after

studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to

make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I

rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I

could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my

divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on

seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of

my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to

handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind

of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon

I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news

that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I

have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds.

He tried to explain " Break thru " pain, but she had already sent some

of my records for a " Peer Review " and some quack doctor determined

that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started

in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has

never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think

he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was

for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain

to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar

area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where

to go from here, but I can't live like this.

> Any suggestions?

>

> E.

>

[Guest guest]

Pat, I'm really sorry to read your news. It's just so hard to get your hopes up and then be disappointed. While I guess it's good that a doctor won't waste your time if he determines he can't help you, it sure would be nice if they could at least give you an idea who else might be able to. Though, to give him the benefit of the doubt maybe he doesn't know.

The same thing happened to my cousin a couple years back, and in that instance it was Dr. Rand, who then went on to help me a lot. I never told him he had turned down my cousin. She has Marfan syndrome and extensive lumbar and cervical fusion, and constant pain. So I had hoped someone who specializes in complicated spine surgery would be of help to her. These guys aren't gods, though, and I suppose it's good that they know their limitations.

I wish I had more to tell you, but to echo , please don't give up.

Sharon

[ ] Bad news or good news-Who knows

Hi all,

I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds. He tried to explain "Break thru" pain, but she had already sent some of my records for a "Peer Review" and some quack doctor determined that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where to go from here, but I can't live like this.

Any suggestions?

E.

[Guest guest]

Pat, let it out, vent your frustrations because sometimes that's all we can do (at least for the moment). I remember so well the day, the minute, what I was wearing, when the first neurosurgeon that performed my first two surgeries, was sitting there on the little round stool with the wheels, right in front of me, holding my chart in his hand, and he closed it, like closing a book, or closing my life, saying "there's nothing I can do" when I was addressing the continuing pain, etc. I was still having. I felt offended, helpless, hopeless, you name it. As he was leading me out of the exam room I said something like well what do I do? I was so bewildered and I believe that if I didn't even ask that question he was just going to send me off into the sunset. His response was pain management and he scribbled that down on my checkout sheet.

So, what I'm trying to convey here is that you have every right to feel like you're feeling. It is bad enough that we having to suffer so, that our quality of life has been jerked out from under our feet, then having a ray of hope turn into another dead end, we wonder how much we can take.

I'll leave out the disasterous journey that going back to the pain management group lead me on, except will say that one of the first things the doctor there said was "why is he sending you here, we usually send someone like you to him".

A few monoths down the road I was watching a local program on public television called Healthwise. Every Sunday evening they have an hour long show discussing a health topic and have two or three healthcare professionals on the show and this particular one I'm talking about was on lower back pain. There sat a doctor, full of energy, can do/will do attitude and when the host asked him what does a patient do when they are "passed off" or whatever you want to call it, the doctor responded with "be persistent, don't take no for an answer, seek other opinions". I think it was hearing him say be persistent that got me fired back up with some willpower to start fighting back.

Mind you, during this time I had read about flatback, but none of the doctors I had seen for my symptoms had even heard of that, nor did they connect any of my problems with scoliosis, even though there was that damn Harrington rod planted in my back and I continuously told them that my body seemed to be "twisting" as this new pain was taking over. The comments I made just seemed to breeze right through them, no comment, no response, no acknowledgement - even on my office notes.

Back to the story - turned out that this doctor was in the same group at the same office as the one who closed the book on me - I had to get them to confer and agree to let this other doctor see me - which they did.

He saw a disc herniation, recommended fusing that, fixing what was obviously causing problems and then addressing whatever else might be causing pain after doing that. So he did - and I wound up worse off because he fused L4-L5 which left one good disc between the HR fusion and his fusion which eventually ruptured. I didn't complete my follow-ups with him, he's the one who responded to my question about all of this being scoliosis realated to "well, it's all connected". So how much did I pay him for those words of wisdom?????

In the mean time I learned of Dr. Hey, who is currently treating me. Number one, I was seeking help from neurosurgeons and I'm sure I needed to be seeing an ortho, which I did, who was a predicessor to the ones who did my original HR surgery in 1972 - his mission seemed to dismiss that anything the great doctors did back in 1972 or the instrumentation - anything could go wrong.

A continuous loop of nothing I can do, nothing wrong, nothing, nothing, nothing while in the meantime I was hurting more, standing and walking less, slowly dropping out of life as I knew it.

Though my problems aren't resolved yet, and perhaps will never be - I made it my mission in life to leave no stone unturned, do everything in my power to find a doctor who could either help me or help me understand why I can't be helped.

When I first heard of Dr. Hey, and I heard some high praises, then visited his web site, emailed them a long, almost life story and got that resonse that they wanted to see me to see if they could help, I felt like I was experiencing a "God" moment - I was almost coming out of my skin with joy - and, like you, put all of my eggs in that basket of hope.

I guess I need to clarify that I'm not recommending Dr. Hey over any other surgeon. I feel that all of the doctors mentioned and used by people in this forum are very well qualified in their field of expertise. I also know that doctors first consider if a patient is a good candidate for a successful surgery and won't touch someone that they deem not to be a good candidate. I do wonder sometimes if that is because they want their success rate to remain high or if their decision is based on putting the patient through something that radical when they personally feel it won't provide any benefit. Perhaps it is a little of both? I don't know.

The pain medication saga - boy do I ever know that part of it too.

Do not give up - in my case, Dr. Hey had me send in my previous films but also took his own x-rays and immediately spotted some obvious problems that the others didn't see on their own films. He detailed what he saw, discussed the pros and cons of different types of treatment, the whole gamma, if you will. I feel fortunate that he considered me a good candidate and it sticks in my mind that he had said a couple of times during that first visit "if this doesn't fix it we'll keep searching until we do". I didn't get the impression he was knife happy, money hungry, but was more concerned with my quality of life, he said "these should be the best years of your life" - and boy did that blow me away! I felt (and still do) embrased by his level of caring and credentials.

With my continuance of problems and his continuance of conducting tests and monitoring, I at least feel that I am embrased by a professional that will do everything in his power to help me, and if he can't get me to where I'd like to be (pain free, able to walk and stand, etc.) he will have exhausted every effort and will help me understand why, as a single person, not a file number in his database.

Hang in there, just hang on, don't give up. Where there's a will there's a way.

G

[ ] Bad news or good news-Who knows

Hi all,

I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds. He tried to explain "Break thru" pain, but she had already sent some of my records for a "Peer Review" and some quack doctor determined that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where to go from here, but I can't live like this.

Any suggestions?

E.

[Guest guest]

, Dr. Hey said the same thing to me. He said if the revision surgery didn't help the pain, he would continue to work with me until we figured out what was causing it and had a quality life back. And I felt like he really meant it especially with being able to call or email him at any time. He always answers within 24 hours.

Pat, continue to vent your frustrations here because we truly do understand the nature of the beast.

Peggy

[ ] Bad news or good news-Who knows

Hi all,

I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds. He tried to explain "Break thru" pain, but she had already sent some of my records for a "Peer Review" and some quack doctor determined that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where to go from here, but I can't live like this.

Any suggestions?

E.

[Guest guest]

Dear Pat, So sorry to hear this news. Haven't kept up with posts last

few days (been out of town), but have you gotten any other opinions?

If not, I would suggest you see another for his opinion. Don't know

where you're from--guess in a situation like this it doesn't matter

if you can get some help--but my doctor in Raleigh, NC is so kind and

compassionate. Some others in this group have had surgery by him: Dr.

Lloyd Hey. Even if he can't help you with surgery, I can't imagine

him just leaving you hanging with no suggestions. Will be glad to

pass on tel # and address if you need me to. Hoping you will find

some relief soon.

Janet in SC

>

> Hi all,

>

> I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's

nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after

studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to

make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I

rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I

could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my

divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on

seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of

my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to

handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind

of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon

I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news

that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I

have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds.

He tried to explain " Break thru " pain, but she had already sent some

of my records for a " Peer Review " and some quack doctor determined

that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started

in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has

never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think

he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was

for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain

to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar

area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where

to go from here, but I can't live like this.

> Any suggestions?

>

> E.

>

[Guest guest]

Just read this post after I posted a note regarding Dr, Hey. He is a

great guy, right Peggy? Looks like another Dr. Hey post right after

this one. Janet in SC

>

> , Dr. Hey said the same thing to me. He said if the revision

surgery didn't help the pain, he would continue to work with me until

we figured out what was causing it and had a quality life back. And

I felt like he really meant it especially with being able to call or

email him at any time. He always answers within 24 hours.

>

> Pat, continue to vent your frustrations here because we truly do

understand the nature of the beast.

>

> Peggy

>

> [ ] Bad news or good news-Who knows

>

>

>

> Hi all,

>

> I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr.

LaGrone's nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that

after studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me

to make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone

(I rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I

could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my

divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on

seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of

my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to

handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind

of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon

I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news

that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I

have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds.

He tried to explain " Break thru " pain, but she had already sent some

of my records for a " Peer Review " and some quack doctor determined

that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started

in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has

never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think

he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was

for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain

to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar

area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where

to go from here, but I can't live like this.

> Any suggestions?

>

> E.

>

[Guest guest]

He is very compassionate and takes time to address all concerns. I wrote to him a few weeks ago because I've had a burning sensation at the top of the Harrington rod. He feels it is just muscle strain from having increased my work load at the computer and other office equipment. I can't take the medications he suggested because I'm already on something similar but he definitely wants me to come back if it continues. I cut back a little bit on work and also got a good deep tissue massage. That seems to have helped more than anything else.

Peggy

[ ] Bad news or good news-Who knows> > > > Hi all,> > I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds. He tried to explain "Break thru" pain, but she had already sent some of my records for a "Peer Review" and some quack doctor determined that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where to go from here, but I can't live like this. > Any suggestions?> > E.>

[Guest guest]

If Dr. Hey happens to read the threads in this forum I'll bet his head is swollen a bit today!

[ ] Bad news or good news-Who knows> > > > Hi all,> > I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds. He tried to explain "Break thru" pain, but she had already sent some of my records for a "Peer Review" and some quack doctor determined that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where to go from here, but I can't live like this. > Any suggestions?> > E.>

[Guest guest]

I counted 3.

Hey, Hey, Hey.

;^)

Sharon

[ ] Bad news or good news-Who knows> > > > Hi all,> > I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds. He tried to explain "Break thru" pain, but she had already sent some of my records for a "Peer Review" and some quack doctor determined that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where to go from here, but I can't live like this. > Any suggestions?> > E.>

[Guest guest]

LOL!

[ ] Bad news or good news-Who knows> > > > Hi all,> > I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds. He tried to explain "Break thru" pain, but she had already sent some of my records for a "Peer Review" and some quack doctor determined that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where to go from here, but I can't live like this. > Any suggestions?> > E.>

[Guest guest]

I usually try to reply to each person who responds to my post, but because of the limited time I can sit and type I have to thank you all in one post right now. I have been so down and feeling hopeless until I read all your wonderful replies to me. You all are like a beacon of light, showing me the way to safety. I told after the turn down by Dr. LaGrone that I probably don't belong in the Flatback group now and cried some more, just thinking about having to leave this group. Instead you write me long letters with outstretched hands. God must be looking out for me to send me to this wonderful group of caring people. There is no way I can thank you all enough. You are the greatest!!!

G and Peggy, My pain doctor is trying to get a referral to a doctor that specializes in fixing bad fusion surgeries, so I'll wait and see what happens with that. But I will contact Dr. Hays if that doesn't work out.

Thank you both so much for your recommendations. It is so nice to hear from patients that have such high regard and trust in their doctor.

E.

He is very compassionate and takes time to address all concerns. I wrote to him a few weeks ago because I've had a burning sensation at the top of the Harrington rod. He feels it is just muscle strain from having increased my work load at the computer and other office equipment. I can't take the medications he suggested because I'm already on something similar but he definitely wants me to come back if it continues. I cut back a little bit on work and also got a good deep tissue massage. That seems to have helped more than anything else.

Peggy

Just read this post after I posted a note regarding Dr, Hey. He is a great guy, right Peggy? Looks like another Dr. Hey post right after this one. Janet in SC>> , Dr. Hey said the same thing to me. He said if the revision surgery didn't help the pain, he would continue to work with me until we figured out what was causing it and had a quality life back. And I felt like he really meant it especially with being able to call or email him at any time. He always answers within 24 hours. > > Pat, continue to vent your frustrations here because we truly do understand the nature of the beast.> > Peggy> >

> > Pat, let it out, vent your frustrations because sometimes that's all we can do (at least for the moment). I remember so well the day, the minute, what I was wearing, when the first neurosurgeon that performed my first two surgeries, was sitting there on the little round stool with the wheels, right in front of me, holding my chart in his hand, and he closed it, like closing a book, or closing my life, saying "there's nothing I can do" when I was addressing the continuing pain, etc. I was still having. I felt offended, helpless, hopeless, you name it. As he was leading me out of the exam room I said something like well what do I do? I was so bewildered and I believe that if I didn't even ask that question he was just going to send me off into the sunset. His response was pain management and he scribbled that down on my checkout sheet.> > So, what I'm trying to convey here is that you have every right to feel like you're feeling. It is bad enough that we having to suffer so, that our quality of life has been jerked out from under our feet, then having a ray of hope turn into another dead end, we wonder how much we can take.> > I'll leave out the disasterous journey that going back to the pain management group lead me on, except will say that one of the first things the doctor there said was "why is he sending you here, we usually send someone like you to him".> > A few monoths down the road I was watching a local program on public television called Healthwise. Every Sunday evening they have an hour long show discussing a health topic and have two or three healthcare professionals on the show and this particular one I'm talking about was on lower back pain. There sat a doctor, full of energy, can do/will do attitude and when the host asked him what does a patient do when they are "passed off" or whatever you want to call it, the doctor responded with "be persistent, don't take no for an answer, seek other opinions". I think it was hearing him say be persistent that got me fired back up with some willpower to start fighting back.> > Mind you, during this time I had read about flatback, but none of the doctors I had seen for my symptoms had even heard of that, nor did they connect any of my problems with scoliosis, even though there was that damn Harrington rod planted in my back and I continuously told them that my body seemed to be "twisting" as this new pain was taking over. The comments I made just seemed to breeze right through them, no comment, no response, no acknowledgement - even on my office notes.> > Back to the story - turned out that this doctor was in the same group at the same office as the one who closed the book on me - I had to get them to confer and agree to let this other doctor see me - which they did.> > He saw a disc herniation, recommended fusing that, fixing what was obviously causing problems and then addressing whatever else might be causing pain after doing that. So he did - and I wound up worse off because he fused L4-L5 which left one good disc between the HR fusion and his fusion which eventually ruptured. I didn't complete my follow-ups with him, he's the one who responded to my question about all of this being scoliosis realated to "well, it's all connected". So how much did I pay him for those words of wisdom?????> > In the mean time I learned of Dr. Hey, who is currently treating me. Number one, I was seeking help from neurosurgeons and I'm sure I needed to be seeing an ortho, which I did, who was a predicessor to the ones who did my original HR surgery in 1972 - his mission seemed to dismiss that anything the great doctors did back in 1972 or the instrumentation - anything could go wrong.> > A continuous loop of nothing I can do, nothing wrong, nothing, nothing, nothing while in the meantime I was hurting more, standing and walking less, slowly dropping out of life as I knew it.> > Though my problems aren't resolved yet, and perhaps will never be - I made it my mission in life to leave no stone unturned, do everything in my power to find a doctor who could either help me or help me understand why I can't be helped.> > When I first heard of Dr. Hey, and I heard some high praises, then visited his web site, emailed them a long, almost life story and got that resonse that they wanted to see me to see if they could help, I felt like I was experiencing a "God" moment - I was almost coming out of my skin with joy - and, like you, put all of my eggs in that basket of hope.> > I guess I need to clarify that I'm not recommending Dr. Hey over any other surgeon. I feel that all of the doctors mentioned and used by people in this forum are very well qualified in their field of expertise. I also know that doctors first consider if a patient is a good candidate for a successful surgery and won't touch someone that they deem not to be a good candidate. I do wonder sometimes if that is because they want their success rate to remain high or if their decision is based on putting the patient through something that radical when they personally feel it won't provide any benefit. Perhaps it is a little of both? I don't know.> > The pain medication saga - boy do I ever know that part of it too.> > Do not give up - in my case, Dr. Hey had me send in my previous films but also took his own x-rays and immediately spotted some obvious problems that the others didn't see on their own films. He detailed what he saw, discussed the pros and cons of different types of treatment, the whole gamma, if you will. I feel fortunate that he considered me a good candidate and it sticks in my mind that he had said a couple of times during that first visit "if this doesn't fix it we'll keep searching until we do". I didn't get the impression he was knife happy, money hungry, but was more concerned with my quality of life, he said "these should be the best years of your life" - and boy did that blow me away! I felt (and still do) embrased by his level of caring and credentials.> > With my continuance of problems and his continuance of conducting tests and monitoring, I at least feel that I am embrased by a professional that will do everything in his power to help me, and if he can't get me to where I'd like to be (pain free, able to walk and stand, etc.) he will have exhausted every effort and will help me understand why, as a single person, not a file number in his database.> > Hang in there, just hang on, don't give up. Where there's a will there's a way.> > G> > > > > > [ ] Bad news or good news-Who knows> > > > Hi all,> > I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds. He tried to explain "Break thru" pain, but she had already sent some of my records for a "Peer Review" and some quack doctor determined that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where to go from here, but I can't live like this. > Any suggestions?> > E.>

[Guest guest]

Dear Pat,

Hon, I'm sooo sorry that LaGrone is unable to help, but now you know that, it's on to step two. Many of us were told by more than one doc to either live with it, or there was nothing to be done. Might of been good for him to tell you just why he was unable to help, maybe write him and ask for him to either put in writing or call and discuss it with you.

Appeal the decision on your pain meds, while pain pumps address spinal pain I'm sure it doesn't help with postural pain( and I had a lot of that). Unfeeling @#$%^. Get to more than one pain mgt clinic asap, and find who will work with you. Print off everything you can find on the site and on the internet about flatback and take with you, as many haven't heard of it. You deserve help!

Never think you shouldn't be here because one doc denied serving you. Maybe, just maybe, another will be your answer. I found mine after 20 doc's( mind you ortho's, not a doc like LaGrone),and years of disability and pain, but I knew something was wrong and that there should be help. So while you want to cry now, and boy did I cry, you just have to seek other opinions and see what is possible for you. While most of us are canidates for revision, some may not be due too many factors, and it would be good to know just why LaGrone says he can't help. Seek that answer out, and move on to find " Your Doc".

Tears can be good, so can be getting focused, Okay LaGrone says he can't help, next talk to other doc's and see if they can help. Unfortunately this all takes a lot of work, not easy but so worth it, I'm glad I didn't give up!

Colorado Springs

[ ] Bad news or good news-Who knows

Hi all,

I have been absent the past 5 days. Thursday morning Dr. LaGrone's nurse called and said the doctor asked her to call and that after studying my MRI's he said he can't help me. He doesn't want me to make that long trip for nothing. I busted out crying on the phone (I rarely cry) and asked her if he can recommend anything else that I could try. No. After I hung up I cried harder than when I got my divorce. It was such a big shock and I had pinned all my hopes on seeing him. Now I have no hope and the thought of living the rest of my life, bent over and in chronic pain is more than I want to handle. They are sending my films back and I hope he write some kind of letter explaining more of why he can't help me. In the afternoon I had another appointment with my pain doctor and he gave the news that my claim adjuster is refusing to pay for my pain meds, since I have a implanted pain pump, she says I don't need anymore pain meds. He tried to explain "Break thru" pain, but she had already sent some of my records for a "Peer Review" and some quack doctor determined that my pump should handle all my pain. The bucket of tears started in again and I couldn't get it under control. My poor husband has never seen my cry like that, except when we lost our son. I think he was in shock too. The only thing the doctor could recommend was for me to ask my pump doctor to turn up the pump. I couldn't explain to him, that the pump does not cover the whole body, just my lumbar area. So now I don't have my pain meds anymore. I don't know where to go from here, but I can't live like this.

Any suggestions?

E.