I finally decided ,after going back and forth for the 10 day period that I knew of my appointment with Dr. S, that I would go.
This was on the Friday before my Monday appointment at 9:00 AM
Needless to say the logistics of arranging a plane ticket from California at 2 PM on Friday the 8th , and hotel accommodations in the last minute like that were far from easy .
I left on Sunday at about noon LA time , arrived at 9 PM Philly time, went to sleep in the hotel -woke up and went to my appointment.
I had filled out about 20 pages of back round health information etc before I arrived which I handed in at my arrival to Drexel University.
The appointment itself lasted about 4 hours carried out by various medical staff.
An intern took a very thorough 1 1/2 hour neurological exam
Then came the scene from "Grey's Anatomy.".
Dr.S came into the room with a crew of 10 - 12 interns and residents.
He examined me and asked them all questions.
He asked me some as well

At one point he scratched the side of my finger with a pin and he asked me on which side of the finger I felt the pin prick more
He asked again.
He said "Aren't you listening"
I said 'Oh, I was waiting for the residents to answer the question.Aren't they supposed to learn anything"
That got a good laugh

At the end of the exam he looked me in the eyes and said that my case was much too severe for the 10 day out patient ketamine protocol.
I needed to have the inpatient wide awake coma treatment with the 5 day hospital stay .And if he had his way he would convince me to go to Germany and be induced into a coma for the more intense treatment .(I declined)
He told me that I would get about a 50% reduction in my RSD symptoms
Unfortunately he could not help me with the rest of my health issues

So that nice warm mushy area of denial that I happily lived in as my case was not as bad as the worst I have ever seen or heard of is WAY over.
I even had some days - OK not that many any more ,where I could convince myself that I just had some really bad neuropathy's
The mind is a really powerful tool .It is amazing what we can convince ourselves of if we really try hard enough- and I did!!!!

There is a 6 month to one year waiting list for the wide awake KETAMINE treatment
I will keep you all posted


GnP

'