I had an appointment with my pain management specialist this morning. I'm set up for a new MRI on the 12th as it's been a year now. He also referred me
on to a surgeon over in Wichita where I have a consultation the morning of December 24th.
There are some new procedures out there that are much less non-invasive, and less costly than traditional back surgery, but as is expected, no insurance companies are paying on those procedures yet. I'm not sure what the time frame is on watching the results of new procedures before insurance companies decide to pay.
I have no idea what the next step is. I did tell the specialist this morning I will not go with any major surgery such as disk fusion and getting into the heavy duty narcotic pain relievers, and he agreed with that. He's not a big proponent of those types of surgeries either.
The problem with the steroid injections that I get every six months is that they work wonderfully to knock out the sciatica that radiates down into my legs/feet, but don't even touch the lower back pain that has increased tremendously the past few months.
So, I'm continuing to put one foot in front of the other, and doing the best that I can with what I have for now. I can manage to sit pretty comfortably for extended periods of time in my computer chair doing my school work. I am having to break up my house hold chores into shorter increments of time, but that's okay too. Any time the pain starts really nagging at me, I take some deep breaths, think of 5 things I am grateful for, and that seems to help my attitude.
There are some new procedures out there that are much less non-invasive, and less costly than traditional back surgery, but as is expected, no insurance companies are paying on those procedures yet. I'm not sure what the time frame is on watching the results of new procedures before insurance companies decide to pay.
I have no idea what the next step is. I did tell the specialist this morning I will not go with any major surgery such as disk fusion and getting into the heavy duty narcotic pain relievers, and he agreed with that. He's not a big proponent of those types of surgeries either.
The problem with the steroid injections that I get every six months is that they work wonderfully to knock out the sciatica that radiates down into my legs/feet, but don't even touch the lower back pain that has increased tremendously the past few months.
So, I'm continuing to put one foot in front of the other, and doing the best that I can with what I have for now. I can manage to sit pretty comfortably for extended periods of time in my computer chair doing my school work. I am having to break up my house hold chores into shorter increments of time, but that's okay too. Any time the pain starts really nagging at me, I take some deep breaths, think of 5 things I am grateful for, and that seems to help my attitude.
