Quackologist Strikes Again

Susie, I am aquainted with road rash. There is no way to describe that pain. The things we do when we are young and foolish.

Anice, It was actually a good night. I think I was just so tired that my mind and body gave out. I am going to try and relax today even though I have to go in later this morning and work on the alarm system and I am on call until 10 tonight. Hopefully things are sloww today at the center.

Dani, I long for the day that we are able to hire at least 1 more full time staff but 2 would be better. Hope you have a great day with the little ones buzzing around. I slept in this morning but our daughter came in as she had to leave early to head out with her horse to the fair. She does not start her serious riding until Monday but they have to be out there today washing, clipping and dressing their horses. So it is just Danyel (Dani) and I sitting here having coffee. Have a wonderful day.

 

I wish I had at least one Oxycodone a day. I don't have anything but Gamapentin. Plus I only get 3 visits to a PMS but at this point the PMS don't even want me because the dr. says to do the whole body and they want one specific part of the body.
Right now I'm taking Tylenol Arthritis and Gamapentin for my pain that's it. I will have to go to another clinic to get a new/different doctor. Since I don't like my Internest, MD.
HARA

Skeye, Thanks for the thoughts. Today was mixed. I had a few small things to deal with and went to the fairgrounds to see my daughter. We took her out to lunch and I could feel the intensity starting to rise. She was not riding in any events today so my wife and I came home. I tried to settle down and I was called and we had another fire alarm going off. The person I had covering forgot what to do when the fire alarm went off. I went in and it was very interesting. I cleaned the smoke alarms on one florr this morning and thought that would do it. I had the alarm company in two weeks ago to clean another floor. All the dust from the remodel collects in the alarms. That was not the problem. I had a student that was ironing right under a smoke alarm and I think he was ironing everything he had. I cleaned the alarm, aired the area out and we are back in business. Now I am home and I could not stand to be in the recliner so I have headed to bed to try and find relief. Hopefully no more fire alarms. I should have retired today.

PAlady, I will start researching the vodoo spells so i don't get caught off gaurd. When I went to the center today, it was deserted or I would have had help. The ones that were not working were out enjoying the weather. The alarm company does not like it when I leave an alarm off. It also leaves us in a big liability state. I will be addressing the issue on Monday with the Admin. office as it is their construction project that is causing the problem. It is convienent that they are out of town. I could just say that I lead by example but that does not work either does it?

Fatherjohn,
Kttn's post gave me an idea. I know you're planning to speak with the stim unit rep., but if he/she knows there has been no follow up from the surgoen, and what shennanagans are going on with you, they may be liable, too. (See, the liability thing can work in all kinds of directions, right?) And maybe the Rep could find a PM doctor who would take you as a PM patient and accept your insurance - making an exception because the rep (who likely gives this as yet unknown PM quite a bit of business) asks.

Just a thought.

And those students out enjoying the weather? Get their cell numbers!

PaLady

Just in case you weren't given the reps direct contact, since I know you want to avoid contact with the quackologist - you can also call Boston Scientific directly and they can tell you what rep is/was assigned to your area/case.

Also, as I understand it, BS reps aren't required to meet with their clients in a physician's office or hospital environment, so you could probably arrange to meet with your rep (or another available rep) if you need to have your SCS checked out or reprogrammed, whether you have a doctor or not.

The BS reps ARE required to meet in a medical setting (or at least that's what their call center told me). When I haven't been able to get out to my PM's office (which is over a hour away), they meet me in the snack shop at a local hospital. They just need to be able to have doctors nearby in case of a medical emergency (I don't think there's ever been one, but they try to err on the side of being extra cautious).

I do think you should still give your surgeon another call & tell him that there may be a problem with your SCS. The NS & BS rep really should check that out. There have been instances where the cord is not properly connected to the stimulator, there is a frayed cord, or the unit is putting out too much heat. It is important to rule those things out, so I do think you have a good reason to give the surgeon a call & tell him you think there may be a problem with your SCS. Maybe your BS rep can help to coordinate that for you.
If it is not one of those things, most likely it is either inflammation or some sort of nerve issue (from what I've heard). If you are able to find a dermatologist, they can help with the inflammation.

If it's a nerve issue, I can share what I did to help with my searing pain. It is not supported by BS & if something goes wrong it could void your warranty, so I'm not recommending it, per se, but it did help me. I went to an osteopath. I had the films already showing that everything was properly connected & where it was all located. He worked on the area, massaging it, gently pushing or pulling the unit ever so slightly. My PM guesses that it maybe took a bit of pressure off of the nerve. BS told me that sometimes people try doing that on their own & are too aggressive & end up disconnecting the cord from the unit, so definitely don't try doing it yourself! There is still some risk even with having a professional do that, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures, right? :)

I do hope you can somehow get some rest & start to feel better. I will cross my fingers & say a prayer that that major donor comes through so you can hire another employee (I would DEFINITELY put the newby on fire alarm duty. ;)

feel better,
Frances

PAlady, the staff that I have on at night and weekends are students. They have been clean and sober for 2 years but have limited abilities in some areas. I was callled out at 1:30 this morning for another stinking fire alarm. My staff (student) had all the the students out of the building and was able to do a search of the building before I got there to make sure there was no fire. The alarm company takes every alarm seriously as do I. i just paid the company to come in and check the sensors but it appears I will have to have them retun. I had to check each sensor to see if one was malfunctioning and then get the system reset. I have trained  one of my second year students to do presentations at churches and he was the one on call last night. I stayed at the center until 3:30 AM, sending him back to bed so he was able to head out this morning to a church about 3 hours away. I have students who handle all our vehicle and building maintenance, cooking, cleaning, outreach when we go out and distribute anti-drug materials. Some of our students have maybe an 8th grade education and lived on the streets. I have some that have been through as many as 10 treatment programs and now have been clean and sober for over a year. They can be high maintenance at times. The major problem right now is that our finances are so low I can't hire the staff I need and raising the funds is my responsibilty. I just added an man to our staff and he is helping to cover during the day so I can start traveling again, recruiting students and meeting with potential donors. My surgeries put us behind as I was not able to do as much traveling as I should have. I am getting ready to hit the road. I will be back down in Arizona, in central and northern California, back up is Washington, and possibly back to Montana in the next several months. I have an invitation to go to Texas and presnt our program to multiple centers there. We have over 15 centers in Texas. There is another school like this in southern California and I just met with the director from there and our school is seen having the best academic program and they want me to go to S. California and share with them what we are doing. I have more requests to travel then I can ever meet. The main problem is not enough staff to handle things when I am gone. I need the funding to get that taken care of. Since we are tuition based, I also have to make sure we have a minimum number of students so we have that income. In the meantime, I still am a people person and love to spend time helping our students with the problems they face on an everyday basis. I know this is off subject but this is an idea of what my job description is as the Executive Director.

I know it puts a strain on me but I try and help my student staff out as much as possible. They are training to be staff and I know that they need attention as they develop. That is why my phone rings all the time and I am called into the center as I support them and help them as they deal with issues that they are learning to handle clean and sober. Unfortuanly, it does take a toll on me. Now as I share this, the Corp. Board looks at the operation and they question if I can continue if I am on medications which they don't feel are appropriate for someone who is working in this position. This is not a perfect situation but I keep trying to make it better. I know you are concerned and at times even I get frustrated with the way things are working. Frustration just makes the pain worse as we know.   

Fatherjohn,
I am just so concerned about your health, especially right now with what's gone on with the SCS, but I know you are, too. I hear you, I think, though, and I'll back off. I know you're doing all you can.

This lack of a surgical follow-up, though, is just to put it mildly puzzling to me. That seems like a no-brainer, that after someone does an invasive procedure they bring you back in - heck sometimes even the neck morning but definitely in a week - to check on their work. I know your PMS got in the way here and I sure hope you can get a rep to help you kick that guy to the curb and find someone who will, once the Rep approaches them and explains, make an exception and take your WC insurance. Especially since you say it always pays so well.

I just don't know how you keep going. You make the energizer bunny look like a turtle!

Hugs,

PaLady
BTW Kitty, while I know we are joking around about "witch doctors" I actually have quite a belief in alternative forms of medicine. And a few doctors in the U.S. are finally starting to consider Integrative Medicine, which puts the best of all worlds together. Dr. Andrew Weil is a prime example; he runs the Integrative Medicine program at the Univ. of Arizona. So I wouldn't put that doctor down - sounds like she had the best of both worlds, too, with a medical degree but also combining natural approaches. Afterall, many of our synthetic medications are derivatives of plants, including opiods!

Post Edited (PAlady) : 7/12/2009 1:26:57 PM (GMT-6)

I actually agree with meeting in a medical environment and I know Medtronic (which is the implant I have) requires that of their reps. The reason I was under the impression that BS doesn't do that is because it was a topic of discussion in my "real world" support group not too long ago. There are 5 people in my group that have BS implants and all of them have had their reps come to their homes to do programming. If it was one rep doing it, I would have assumed perhaps one rep was bending the rules, but these 5 people live in 3 different states and have multiple reps serving them.

John,
I am so glad they are going to work with you to try to get your surgeon back. That is great news! Tuesday is only one more day away. Hang in there!

Bionic,
It seems to me like these BS reps are pretty independent-minded. It was the main contact center that told me that it had to be at a medical facility where there was a doctor available (didn't have to be a doctor who had ever seen me, or even one who specialized in SCS implants, but did have to be a licensed MD or DO). I have seen that sometimes the different reps seem to make up their own rules sometimes. I have raised it as an issue when it has directly involved me b/c this is not a field where people should be making rules up as they go along (at least in my opinion) & in every case BS has stepped up to provide additional training to those reps to explain their rules & policies. However, I have not had an issue with them meeting me at my home or anywhere other than the hospital or doctor's office. It sounds like those reps are not adhering to corporate guidelines -- and unfortunately BS doesn't ever seem to know much of what's going on in the field unless someone reports it to them. I can't imagine having someone do reprogramming in my home. Knowing my luck, I'd be that 1 in a million person who ends up catching on fire or having the device explode or something! ;\
Even though my BS rep complains vehemently about the policy I have never heard of it being violated around here (in addition to their corporate policy, I think my PM would probably stop working with them if they didn't have that precaution; he is super conservative about things like that. :)

peace,
Frances

FJ if you make a trip to Texas I would love to know. I am in Fort Worth. We need t continue this onto another thread folks.