In the spring my PM doctor sent me to physical therapy. It took a while to get it sorted out but eventually I got there and it helped some, I was just released from PT 2 weeks ago with a home program to follow and instructions to get a membership somewhere with a pool to continue my pool exercises a few times a week. I did a SGB in June which went horribly, caused a terrible flare and is something I never intend to repeat. At the beginning of July we tried Savella, I did the whole serotonin syndrome thing, caught it early thankfully and quickly sent that drug the way of the dodo. My next appointment with my PM doc is at the end of this month.

I recently did the follow up with the doc who did the SGB. They gave me a bunch of info on SCS and pumps. I informed them that for me those are at this point in time final resorts. They were pretty understanding about that and why I'm so reluctant to have surgery, no matter how "minor" they call it.

I've decided to take charge of everything myself. I've located a doctor pretty close to me (maybe 10-15 minutes) who does Calmare. My insurance doesn't pay for it so I started the process of an appeal to get them to pay for it. Once the paperwork is all faxed in it should only take a 7-10 days to find out if it's approved or not so that's pretty quick. I'm really hoping it is because it's completely non-invasive. The next thing on my list after this is ketamine. Dr. Pulley up in Salt Lake City (about 45-60 minutes) does it. My husband would have to apply for FMLA, which I'm for him doing anyway so he can get leave as needed for any appointments I need him for. We'd have to drive up to the city every day for a week, and back home. I'm not sure if my insurance covers this either, their billing person was on vacation last week but I left her a message to get back to me with the billing codes.

The thing is, I haven't discussed any of this with my PM doctor yet. He has me on tramadol, and not much. Although I'm going to ask for more at my next appointment because 30 a month is not enough. My policy used to be that I'd rather find natural alternatives or suffer than take "weird" pills and drugs but it's just enough to give me a taste of life when I use it and by God I want more life! Anyway, I don't want to make my doctor all mad or whatever going behind his back, but these are things he doesn't offer. I understand that no doctor is going to offer everything, that's fine. But I also don't have the time or patience to wait around for every time I have an appointment with him after something fails. I have a yearly out of pocket max that I'm just about to hit so the more I can cram into this year the better. Because if I'm going to need the ketamine I want it before the year is out because it's so expensive and I don't want to hit another deductible. Is what I'm doing weird or out of line?

The other thing that crossed my mind was switching from the doctor I am seeing to the clinic that did my block. They seemed all gung ho about being super aggressive with treatment while my current doc seems to think that we have all the time in the world to get things under control. Sure, we do have all the time in the world because I'll be in pain either until it's under control or I'm dead but sooner rather than later would be SUPER thanks. The downside there is that they had a sign in the office about how for refills they expect you to come in every. freaking. month. That's a $25 copay a month for a refill for pain pills. Are they freaking kidding me? Who has that kind of money? On the other hand, I could use someone who's all for being more aggressive and I don't blame them for the failed block... crap happens. It's been 5 years, I didn't expect miracles. I'll certainly be going back if I want a pump or SCS or help making a decision on which is going to be best for me beyond the help I can get here.