[Eddie G]

Well it's been 23 days and my pain level is the same. I am still walking alot.
I saw Dr. Goldstein yesterday for my first follow-up and he took an X-Ray of my disc and everything is exactly where it's supposed to be. I'm 10mm taller. When I asked him about my 8/10 pain he said that since I was in pain for three years it's not going to go away in three weeks so I am still very optimistic.
The Worker's Comp nurse at work denied the continuation of my home health care attendant so I need to find another way to get my shopping done, clean my bathroom and lift my garbage to the curb. I'm not sure what they expect me to do about these things. Sure I can pay out of pocket, but this whole ordeal is their fault and they should take care of me to make sure I don't hurt myself lifting bags & such. Oh silly me! I just forgot that I'm just a number and not really a person to them. These are the same people that offered me a surgeon who never did a disc replacement before! The home attendant denial is just not worth the fight so my home will now be a pig sty. Oink FREAKIN Oink!
They approved my outpatient physical therapy at Kessler. Thank you Jesus! Dr. Goldstein put electric stim on the prescription. Surprise Surprise! I get to keep using my electric stim (which will help me take less drugs) The Oxycontin is bad enough, but when I add Morphine or Roxicodone to the Oxy, I have awful nightmares and I'm up all night either in pain, or frightened because the dreams seem so damn real. I can't wait to get off these narcotics. (Don't you guys have medical marijuana in California? Does that work for anyone?) I sure don't want to get off drugs the way Ray Charles did, but being narcotic free is my next goal, along with relieving my pain in the process.

I do pay out of pocket for my massage therapy because it just feels good. It's worth every penny.

Anyway, I will be getting my new films out to GlobalPatientServices soon to be put up on the web for your perusal. My old films & reports can be found at:
http://www.globalpatientservices.com
UserName: EGrimes
Password:12345

If you click on the MRI's they become HUGE and you can see everything. Don't let that scary dark L4-L5 disc deter you. There's now a nice shiny Prodisc in there. I'll have the films up soon. My Prodisc looks so kool!