Hi all! Brace yourselves - I'm gonna vent a little...
So, after spending hours today in the ER (we went to the new hospital 5 min. up the road rather than the one he had the spinal done at) - we find out that he does need the blood patch - duh, after writhing in pain for most of the morning - we kinda figured that out. But, they didn't know why the other hospital and the neurologists office didn't schedule one. They REALLY didn't know why they both suggested the ER. The ER Dr. said that it's a scheduled proceedure not an emergant one. He said that the new hospital would be stepping on the toes of the other one if they did the proceedure there and that the anasthesialogists wouldn't take the risk of the proceedure if he's not scheduled for it. He was a cool doc and called in a favor to see if DH could have the proceedure done there - he hinted that if the narcotics he gave him took all the pain away - they wouldn't do it.
Ok, we get it....question: is there still pain - answer: yes.
So what did DH do - uh no, not hurting. First I kicked the bed, then I mentioned that DH's pain is always low if he's lying down - it's when he sits or stands up that the pain shoots to a level 10 (which is where DH leveled the pain when admitted). So they sit him up and after about 30 seconds ask where it's at - level 3 he says. The Dr. says to call the other hospital to sched. the proceedure - he could only do it if the pain was still bad even after the narcotics. then he leaves. DH stays sitting up and starts complaining about the pain again. I ask where it's at - he says a 7 - and it really was. It didn't matter they just told him to not sit up or stand until tomorrow. And sent us home.
I'm soooo angry with the first hospital and the neurologist. It was sooo obvious that it was a spinal headache/reaction. The neurologist's office even told DH that it was probably just the stress he was under waiting for his results
. That one still angers me. Uh, hello - we can't
wait to get the results - we're not the kind to stress out over fear of them. The ER came to the conclusion right away that it was a reaction. All they had to do is hear what DH had experienced since the procedure and what especially gave it away was the positional pain - smaller pain lying down, HUGE pain when sitting or standing up.
Oh well, thanks for letting me vent. Again, we know things could be much much worse and are for so many. Just frustrating because I'm starting to wonder again if we have the right neurologist. DH asked for a list of everything they've ruled out or tested for. The neurologists office refused to even give us a list of what they've tested for. Instead they scheduled an appt for the DR to go over everything with us. I'm sorry, but that really just sounds like they only want the money. Otherwise, they'll just send us his medical records and let us try to determine what they've done. Ugh.
Long story short (I know...too late!
), DH's blood patch procedure is sched. for noon tomorrow. And the Neurologist's appt to go over new and old test results is the 30th.