Don't know how to deal with major life changes

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Danimal

Regular Member

Joined : Mar 2009

Posts : 80

Posted 4/2/2009 2:18 AM (GMT 0)

Hi White Beard:

Thank you so much for the compliment on my blog! I had a hard time deciding about the neurostimulator and had wished there was something like that out there to help me decide..so I ended up doing one myself in the hope of helping other patients determine whether it is right for them. Anyway, I really appreciate your feedback. ;)

Your daughter sounds quite accomplished! I've always been impressed with people who can teach a foreign language.

Does USAF stand for US Air Force? Were you a pilot??

White Beard

Veteran Member

Joined : Feb 2009

Posts : 3740

Posted 4/2/2009 6:23 PM (GMT 0)

Danimal
Yes I spent 22 1/2 years in the Air Force, NO I wasn't a pilot, I was an enlisted man, I spent 8 years in Photography, and ten years in Flight Simulators, and the last 4 or so years in Communications Data Processing, and I have lived just about all over the world! Anyway after I retired, I had finally grown-up enough to deside what I wanted to do with my life, I went back to school and became a Registered Nurse! Nursing was by far the best and most rewarding career I ever had!

I am very proud of both my daughters, my oldest one, the High School Spanish Language teacher, and my youngest is a Registered Nurse at Mayo Clinic, and has also made me a Grandpa! I do wish they lived closer, as they both live close to 500 miles away, so I don't get to see them all that often!

My Pain Doctor had once asked me if I was interested in possibly doing the neurostimulator, but it was decided, that I have so many bad disc causing me pain, it probably would not be practical! Allot of my problems are caused by the bad tthorasic disc, but L4/5 also give me a great deal of problems, as does C4/5, and arthritis has done a job on all my cervical vertebra as well as the rest of the spine!

White Beard

Been Butchered

New Member

Joined : Mar 2009

Posts : 7

Posted 4/2/2009 10:08 PM (GMT 0)

Thanks for all the support and kind words, especially to Danimal. To answer your question, I have been in pain management for about five months now. A couple weeks ago, though, my pain doc referred me to see someone else because they "have done everything we can for me". Imagine how that made me feel.

Well, on Sunday night I had to go to the ER and I was prescribed something new called Ativan by the ER doc. It's for anxiety similar to Xanax or Valium. But it had me hallucinating and I don't remember much about the next three days. I called my pain doc and he had me come in. Fortunately, he did what I asked him to do and he upped my dosage of Opana so I'm feeling a little bit better now.

I guess I'm just learning what it's like to be a chronic pain patient who gets bounced around and used as a guinea pig of sorts. Not a big fan of it, but I've got no choice. At least my wife and I are still getting along, which is incredible. Counseling would still be a huge help so I really need to get the ball rolling on that, but I'm still trying to readjust from a few horrible days that I barely remember.

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