The beat goes on. I see the spine Doc Monday to discuss the results of the MRI.

The timeline for this is absurd.

Two years of fruitlessly treating a piriformis muscle problem with coritizone and PT.
In mid-June my Doc throws up his hands and sends me to a spine specialist

July 10 I see the spine doc, he orders an MRI

July 28 (18 days later) I get the MRI

The MRI clinic sends me the results later that same day

August 1 I call the spine Doc to see about an appointment re: the MRI. They say, "What MRI?"

August 2 I call the MRI place and remind them to send the dam results to the spine doc that ordered them. They counter that they already sent the results to me. What the hell am I going to do with them? Send them to the DOCTOR that ordered them - please.

August 4 I call and get an appointment to see the spine Doc. They tell me it is only to discuss the results of the MRI.

August 14 discuss the results of the MRI

When hell freezes over I might get some treatment.

In the mean time wife is yelling at me to take it easy while I try to keep acting like a normal human being. Arggg!!!

FWIW trying is as good as doing when you're dealing with such an issue. I've dealt with it long enough to know that when you stop trying you start dying.

Keep on truckin'! You'll get there.

It's hard to find a good spine doc. Also do not expect anyone to send anything. I go to my appointments with all of the imaging cd's and reports....

I wasted about 7-8 months just trying to find a competent doctor to just see me... the original neurosurgeon i went to stated they couldn't see the broken screws and put in my medical notes that I'm "surgery seeking". This tainted me like a salvage titled car as i couldn't get another appointment in the town and if i did they immediately asked what happened at xyz....

You've got a lot of folks pulling for you Patrick ....

Do you see a fork stickin' outta yer azz?

Nope! I didn't think so .....

YER NOT DONE YET!

Best to you ... hang in there, and stay positive!

Something wrong with with asking what happened. If you do not consent to have your medical records opened up, then that is a violation AFAIK. Think HIPPA. Just the mere mention should clear that up.

@wdfifteen, I think you should think about traveling to a major facility. If you do get surgery, you won't be there long. You and your wife can get accomodations sometimes affiliated with the medical center. When it comes to this kind of surgery, your convenience should be secondary. You can rent any kind of car you need for comfort.

If I didn't have the Mayo Clinic guy right here, I'd go find him/her. Other institutions exist. There's even a dedicated place just for hernias. Some of those are very difficult and beyond the local surgeon's experience. Lumbar surgery is one of those deals.

My wife has had 3 surgeries on her spine. One didn't turn out well and was the reason for no. 2. That time a neurosurgeon did it.

I don’t think you should push yourself through the pain as much as you seem to be doing. Focus on getting your medical care situation sorted. What you’re going through is no joke. I have to think there’s some possibility that pushing could make things worse.

Well, we have a plan.
I go in Tuesday the 22nd for an epidural (steroid injection in a nerve in my spine). If it works well it will last for for 3 months. But he'll only do 3 a year because of the damage the steroid does. I'll likely need surgery in a year or two.
If the pain comes back in 2 months or less surgery is in my future. I can also choose to go straight to the surgery now.
So I'm getting the shot now and seeing how things go. My wife and the doc are both thinking surgery this winter one way or another. I'm not so sure.

I went the steroid route, twice, and it only lasted about 3 to 4 weeks. So I’m on the surgery route. My first appointment with the neurosurgeon is August 28 so at least we are both making some kind of progress. However, when I did get the steroid shot, I had almost complete relief within 24 hours.

The steroid epidurals are hit or miss. Hopefully it works for you.

Surgery is more than likely a laminectomy and discectomy. A good surgeon will do well. You'll be looking at a fusion eventually (loss of stability for that disk). Herniated disks can heal on their own and i would be cautious of a surgery off the bat.

Hopefully you get some relief from the epidurals. The pain is an uphill battle that will test your moxy. This will further test your strengths if you have moderate loss of functions(bowel/bladder, ect).

I wouldn't discredit physical therapy right now either. Core strength, learning safe movements, and listening to your body will help out tremendously.

^^^Yes. PT now so if and when you have surgery you will be in the best shape you can be under the circumstances. How is it if you swim? Have you thought of an inversion table?

I'm still doing the PT I did for lower back pain. I stopped the exercises specific to piriformis muscle syndrome.


"Hopefully you get some relief from the epidurals. The pain is an uphill battle that will test your moxy. This will further test your strengths if you have moderate loss of functions(bowel/bladder, ect)."

Fortunately the nerve that is affected doesn't have a muscle control function, so no weakness. The doc said I can do anything I want, my body will let me know when to slow down. :)

We watched a movie last night about a rodeo cowboy. He got thrown off his bronc and got hurt pretty bad. He was having trouble getting up the courage to go back to riding. I guess in the rodeo they have a saying for moments like this. His girlfriend told him, "Cowboy up or go sit in the truck."

I like it. "Cowboy up!"

I forgot to add from my experience.

Unless you are a good surgical candidate, treatment is very hit or miss. I think it is because they don't have other good options (not that surgery is a great option). I literally bounced from Dr to clinic to Dr to PT for them all to wring hands and shrug shoulders and all the while I was in excruciating pain but wasn't surgical.

Add into that a previous allergic reaction to a steroid injection and they were at a loss on how to treat me. One doc sent me to pain management clinic. The pain management Dr was blown away that I was there since they mainly did steroid injections and she said if I had similar reaction to a spinal injection that it could kill me.

Movie talk.

Excellent! Thank goodness for small blessings.

Clearly you're out there bustin' broncos!

Jeez! Did they ever figure something out to get you relief or are you just a pain management master these days?

I have been living with constant back pain since 1978. There are bad days then not so bad days, but never good days. Laminectomy surgery in 1994, then chronic muscle spasms from there on.

In the past year I have had Radio Frequency Ablation of the facet joints, helped a little with mobility.

Since 1986 Epidurals. Latest round L3-4 twice and 1 L4-5 help a little.

The biggest frustration is my "sciatica" of the left butt, leg and foot. The foot feels like it's on a hot plate and the constant pain in the butt and leg is getting real old. The problem is I can't get my Pain Mgmt doc to believe that it is Piriformis Syndrome. The symptoms only appear when I have spasm in the glute. The sciatic nerve runs thru the piriformis in some people, and I think I am one.

I am leaving for another appointment in an hour.

wdfifteen..........I FEEL your pain. Best of Luck!

Yayyy!!! A new delay!!

The appointment for the epidural was in fact just an appointment for a 10 minute chat about a future epidural. The pain specialist went through the same questions and same tests as the spine doc and had me come back later for the actual procedure. Now, on September 18th, I have an appointment to maybe have the procedure, although I'm not counting on it any more. The bi**ch of it is the pain guy is in the same building as the spine Doc - right down the hall! It's 1 1/2 hours round trip to this place and I have been there 4 times already and still no treatment.
Meanwhile I gave away a bushel of corn last week because I'm in no condition to do the work of freezing it. Yesterday I gave away a bushel of tomatoes or the same reason. The birds are eating my apples because I can't get out there and put up the deterrent strips.
If all goes as planned :rolleyes::rolleyes: it will be three over months since my family doc first referred me for a spine evaluation before I get treatment. :eek:

I finally just stopped taking Tramadol on my own. The Docs took me on a tour of the pharmacy trying one drug then another. It was ridiculous.

One provider told me that at a certain point, the problem areas will likely fuse themselves together as the joint calcifies. My pain has gone down substantially but is still there at times.

Now I use 800mg motrin, a Tens unit, vodka, CBD, Kratom, Jack Daniels.

My only problem now is that I don't have any real pain killers for when the dodo hits the fan, which it does weekly. When the pain gets bad now, I'm just stuck with it. I still don't have a Dr after moving 3 years ago.

I am so sorry, Patrick.

I have had to lean on Milliman and my son recently because of delays in my hip replacement. John helped me get 50 fence boards from the Amish and then my son and his girlfriend put up 25 of them while I mowed with John for four hours.

Not being able to do the simple chores on the farm is very difficult and you know exactly why since you live it.

No words of advice other than I understand.