NeuroTalk Support Groups - View Single Post

gramE · 11-17-2010, 06:28 AM

Good morning to all. I'm a newbie. Been lurking for a time, but figured I might as well jump in.

I was in a serious car accident on 1/13/10. Only injury was to my left leg which took the brunt of the impact. ER Dr said go home put it up, go back to work on Monday, it is just a bad bruise. I've had bruises before, never anything like this pain.
Because I was (1) driving, there is car insurance, (2) working, worker's comp, (3) gov't worker, so I get to deal with the US Dept of Labor. And right up front, none of them give one whit about me. But my paperwork is out of control. Because worker's comp trumps car insurance, WC is in control and eventually will be reimbursed for all expense, which won't be much because they won't approve anything.
I knew from the beginning something was wrong because of the level of pain I was having. I went to the Dr every week. Always another solution. Wear the white support hose, I don't care if the pain of having them on is excrusiating, wear them anyway. You should be wrapping it. An ultrasound two weeks later showed my leg was full of blood. It will just absorb back in, no treatment necessary. You shouldn't be wrapping it, that will increase your pain. If you were hungry enough you could go back to work.(The fact that my leg was twice as big as the other was lost on them somehow.) The finally said 'let's try PT' and to my amazement, I think I got the world's most wonderful therapist. He actually said "wow, you have some issues here!" That in itself was therapeutic. After a month of deep massage, I was amazed at the remarkable advancement I had made. One day back to work and I couldn't even tell I had a knee.
Take ibuprofen and use heat pad. Don't take ibuprofen and use ice pack. Don't wear jeans(ha, I didn't want to wear clothes or shoes). Keep it elevated, which I'm pretty sure is impossible when you are working. I've never been on extended worker's comp, and the supers at work didn't know anything either, so I used all my sick leave, most of my annual, many unpaid days.
I asked for a referral to an ortho dr. Took 3 weeks for approval and finding one who would take US Dept of Labor patients. MRI 9 weeks after the accident shows no ligament or tendon damage, but he said if you've been off of it for 8 weeks it would have healed by now. Go to PT, strengthen that leg up. HA ha ha. One month of torture, but my therapist was very good at avoiding anything that was too painful.
Back to the doc, now 5 mos since accident. I'm sending you to a neurologist. I think you have CRPS. No one knows the procedure because I'm new at this and so are they so we call to get approval. The person(that's as kind as I can be) right up front said, "You ain't goin' to see no one, until I say you can." It was 8 weeks before I saw a neurologist and 4 bureaucrats before the last one said "You don't need anyone's approval for that."
Ok, fast fwd. It took 4 weeks to get the testing approved, amost an act of congress to get a nerve block, and now it has been 14 weeks and the Dr has received NO payments. Despite continuous calls on procedures, corrections, hoop jumping and our following instructions to the T, no money yet.
I've gone from one flare a week, to continuously swollen BOTH feet up my leg about 5 inches, lobster red/and or black, a flare a day, my bp is far from acceptable(yesterday, I was having to swallow to equalize the pressure). I had a cat scan on Mon, I have a nerve block scheduled on Thurs. The doctor said we are not fighting WC anymore. Just charging my insurance. But I really don't care, I've asked my husband twice this week to go downtown to the corner and see if he can find anyone who's selling morphine, if not just buy a chainsaw and get these things off of me.
I did appreciate the tips thread I followed yesterday. I'm pretty much no shoes, and one pair of hospital socks of my hubbies. I'm going out to church, but that is it. Well, I am going to Bible study, but no walking, but with my BP so high, I'm confined.
You all know all of the symptoms. I feel the impulses in my leg pretty much all the time, but now both feet, and oh, yeah, my thinking is going to pot, but I can't get any witnesses to the fact that it wasn't before this. My son, and Iraq war vet got married in July. His mother(me) didn't understand that stress was a big trigger and spent a large part of the day in a bathroom crying out to the Lord asking why was I feeling like I was panicking(I'm not a panicker). Now I know better and am avoiding most stress. I'm not working, I'm the bread winner. I'm hoping they get it figured out before I run out of resources. I'm beginning my 7th decade and I had a couple more years before I retire, but that was going to be when i found another job. I'm gettin a lawyer this week, and hopefully soon getting out of the WC, US Dept of Labor fiasco.
But God is good. I have a husband who smiles when I ask for the chain saw or the morphine from the corner. I have 10 grandchildren who create so many endorphins they drip out of my eyes many times. I'm happy to be breathing. OK, breathing and not walking. I've memorized every sudoku puzzle ever printed I think, I have my own DSI(makes me a cool gramE), I have lots of time to read and study, and I love 1000 pc puzzles.
Thanks for offering me a place to go where I don't have to try, over and over, to explain why or what I'm feeling. They say - Just put your shoes on, Just do this, Just do that. I smile and Just let it go over my head.