Monday, November 1, 2010

Second Opinion

I finally had my exam with the second pain specialist.  This has been the most thorough exam since I've started this process.  The doctor ran his finger across my skin, and had the nurse mark where the uncomfortable and painful sensations started and stopped.  From head to toe, no area went unexamined.  There where parts of my body that were being effected that I wasn't even aware of.  My entire left side of the body has some form of pain and or discomfort.  Sometimes it burns so bad I can no longer wear jeans.  My intestines and muscles are also being effected.

This bring us to the next step in my journey.  I was born with a scar on the right side of my brain, on the temporal lobe- mesial temporal sclerosis.  It has been the cause of my epilepsy.    I also have a birth mark, or what is known as an hemangioma on my left side.  This has my doctor thinking- perhaps what is causing my pain is somehow connected to the scar in my brain.  So I need to make an appointment with a specialist in Boston.  One that treats both pain conditions and seizures.  This could take over 6 months to get an appointment.

Until then, my doctor has a plan.  He has spent his career treating cancer patients- and he is tired of poisoning people.  His goal is to treat my pain as effectively as possible with the least amount of medication.  He prescribed a medication he believes has less side affects, and we will be working with my psychiatrists and neurologists to lower the amount of medication I am taking.

I feel a great deal of relief...  I already had a good nights sleep, something that was seriously lacking for me for months, and a pain free day.   At the same time I have felt overwhelmed, inadequate, and lonely.  The pain came back today with advengence, and I just fell apart.  Pain is an emotional roller coaster, and it's taking me for one hell of a ride.

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