Originally Posted by fmichael

I called bobber Friday evening after he didn't respond to this thread. Turns out hasn't been able to use a keyboard in 10 days. He asked me to post this and to ask that all of us keep him in our prayers, so here goes . . . .

10 days ago, at the suggestion of his orthopedic surgeon he went to a new pain doc in a small town for a block. Only thing was, things went very badly.

First, the “pain specialist” (Call him "Dr. W") didn't use fluoroscopy, as incredible as that sounds. Secondly, without bobbers consent, Dr. W. attempted to implant an 18 gauge catheter along the spinal canal: in some states that alone is a battery. Finally, without consulting with the referring physician, Dr. W first injected a placebo and waited to see if bobber reported any pain relief in the 10 minutes that followed, before giving him the actual block, believing that he was malingering.

But back to the first mistakes, the lack of fluoroscopy. As Dr. W struggled for some time to secretly shove the catheter into bobber, it was taking forever and bobber was in incredible sciatic pain down both legs. Dr. W. apparently kept muttering that he kept “hitting bone” as he was working blind. While bobber knows he’s hitting nerves. This went on for a half an hour and finally, with bobber in the worst pain of his life, Dr. W asks him to describe it in detail. Bobber does and Dr. W replies “I’m on the wrong side of the canal," or words to that effect. It was only after he got home did bobber open an anatomy book and see what the doctor had meant: he had been threading the catheter through nerve roots.

The word that best describes the whole thing is butchery.

Ultimately, I guess bobber got the block, not that it mattered. He looked up once the procedure was open and saw the ashen faces of the women in the O.R. looking at him in horror. And once Dr. W. realized what he had done, it sounded to me at least that he began doing everything he could, including immediately prescribing medications that bobber didn’t feel comfortable getting from the man because Dr. W. had lost his trust. Case in point, at one point near the end of the torture, bobber asked how many times he had been poked with the doctor’s “needle” and was told just once, while on getting home his wife and friend counted and photographed eight obvious points of entry.

Dr. W. also told bobber to immediately begin keeping a journal of his symptoms, on an hour by hour basis. For the first two days, it didn’t seem important, because he had felt more or less okay once the torture had stopped. Day Three was however another matter. From that point forward, not only has bobber experienced extreme and unremitting sciatic pain in both sets of hips, legs and ankles, but neither leg cannot stop “twitching,” not regular RSD spasms but sudden clench – relax – clench.

Unfortunately, it was not until the day we spoke that the orthopedic surgeon put bobber on oral Prednisone. Meanwhile, an MRI has revealed no obvious stenosis that would otherwise explain the sudden onset of debilitating sciatic pain in both legs. So, finally, on Friday, his orthopedic surgeon told him that he should see a neurologist. (A medevac to the nearest tertiary care facility with neurosurgical ICU immediately after the procedure would have been more in order.)

Since the procedure, Dr. W. called bobber four times, first with what would have sounded like helpful suggestions, except that they were being made with obvious CYA intent. But the calls soon deteriorated, to the point that Dr. W was attempting to explain how it was all the fault of his OR staff for distracting him during the procedure. And on Friday, when bobber saw his orthopedic surgeon for the second time since the procedure – at the first one he read from his new journal and the doctor became almost physically ill – the ortho mentioned that he had been getting his own set of daily calls from Dr. W., it being apparent that Dr. W. saw himself as something of a dead man walking. (At least Dr. W can walk, something bobber - with primarily upper body CRPS - is suddenly unable to do: all the while the issue of "spread" hangs low in the air.)

The good news, such as it is, is that bobber has been admitted into a ketamine infusion program at the state university medical center. It cannot be expedited soon enough.

Please keep him in your prayers and hearts.

Mike