My Collection of Radishes

So I had another one, maybe even two, of “That Day”. On Wednesday, April 27th, I was scheduled for my first lumbar sympathetic nerve block in Edmonton. The procedure was ultimately not carried out, and I am still disturbed by many aspects of That Day. Just more to add to my collection.

That Day was how I referred to finding out I had CRPS. So I guess now I refer to a select few of my most trying and exhausting days, whether mentally or physically, as That Day. Collectively I suppose they would be Those Days, but really it’s just a term. Sometimes I attach new terms to things I decide have taken on too negative of a connotation. I may even start calling them Radishes now. I think I like that better. Beautiful and crisp in their pure flavour, but biting and polarizing at the same time. Sure, a trying moment is now just a Radish…

The Wednesday Radish was the most pain I have ever felt. After the freezing for the block was administered, the doctor was using the x-ray to place the needle. All of a sudden, I felt a terrible sensation of shooting pain, pins and needles, and burning beyond recognition. I thought someone was trying to remove my leg, I won’t specify the methods I imagined. I was screaming, my mom could hear me from the waiting room. She said later that she hoped it wasn’t me when she heard screaming, too good to be true maybe. The doctor froze up, gave me a script when I demanded treatment to deal with whatever went wrong, mumbled sorry, and walked out of the procedure room. I refused to leave, and demanded a stretcher or wheelchair so I could be taken to the Emergency. I waited in Emergency for an hour and a half, still screaming, so they could administer some pain medication. I used a washcloth to scream into so I wouldn’t disturb all the other patients in similar shit heap states as myself. I know I get anxiety from situations like going to the ER, so I do try and be cognizant of other people, although in that state by laws of normal distribution I had to have still bugged someone. I got the hell out of that hospital as soon as I could. The drive home was not ideal. I’d rather not describe it beyond that, besides that my mom is a trooper and took all of this in pretty great stride. She really is the best.

Ultimately, nerve damage was a danger I signed off on, but the way the doctor acted after was absolutely unacceptable to me. I was left on an x-ray table screaming, and he walked away as if the appointment had gone as planned. Ultimately I need to focus on my health right now, but I would not recommend this doctor to anyone considering his actions. I will not post his name publicly, as it is not my intention to spread slander or defame him, nor is it my intention to go through any legal motions as far as the care I received. It is my intention to write about my experience and that it was not acceptable and I will not be pursuing this doctor or hospital as a treatment venue. I am sure this doctor has a great success rate, and that I was in a bad statistical margin (again). But, we are people not numbers and it does matter what my experience was. I have mentioned statistics twice…I didn’t even do well in that class, hah!

On Thursday, there was another Radish. I had to be taken to the local ER in Calgary as the pain was not under any type of control. It took an obscene amount of painkillers and anesthetics to get my pain to a safe-to-release place. I was so lucky to have amazing care there on this visit, and I have never required a good experience more at any point in my life so far. We tried fentanyl, ketmine twice, and morphine before we could get to a point of pain control. Sides of lorazepam, and ondansetron of course for the unseemly side effects.

As of now, it seems as though the pain has spread to my back up until about my shoulder blades, running consistently through my left side, and stopping on the right at about my sacrum. The pain also wraps around my torso to include parts of my ribs, mostly on the right side. I say “it seems”, because this pain has been consistent since the aborted procedure. It could also go away. I just don’t seem to get that feeling.

May 3rd will mark 10 months of injury, and I personally suspect ~8 months of CRPS symptoms. I’m charting my next plan of attack right now. I know many of you have asked about what happened, so I wanted to try and get this done before I get distracted with the new conquest.

No emojis, so Beebas will have to do. Much love, thanks for the support.