The Painful Week in Review

Miss me? I've missed you too, Internet. You see, I haven't been able to do much recently except lay on my back and sleep. I totally twisted something out of alignment in my back on Monday afternoon and it took me the rest of the week to recover. There's still a lot of tightness in my lower back and some weakness in my thighs, but I'm finally feeling well enough to walk around and sit at my computer.

I'm seeing a chiropractor and maybe finally fixing my back problems stemming from high school band and carrying around drums and whatnot. I truly believe it's where all my problems originate, which is really sad because I loved it so much. I doubt that I'd change anything going back. Maybe instead we can blame it on all the books I had to carry around in high school.

So, I'm seeing Dr. Kelly Baker whose office is just 5 blocks from my house and he is a great man. Not only because he's helping fix my problems but because he explains what he's doing really well. He also has a super awesome table thingie that raises and lowers so that I don't have to try to get up and down with my hurt back.

He took some x-rays and adjusted me three times this week. I go back on Monday for another. They were the first x-rays that have ever been taken of me, so that was spiffy. He said that I have a curvature in my lower spine and that the lumbar vertebrae 3-5 are twisted, which is probably causing the problem. He said he could make the pain go away in 4-5 treatments and fix the curvature in my spine in 22. I find that kind of amazing.

The good news is that with my insurance, I get 26 visits to the chiropractor a year and there is absolutely no copay. I love my insurance right now.

Sadly, with all the adjustment stuff going on, I was still in a lot of pain and went to an emergent care facility to see if I could get a prescription for anything that would help. They gave me a muscle relaxer and Vicodin. I'm not really a huge fan of Vicodin because it made me all lightheaded and weird feeling the morning after I took it, but the muscle relaxer is my new best friend. The only thing that sucks about it is that it's a sedative and I can't keep my eyes open very long if I'm just laying on my back trying not to hurt anything. I tend to fall asleep for hours.

Therefore, I have slept through several BSG episodes and have to go back and watch them again. Funny how I thought it would be work getting in the way of watching the show - as I haven't been to work all week.

Unfortunately, because this happened at work - even though it wasn't work related and I could have done it absolutely anywhere - my boss filled out an injury report. Which means I had to see another doctor. I can't tell you how mad I was about the whole situation. By Friday I just wanted to be better and having to go all the way into the city to see a doctor when I'd already started to take care of the problem on my own made me angry.

So, I went and saw him. I told the nurse I didn't really need to be there because I was getting my own treatment but she said it was good that I was there, although it was a vague reason about workman's compensation... which I didn't need. So, I went through the motions because I thought I had to, the doctor hardly looked at my chart, and he made me do a couple stretches and bends. Then he said he wanted to give me a painkiller and some muscle relaxers and send me to physical therapy.

I told him that I was seeing a chiropractor and that I already had both a painkiller and muscle relaxers and it was all right there in my chart. He told me that I had arthritis in my lower back. I immediately didn't trust anything else he said. Why you may ask? Because Dr. Baker, the Chiropractor who actually took x-rays of my spine, said that I did not have any arthritis.

So, I flipped out on them and said I didn't want any of their dumb pills (they were still trying to give me prescription strength Advil... which, really? I can take four over the counter ones and have the same effect) or the therapy. They looked at me like I was crazy. Why wouldn't I take free treatment? This was for me. They were just trying to treat me the best that they could. Yeah, well, your solutions aren't good enough for me, I guess.

I wonder if I hadn't told them I was seeing a chiropractor if they would have told me to go to one, or if their answer for everything is physical therapy. Because I can assure you that physical therapy alone would not fix this problem of mine.

Anyway, the whole place has lost my trust and I hope that I never actually do hurt myself on the job and have to go there. I had to hand write a letter absolving the KCPD and Concentra of any liability and say that I was seeking treatment elsewhere to get out of what they wanted to do. They don't even have a release form? Weird.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to the past four days. Laying down, being in pain, and sleeping. Thankfully I had 30 some sick days at work and really good insurance. The emergent care only cost me a $30 copay and the meds were $16 total. But my favorite part is not paying anything when I go to see Dr. Baker. He's my new hero.


End Blog.