ADR Surgery cancled second time at last minute.

Dad; there are some very great responses here to assist your already painful / frustrating circumstances. What caught my eye was the word 'compassion' was used several times here.

Just to let you know that you are not alone -
This occured with an attending Pain Management doc of mine that saw me thru 2 surgeries referring me to good surgeons etc, saw me for more than 2 years less than 5 we will just say here.

At one point he AND his RN diagnosed and approved an increase in medications for extreme pain. Yet - they did not increase the dosages via an actual prescription. (Neither he or the RN 'charted' the fact that they increased dosages)

What this did in the long run was caused a mismatch in my dates and when I could be filled. This was 2 months later because of overlapping doc visits etc, however when I went in to fill 2 months later the pharmasist explained that the fill date was not until TWO days later.

I was to run out 3 tablets early - 1.5 days less than when they could fill!

When I called them at the doc's office I was calm...they were rude to me, they had NEVER been rude to me, as a matter of fact we had a great relationship - friendly to the max.

(At this point in the telephone call, not only was I feeling like an addict - the way they were addressing me made me feel horrible. 'Problematic' when I had never been..But I could feel it over the phone: They had made a decision 'practice wide' that they would not comply with patients, ANY patients that ran out and were calling to get a sympathetic ear...or just a refill when they should have charted the increase?!) They just changed, presto chango, snotty on the phone?! Gosh.

When I questioned why the prescrip could not be filled, They told me that I should not only have enough for those 1.5 days = 3 pills later...because I should have enough for 8 more days!
(Thus, I brought up the 'Verbal' increase of meds for a few days that week I was in the hospital for an EMERGENCY Injection that HE approved!!!, seemed that not only did they NOT remember the increase and was not charted.)

That compassion word came out of my mouth. I asked them how they could possibly watch me get ill because I ran out? "Where is your compassion for one of the honest ones there? Would you really do this because you have been burned by others?" That was it. All I said...

The call ended without the prescrip approval and I just sat there - like you are, without meds. My only support was here. People helped me thru the rough days. (Thankfully and a scary time for me)

He dismissed me without a trace and then cleared papers saying that I was fixed and stable...all the while just a few months prior he was jutting for a surgery for me and many other ideas of what to do for me physically.
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Amen to this being a blessing in disguise. Maybe. I am not sure yet. I am in the recovery mode of trying to save my claim. What was written by them in dismissal papers and then all of the insurance papers to return me to work they even wrote that they 'felt decieved' and it got much worse just so they could CYA. (Cover THEIR rears)
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Document everything - be patient, kind and respect the docs that treat us, I guess.
It is hard because they do not even realise that the very meds they give us to barely survive and live a life of scale 4 pain VS. 9...They cannot see that the meds allow us to get outside and live again. Compassion? I am not sure, I feel like they want us to kiss their A** just to remain under their blessed care!
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Be tough in your endeavors, be graceful in all things. You will eventually put this back together and seek the help that you SO deserve! I pray for your surgery to be fulfilled and SOON dad. I am sorry that you have come up against this wall.
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I vented a little here - only to let you know that you are liked by all of us here and we share the same dang troubles, FRUSTRATING troubles! Good Luck and know that we care


BB

I initially had some problems with communication with my surgeon. After my surgery, he took me off all pain medicines and I had been on several medicines before my surgery. I was in severe pain. My surgeon did not understand at all. This misunderstanding undercut our communication. When I went to my first appointment the PA informed me I had some subsidence and I had been in enormous pain since lowering pain meds with my pain management doctor. I did not feel I could communicate with my doctor. I left the office feeling quite at a loss as I didn't question the doctor once he came into the room. The pain became immense over the next week. I E-mailed mmglobal as he is very knowledgable about xrays, etc. He advised me to fax my doctor. I did just that, explaining how I felt and informing him of the questions and concerns I had. The doctor called me and we ended up with open communications. Maybe this is a method you could use??? Have you attempted to put in writing just how you feel? It may not work at this late state but I felt my story may help you. I am hoping you get the help you need. I am praying for you to find the right doctor for you. The doctor also may not even know what is going on???

Thank each & everyone of you so very much for the kind words & various suggestions. It's always nice to know that there is someone out there to be able to share these type of issues with & receive such real & sincere understanding. Today I simply did nothing as I figured to give it a little time for things to calm down. My plan is to visit my pain managment Dr who is of course the one that supplies me with the nessesary medications to make it from day to day while awaiting surgery. I feel that after explaining what transpired between myself & the surgeon's nurse that he may take a proactive roll in communicating with my surgeon. It's my opinion that my surgeon has no idea of what is even going on. If he has heard anything I'm sure that it's been completely spun in favor of the nurse in order to make me come across as completely abnoxious, rude, demanding & understanding. I'll be the first to admitt that at times I can lose my temper & come across as rude. I also know that this was not the case here. I only asked in a normal tone why was I being cancled for a second time with no notice. Personally, I feel as if for some reason it's personal between the nurse & myself. She doesn't like the fact that I questioned her & when I asked to speak with my Dr on the phone myself is when she really became completely irate. She said no one goes over her head, she does all surgery scheduling & that I would not be allowed to speak with him now or ever. I actually found myself begging her for another surgery date & she said she didn't care if I personaly came into the office on my hands & knees, her mind was made up. She was tired of having to explain her actions to me & to find another Dr. I'm hoping that my pain mgnt. Dr can explain how desperately I need & want this surgery & see where it goes from there. If I can't get anywhere after trying to go through the pain mgnt. Dr then I'll begin my search for another surgeon. I do fortunately have 100% ins. coverage & for that I'm very gratefull. I just can't imagine that my surgeon actualy knows what is going on with his nurse & how she want's to play God within their office. If I have to go elsewhere it's then that I'll use every tool at my disposal to expose their office for what they put me through. I'll contact all of the local media & the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners. I'll also persue legal action for paitent misstreatment & anything else a money hungry attorney can come up with. I've done nothing to deserve this kind of treatment & will not allow it to happen to another paitent if at all possible. Thanks again so, so much for all of your kind thoughts & letters. I'll keep you informed. THANK YOU ALL & GOD BLESS!!!

[Mariaa]

Proud Dad,
Just wanted to say, also, sometimes the decision not to do the surgery or for treatment or whatever has nothing to do with the patient. Like someone else mentioned, there can be a blanket decision to not care for XYZ treatment/procedures/patients(insurance wise) anymore.
It would be nice if at least you were given an apology and an explanation, not to mention called ahead of time so that you didn't waste all this time and maybe others time in terms of planning and arranging for your surgical date and post op care..
Sad that medicine has come to this..

Hang in there, Proud Dad. We're here for you. We can understand your feelings (emotionally and physically) better than many of the health care providers out there since we've been through it. A couple of days before my surgery I was told that it had to be pushed out two weeks because of instrumentation problems. That bummed me out, but it's nothing compared to what you've been through. I like the feeling from others that this could be a blessing in disguise. I hope you find your solution soon.

[Paul]

I agree with others on hear that said proabably a blessing in disguise. Be sure to go and get a copy of your medical record. You have a right to it. Maybe you can even get nurse so and so to give it to you. That would inflame her. She would probably deny it to you which would give you some more recourse for their shodiness.

[fiddle]

Proud Dad,

I just want to let you know that I care about your situation too. Even if you were "rude" and "demanding" (which you weren't -- but it would be understandable) -- what do they expect from a man who is in severe unrelenting pain who sits in a chair almost all hours of the day! Zero empathy from them. If you can find another doctor/nurse combo that are receptive to you and communicative that seems like your best bet. Also, writing/faxing is a thought because it would seem the nurse can't just intercept mail for the doctor. But.... they've shown you what they're about by cancelling twice. I think you'll be better off elsewhere. I pray that you will find the strength and stamina to try to switch doctors...I know it's not easy being in that much pain. Good luck Fiddle

As promossed, I'm posting today after just leaving my first meeting with my "new" surgeon. After being dropped from my prior Dr's care due to two cancled ADR surgerys on their part, I met with the Surgeon that they refered me to today. he is the only other Dr in the area that does this proceedure. I had previously been going to a surgeon that performs several ADR's per week & did them during vthe study as well. He seemed perfectly fine with reccomending me for Charite disc replacment after my disc-o-gram last July. I battlet my Ins Co for 8 Months before gaining 100% approval for the ADR. Now today I meet with this new surgeon at the Medical University of South Carolina. They are well known for thier cutting edge, state of the art techknowledgy. This new surgeon review all of my film & paitent history from my previous Dr at Southeastern Spine Institute, his name is DR Glaser. He too is well respected in his field & has an outstanding reputation. However his first comment to me was "why do you want to have an artificial disc replacment instead of fussion?" He was leaning towards fussion which I could have had over a year ago. I've waited all this time just so I could get the ADR & not a fussion. He said that the Charite disc is very new techknowledgy & not yet proven over a long period as is the fussion. I told him why I didn't want fussion as it usually only leads to further fussions in the future. My previous Dr had scheduled me for ADR surgery two times & both wers cancled by the Clinic. Now after meeting with Dr Glaser at MUSC today he has me worried about having ADR. He said it can lead to many complications , Death, Blood clots in the legs, lack of acceptable recovery, & somekind of ejaculation problem ( I forget what he called it ) that I've never heard of. he said he has performed 6 proceedures with four positive results & two with complications. I told him that my mind was made up to go with the ADR & he said he would have his staff get the ball rolling & that they will be in touch with a date. I now feel very nervous about my decession. I told him about all of the positive results I read about in this forum & he said that usually the only people that participate in these forums are either those who know nothing & trying to get some kind of info, those who had a sucessfull surgery & wanted to share it & a few that had a bad experience & wanted to share it.
Is there anyone that has gone through anything similar to this where you get one surgeon that says certainly that ADR is the way to go & then another who is more inclined to do a fussion? I still want the Charite disc but must admit, this guy has me somewhat nervous now. I've had seven prolo injections in the same area about two years ago from a Dr that was certain that that would cure me. My new Dr says that the Prolo injections make the surrounding tissue very tough & less likely to benifit from ADR????

[Alastair]

Hi Proud Dad,
You should have told this Dr that ADR and the Charitee has been done since 1989 and earlier in
Europe with good results even though there are some risks those are not usuallly a big problem.

Retro ejaculation is what he was talking about

You wanted ADR because it kept that joint moving and would not affect the other adjacent joints.

There is all about Prolothereapy in the FAQ`s as all this above information is.

What a shame you didn`t know this Dr was going to try and push you into a fusion. You could have armed yourself with these facts
Best
Alastair

[Juli]

I hate to harp on this, as I have mentioned it in a few other posts, but even at the spine symposium, multiple doctors indicated that fusion can still be a good solution for certain patients. If I just needed L5/S1 fixed I would have gone with the fusion unless I had a very experienced doctor and my insurance would pay for it. I would not consider a doctor with 6 surgeries under his belt experienced. ADR is a complicated surgery and I would rather have the fusion than ADR with someone who may not be the sharpest tool in the shed in that arena. I would consider someone with closer to 100 surgeries to be fairly experienced.

One level, particularly L5/S1 which has no lower adjacent levels, is probably the best bet for fusion. On another note, my original doctor didn't want me to have either one. He and my primary care physician both said back surgery is a mixed bag, 1/3rd show marked improvement, 1/3rd end up worse than before and 1/3rd show no change. I think a lot of people seek surgery without trying a lot of other things first, and that skews the numbers. But people who clearly have spinal issues for years and have tried it all only for it to continue to degenerate and nno longer have good quality of life, clearly need something done.

Good luck on your continued quest!