Manage Pain or Not?

So I had made the decision that I would NOT call the pain management doc and just deal with the discomfort.  I think my weight is exacerbating the problem so as I lose it, I will lose the pain as well.  This afternoon, the pain management office left a message for me saying they received my paperwork and referral from my pcp and to go ahead and give them a call for an appointment.  OK...first off, what office does this?  Seriously, who is this proactive?  I NEVER have offices call me unless it's to confirm an appointment..never make an appointment.  So is this a sign?  I don't know what to do now...because I had my mind made up but now I'm thinking maybe I'm meant to go to this other office or something.  I realize it's not a big decision but I've been taking so much time off work and still have a lot of appointments to go with my lapband stuff that I'm just not sure I want to pursue this issue right now.  Thoughts?

ETA:  I swear I'm not this wishy washy!  I seem to have lost all ability to make a simple decision in my life.  PATHETIC!

Bloodwork and Tailbone Results

Well, the results are in and my tailbone region looks normal.  It's not broken, dislocated or bruised.  So, basically, they have no idea why I have pain there.  Doc wants to send me to a "pain specialist" now to handle it.  Here's what bugs me about it. ****If you're a big supporter of pain management people...you may not want to read this next part even though I don't mean for it to be offensive *****  All this guy is gonna do is stick a needle in my butt and shoot high doses of pain meds to the bone to ease the pain.  While that sounds all good and well, it's possibly only a temporary fix.  If it's just enflamed, this may help until it gets tampered down but it's been two years, this isn't just enflamed.  If it's something more permanent, I'll have to go back every few months for more shots.  I don't like the idea of that.  Who the hell has time for that?!?!  Also, I don't like this trend in the medicinal arts that we're going to treat the symptoms without trying to find out the root cause of said symptoms.  It's not a great approach.  Also, this doctor I've been referred to...hmmm...not inspiring a lot of confidence on his website.  Under "Accomplishments", he says "graduated from college in two years because skipped the 12th grade."  Ummm...yeah...OK.  What a dork.  Anyway, I'm thinking of exploring other avenues of treatment first like acupuncture or a chiropractor or something.  "Chronic pain" is just a term they made up for this since they don't know what it is.  Athritis, Bursitis, Fibromyalgia..THAT'S chronic pain.  Pain while sitting?  Not so much.  Needless to say, this frustrates me because I'm uncomfortable but I'm not sure I want shots up my bottom to make it feel better...will have to think this one over.

Bloodwork came back as well.  Sugars and liver look good (Damn! Was kinda hoping to be prediabetic but I know it's actually a good thing).  My cholesterol and triglycerides are elevated so the doc wants to put me on a low fat diet and have me exercise 5 days a week.  Yeah...OK.  Well, while I agree that I absolutely should be doing that, did he miss the whole lapband, supervised diet thingie???  Not to be cavalier about it but my cholesterol is elevated by 4 points...I don't think that's going to kill me in the next two months while I try to finish these insurance requirements.  The whole point of the lapband is to get healthy and not have any numbers elevated so I'm taking the results with a positive outlook and feel assured that these numbers will soon be heading in a downward direction.

The doc's office also confirmed they received my fax with the sample letter of medical necessity and the addendum with some personal information.  The receptionist said she left it on the doctor's desk and he'll get to it as soon as he can.  We'll see how long this takes.  The results of the tests and stuff have been pretty speedy so I'm hoping he gets to it quickly.  I also instructed his office to call me when it's done so I can swing by and pick them up instead of having them faxed.  Yes, I'm a control freak.  Right now, I don't see any reason in trying to change that but I will eventually.  If there is one lesson I'm taking from Lori's blog is that if you stay on top of what's going on, good things will happen!  I'm hoping, at least.  So anyway, there's my update.  Hope everyone's doing ok...Have a great weekend!

Letter of Necessity and Tailbones

So...went to my PCP yesterday.  My husband and I set up a joint appointment with our PCP to talk about providing letters of medical necessity for our lapbands.  My husband sees him about once a year for a physical but I NEVER go to the doctor.  If I need antibiotics or something, it's because I'm sick and this guy is not good about getting you into the office in a timely manner.  In light of this, I go the Urgent Care or the Minute Clinic to take care of it instead.  This is why my 5 years medical history came from my lady doctor because that's the only doc I see religiously (except for my lapband surgeon, of course  :o) ).  So...anyhoo...I was afraid he would fight me on the letter since he doesn't really know my history.  He didn't.  He asked for a sample letter from my surgeon (which we have) and said he'd forward it right away so WAHOO!  So...I'm providing the sample letter with some personal information about me and my hubby to help him out when writing it.  I'm going to have to get creative with mine since we're kinda missing the whole comorbidity piece. 

The other reason I was at the doctor was for my tailbone.  Yes...my tailbone.  No...I didn't fall.  Ever since I had my second daughter (so two years ago), I've had a come-and-go type pain when I sit for long periods of time.  It was so come-and-go that I never got it checked out.  For the last month or so, however, it has been consistent.  If I sit for more than 15-20 minutes, I get this pain and then when I go to stand up, it's a sharp pain.  Once I'm up and walking, I'm good.  Unfortunately, I have a job that requires me to basically sit for 8 hours a day.  While I do get lunch and two breaks, they aren't every 15-20 minutes apart.  Truth be told, I oftentimes don't get the breaks at all and I'm on TONS of conference calls that require me to stay at my desk as I do not have a wireless headset.  So...finally sucked it up since I was at the doc's office anyway.  He says it's one of two things:

1. A broken or dislocated tailbone
2. An irritated or enflamed tailbone

Okay...I'm not going to get into the mental images I have of an irritated tailbone...as if it's yelling at my bowels to move over or PMS'ing about something.  Doc said that if it's enflamed, he'll send me to a specialist that will numb the...ahem...area and give me a few shots of medication directly to the bone which should take care of the pain and allow it to mellow out.  He didn't tell me what type of actions are taken if it's broken or dislocated but he did send me for an xray.  Exciting stuff getting your tailbone xray'd.  So I went and got my xray but it's at one of those imaging centers so an xray tech takes the xray and gives it to a radiologist who looks at it and makes a diagnosis and sends a report to my doc who will report the findings to me. How convoluted can we make this process?  It's a tailbone for God's sake!  Anyway, I should know something about my tailbone next week.

The doc also sent me for bloodwork to check my cholesterol, sugars, etc.  He ordered it so he'll have some kind of record since I've never done a full physical with him before, but I'm hoping we find some kind of comorbidity in the results.  I know, I know.  I shouldn't want a comorbidity but I can't help wishing for just a small one. 

Since I had all these appoitnments in the morning and the day was a wash anyway.  My husband and I spent the rest of the afternoon going to the movies.  We saw Clash of the Titans.  It was REALLY good!  It's not a big thinker...I mean...it's visually stunning and just a fun watch but don't expect any deep insights.  We didn't see it in 3D as those movies tend to give me headaches but we enjoyed it just the same.  I recommend it if you're looking for a fun flick.  Hope y'all are having a good Thursday!