Ok, so maybe not necessarily the doctors themselves, but most certainly the staff that surround them. Today I had the joy of dealing with the office staff at my PCPs office (for those unfamiliar with the abbreviation it stands for Primary Care Physician, or your family doctor, general practitioner, etc). I never enjoy calling there to begin with, they have a telephone system from the stone age, the phones just ring and ring until someone answers, and when they do, they are inevitably rude. "Dr's office, with you in a minute." They do not wait for you to respond. Ever. Then you wait for at least 5 minutes, listening to the lovely sounds of the worst Muzak station known to man, for the same cantankerous woman to come back on the line.
When my call was finally answered, and I asked my simple question if a fax was received, it was answered with a very abrupt, "Well I wouldn't know that, hold on". I thought to myself, "Wooow. If I ever had that tone with a member when I worked for the insurance companies I would have been written up in an instant. She came back on the line and advised me that the fax was, in fact, not received. This was the second attempt at sending it, I explained. Oh my, it got worse from there. To shorten the rest of the story, she became even more exasperated, and I must say that I enjoyed putting her in her place. In a very sickeningly sweet voice. Of course! ;-) Kill 'em with kindness!
I've decided that when I call back tomorrow to check for the third time, I will speak directly to my doctor's assistant, whom I adore, and fill her in on the disaster. To say the least I'm looking for a new primary. I've had enough of them. It's been nothing but a mess since my old doctor's office joined with this one, and I'm sad. I love my doctor and her assistant, but the staff is ridiculous. I was really hoping to delay the change until after all of my legal issues were resolved, but the less stressful situations I have to deal with the better off I am.
On a good note, I received my Stella Artois Chalice in the mail yesterday! I am very pleased with this as I have been anxiously awaiting this beautiful masterpiece. I love the card they included with beauty, which includes "The 9-Step Belgian Pouring Ritual" along with photo directions to follow. It is fancy indeed! I also received my sample of Clinique Moisture Surge Intense, which feels fantastic! Then when I arrived home from shopping today I found my FREE Schick Hydro Silk Razor! Can't wait to try that one out!
I will be sure to start posting photos of all of my goodies shortly! For anyone who has been stopping by, I just want to say thank you for taking the time to read and feel free to comment if you like. This is just what happens when you become a hermit! HaHa!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
My New "Hobby"
With all of the "free time" I have on my hands these days I've taken to entering just about every contest, giveaway, free sample offer, "raffle copter", instant win game, etc, that I can find. In this daily search I've met up with a pretty awesome group of ladies on Facebook.
Our "little island" , as we like to call it, is a reprieve from the daily stressors that must be dealt with. We help each other find things that we need, or want. We can vent to each other. Lean on each other. Make each other laugh. And chances are most of us will never meet in real life. But that's ok, because we're still friends. That's the wonderful side of the internet.
Today I came across a giveaway in my email for a car seat. It's a pretty incredible one if I do say so myself.
This fancy little gadget comes in a variety of colors, converts from a rear-facing infant seat, all the way up to a booster seat that is rated up to 120lbs! I find that incredible and wish I had one when my 6 year old was born! I could literally gush about this dandy of a seat!
But I'll keep myself from writing a novel for now since I've never had to chance to see it in action.
So for today it's back to my cup of coffee, watching "Ghost Rider", entering giveaways and chatting with the ladies!
Our "little island" , as we like to call it, is a reprieve from the daily stressors that must be dealt with. We help each other find things that we need, or want. We can vent to each other. Lean on each other. Make each other laugh. And chances are most of us will never meet in real life. But that's ok, because we're still friends. That's the wonderful side of the internet.
Today I came across a giveaway in my email for a car seat. It's a pretty incredible one if I do say so myself.
This fancy little gadget comes in a variety of colors, converts from a rear-facing infant seat, all the way up to a booster seat that is rated up to 120lbs! I find that incredible and wish I had one when my 6 year old was born! I could literally gush about this dandy of a seat!
But I'll keep myself from writing a novel for now since I've never had to chance to see it in action.
So for today it's back to my cup of coffee, watching "Ghost Rider", entering giveaways and chatting with the ladies!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Keep Trying
I had to use my cane today. The pain in my low back keeps increasing the longer I'm out of physical therapy. It feels like someone has a tiny vice grip clamping down on my nerves and they're pulling it as hard as they can... The pain radiates down past my knees, now. Before I had the epidural of cortisone in January the pain down my legs wasn't any where near this bad, but it seems to have gotten worse since. Although, with stopping physical therapy it has gotten exponentially more painful. I feel as if my legs might give out at any time. Like I may just collapse where I stand. My daughter has already seen me crumble from the pain of back spasms, how much more does she have to be witness to? I pray for healing, because how else can I take care of her? Who else would be able to do it? There is no one. My parents are in no position to raise a 5 year old. Her father isn't around, by his own choice. I need to get better. I need healing. How can I heal properly when the "powers that be" have taken away something that was helping me so much?
I try to remind myself to breathe deep and slow. Remembering to do this is the difficult part. My brain feels so scattered I can't keep anything organized in there. As if my gray matter were more of a gray blob. Memories and information just bouncing freely around in my skull, randomly colliding with each other to remind me of something I once knew.
On a positive note, my head didn't feel like it was going to explode today! Just the dull, nagging headache that I've come to expect on a daily basis. Now, before talking about headaches causes me to have one, I shall retire to the comfort of my bed.
I try to remind myself to breathe deep and slow. Remembering to do this is the difficult part. My brain feels so scattered I can't keep anything organized in there. As if my gray matter were more of a gray blob. Memories and information just bouncing freely around in my skull, randomly colliding with each other to remind me of something I once knew.
On a positive note, my head didn't feel like it was going to explode today! Just the dull, nagging headache that I've come to expect on a daily basis. Now, before talking about headaches causes me to have one, I shall retire to the comfort of my bed.
Friday, March 11, 2011
How it all began
The day is July 24, 2010. It's a beautiful summer day in Western New York. I'm driving home from a farmer's market in Buffalo. My usual route takes me North bound on the I-190, getting off at exit 23, Porter/Packard Rd. I'm the second car from the red light. When the light changes, the car ahead of me passes through the intersection without incident. As I'm driving through I hear a horn, and suddenly my car is struck and I'm spun 180 degrees around and all the way across the street. My 2007 Ford Focus is now totaled. My entire body is sore. I have a very large, very nasty bruise from my seat belt on both my shoulder and my lower belly. All I keep thinking is "Thank GOD my daughter wasn't with me!".
The 18 year old girl who ran the red light is Canadian, this was her first time driving in the States. Her statement to the police officer was something along the lines of "I didn't know what the light meant". Are you kidding me?? I've been to Niagara Falls, Canada, the lights are EXACTLY the same!
OK, that's my vent. I don't want to make this blog about being upset with her, I've actually forgiven her. That's the thing about being a Christian, you forgive people. Carrying around all that anger would just drive me crazier than I already am!
Since the accident I have been on disability. There is very little that I'm able to do that I could before. I wasn't able to take my daughter to do everything I wanted to for the remainder of the summer. I'm terrified to drive anywhere that will take me longer than 5 minutes to get to. Every intersection I see the potential accidents that could occur. Every horn makes my heart race. Admitting this scares me even more. Yes, I'm talking to someone, and I'm taking medication to help me with these feelings of anxiety. Yet, just typing all of this my heart rate is speeding up, my hands are shaking, I feel unsteady, my eyes start to blur. Crazy, right? The really crazy part is the physical pain I'm in.
According to the MRI I had in September I have 4 damaged discs in my neck, and 2 in the lumbar region of my back. Some fully herniated, some bulging, pressure on my spinal canal, annular tears, nerve damage. All very frightening words. I also have a headache that will not go away. Most days it's a nagging headache, like tiny men are hammering in my brain. Other days, I get migraines so debilitating that I can do nothing but lay in a dark room and try to sleep. I have migraine pills, they help some of the time, but not always. The infusion I got at the neurological center was wonderful, it took away a migraine that was 2 days old and still going strong.
I've been seeing a Chiropractor 3 days a week since August 2, 2010. He's amazing and on the days I see him my headaches aren't quite as bad. He wasn't able to do much for my lower back so I started to see a physical therapist, after 2 months of that my insurance company decided to send me for an IME, an "independent medical exam"... yeah, independent my rear. This joke of a doctor saw me for all of 5 minutes, barely laid his hands on me and then said I no longer need PT, don't need surgery, no need to see an orthopedic surgeon at all. Yes, I'm more than a little frustrated about that.
It's been about a month since I've had physical therapy, my back hurts so much more than before. I'm now getting numbness, tingling and pain down the sides of both of my legs. It's scary.
So, the point of starting this blog is so that I have a way to track my pain a little better. So I can get some of this out. Holding it in isn't helping me at all. My anxiety attacks have increased, my pain is worse, and it's been over 7 months. At this point, I'm willing to try anything.
The 18 year old girl who ran the red light is Canadian, this was her first time driving in the States. Her statement to the police officer was something along the lines of "I didn't know what the light meant". Are you kidding me?? I've been to Niagara Falls, Canada, the lights are EXACTLY the same!
OK, that's my vent. I don't want to make this blog about being upset with her, I've actually forgiven her. That's the thing about being a Christian, you forgive people. Carrying around all that anger would just drive me crazier than I already am!
Since the accident I have been on disability. There is very little that I'm able to do that I could before. I wasn't able to take my daughter to do everything I wanted to for the remainder of the summer. I'm terrified to drive anywhere that will take me longer than 5 minutes to get to. Every intersection I see the potential accidents that could occur. Every horn makes my heart race. Admitting this scares me even more. Yes, I'm talking to someone, and I'm taking medication to help me with these feelings of anxiety. Yet, just typing all of this my heart rate is speeding up, my hands are shaking, I feel unsteady, my eyes start to blur. Crazy, right? The really crazy part is the physical pain I'm in.
According to the MRI I had in September I have 4 damaged discs in my neck, and 2 in the lumbar region of my back. Some fully herniated, some bulging, pressure on my spinal canal, annular tears, nerve damage. All very frightening words. I also have a headache that will not go away. Most days it's a nagging headache, like tiny men are hammering in my brain. Other days, I get migraines so debilitating that I can do nothing but lay in a dark room and try to sleep. I have migraine pills, they help some of the time, but not always. The infusion I got at the neurological center was wonderful, it took away a migraine that was 2 days old and still going strong.
I've been seeing a Chiropractor 3 days a week since August 2, 2010. He's amazing and on the days I see him my headaches aren't quite as bad. He wasn't able to do much for my lower back so I started to see a physical therapist, after 2 months of that my insurance company decided to send me for an IME, an "independent medical exam"... yeah, independent my rear. This joke of a doctor saw me for all of 5 minutes, barely laid his hands on me and then said I no longer need PT, don't need surgery, no need to see an orthopedic surgeon at all. Yes, I'm more than a little frustrated about that.
It's been about a month since I've had physical therapy, my back hurts so much more than before. I'm now getting numbness, tingling and pain down the sides of both of my legs. It's scary.
So, the point of starting this blog is so that I have a way to track my pain a little better. So I can get some of this out. Holding it in isn't helping me at all. My anxiety attacks have increased, my pain is worse, and it's been over 7 months. At this point, I'm willing to try anything.
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