My Diary

Hi everyone,

I met with a neurosurgeon on Thursday for my third and final opinion about whether or not I needed surgery on my neck.  She agreed with the previous orthopedic surgeon that surgery is not indicated.  I once again asked the terrible question, "Well, what do I do now?" Her response?

"Find a pain specialist that you're very comfortable with, because you'll probably need one the rest of your life."

 Fantastic.

One of the favorite things she also said to me? "Well, neck pain is the second hardest pain to treat." I interrupted her and said "Yeah, headaches are the first." At which point she looks at my chart, looks back at me and says, "Yes, sorry about that."

Well, cool, no surgery.  That part I guess I can be relieved about.  But otherwise? I already have a headache no one can fix, but now a neck issue no one can fix? Its not bad enough for surgery but too bad to be treated by the more common strategies.  I feel like once again I'm in this position where things are bad enough that I'm miserable but not bad enough to give up on everything.

I made a new appointment with the pain doctor I was seeing, because I guess its time to hunker down with him and see what my options are.  

Anyways, take care everyone.

Sarrah