The man's side of it!

It's Friday and I've been out of work all week. In fact this is the first time I've been sitting up for more than an hour at the computer at home.

About two months ago, just before Cassie and I went on vacation to Mystic, Connecticut, I started having problems with my hip. After standing or walking for more than fifteen or twenty minutes my hip would start to hurt. I would sit down for a few minutes and the pain would dissipate enough so that I could continue walking. On our vacation the problem was even more pronounced as we did a lot of walking in Connecticut. As time went on the pain would come on sooner and last longer.About a month ago while shopping with Cassie (something I really enjoy as we get to be alone without the kids) I noticed that when the pain started, if I leaned over and put my upper body weight on the shopping cart the pain would go away.

I work as a CAD Draftsman and Sketcher for a great Sheet metal outfit in Somerset, NJ, Buist Inc. Where I get to go out and measure the jobs we get and go back to the office and draw in AutoCad the shop drawings so our shop can fabricate and our field installers install the duct. I really enjoy all aspects of my job, even though it means sometimes climbing ladders and getting dirty. I meet new people, see all kinds of different environments and buildings. Lately getting out to measure has been a pain in the hip (no pun intended) As I go out to measure and or coordinate with the foremen meet with Project Managers and go to job meetings I would suffer with a tremendous amount of pain.

 I started taking Ibuprofen, a lot of Ibuprofen. At first I would take four 200mg pills which is prescription strength, and that helped quite a lot. Then as the pain worsened I added two Tylenol Arthritis 500mg pills to the mix. Three weeks ago I was taking six Ibuprofen and three Tylenol's. That still wasn't making me comfortable. I was very worried about the amount of pain meds I was taking so I went to see my Doctor. He thought it might be just a pinched nerve that would probably heel with a little rest and prescribed Percocet to help relieve the pain. Just a few days after that the pain increased by half. I went to work that day but was in so much pain I couldn't even sit still without writhing around to try to get comfortable. The shop foreman, Pat suggested I try to get in to see a Chiropractor; That some of them have walk in appointments and if I needed to, he would get someone to drive me over.

I wasn't to happy about a one and a half hour drive home just then so I went up to my office and looked for a Chiropractor. My boss, John said that he also saw one for back problems he had had and that it helped him quite a bit. I found an office and made an appointment that day for right after work. Dr. Davis took me in and did a little background on my symptoms then got started right away. First he put electrodes on my back to stimulate and relax the muscles, then he put me on the table and started to work on my spine. I felt much better after about an hour of treatment and thanked the doctor. He recommended I get some back and hip X rays and gave me the scripts. He suggested I see him again after work the next day. 

A half hour after leaving the doctors office on the way home my back and hip started to hurt again. It was so bad I don't know how I made it home. I made an appointment to get the radiology work done for Friday and so couldn't make it in to work. I called Dr. Davis and changed my appointment with him to Saturday. The X rays showed a lot of bone spurs and arthritis along my spine as well as a compressed L4-L5 disk After viewing the films on Saturday Suggested I might need an MRI to further diagnose the problem. He the went to work on my lower back and tried to alleviate the pain. I felt good walking out of the office but again soon started to feel the pain again.

On top of all this pain that was going on, the previous  week I was plagued by a sinusitis that turned into bronchitis. I was running a low grade fever all week my family doctor called in an antibiotic to help me get over it. When I first started having the pain and the pain meds I was taking weren't helping Cassie had made and appointment, with her rheumatism and arthritis doctor. I was to see him the next Monday (this week) at 4:45 in the evening. The pain was so bad and the continued fever was worrying Cassie and I that I went to see my Internist. He became worried that I might have an infected disk or spine infection so he had some blood drawn and called and consulted with Dr. X rays, Cassie's doctor. They took me in right away. I had brought with me the X rays taken the previous Friday and he showed me all the areas of concern. He wasn't sure there was an infection but he also wouldn't rule it out either. He said I would definitely to have an MRI and as I was leaving They said they would call my insurance co. to get authorization.

While I was making this entry my doctor, doctor Bross Called me to tell me the results of my blood work. He said they all came back in the normal range. They tested for Lyme disease, elevated white blood cells and also thyroid. Every thing is normal but I'm still running a temp. He doesn't want to give me any antibiotics just yet. "Wait until the MRI results come back." "Come back!" I said, "I didn't even get a pre-cert to get them yet!" He suggested I call to find out what is going on. So after hanging up I call Dr. Hymowitz's office to get the pre-certification number. Ah ha! They forgot to call my insurance company! Now I have to wait even longer to find out what's going on. I thought that I would call Aetna my self and get a pre-cert number but after a computer quiz of about five minutes asking me all sorts of questions I was put on hold for fifteen minutes. My wife broke in on call waiting wanting to know how to get back through town due to road closings for construction. I answered her call and lost the call to my insurance company. AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!

I just got a call from Dr. Hymowitz's office The receptionist said she called Aetna and they told her I didn't need a pre-cert. OMG! I then called Larchmont Imaging where we go for all our radiology needs and made an appointment. Now I have to wait until next Wednesday for my MRI. I wonder why my stress level is so high?

You can ping this entry by using http://www.twhgrafx.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2212 .