Well, I have been waiting to get my appt with the surgeon and I finally called and guess what I found out? The surgeon office never got my referral and if I did not call them again I would never have been able to know this or get an appointment! Now, since I had been through this before I did not really want to take chances and I immediately called the doctor office and left a message with the fax number. This has been a huge learning experience for me and I don't want to be a bothersome patient but considering that I have had my unit not work right for over a year, I think its okay that I do bug people until things get scheduled and done! So, even if you have a good doctor that you like and trust you need to stay on top of the appointments and referrals
I have not been feeling good and have another kidney infection which is bad because they get bad really fast and I usually have to go to the hospital I also made some new decisions regarding school and trying to get some pressure off me since I am doing really bad and about to have surgery hopefully soon! That's all I have to say for now and I will be back when I get news about the surgery information. Hope you all have a great week and take care. BIG'sTara

Oh, wow... why is it so hard for doctors to keep on top of things? This keeps happening to not only you, but so many others!

I have been so lucky so far and my pain management doctor's office has been on top of things and have made every appointment for me so far. They have set up the trial and the followup then the trial SCS will be removed, as well as a consultation with the neurosurgeon. We may end up having our surgeries close together in time... I figured that since I still had to go through the trial, yours would be way before mine.. but at this rate, who knows! I meet with the neurosurgeon next Thursday.

My pain management doctor is hard for me to get a hold of. It seems that it takes them three times as long to get back to me as my PCP does... but so far they have been very quick in handling scheduling other appointments. It's just when I have a question or something that it takes such a long time.

Hopefully now the ball will get rolling and they will finally set up this for you. Do you have a consultation with the new surgeon, or just surgery?

I hope your kidney infection goes away quickly without getting worse and sending you to the hospital.

I'm curious to hear more about your decision with school. I don't know what it is, but I do know you are under a lot of stress and if there is a way to ease some of those stress, you should definitely do it.

I will hopefully be responding to all the messages you've sent on Facebook this afternoon (or today, at least). I finally got my SSI things taken care of which has been such a big stressful situation since Thursday (I don't know if I told you about that or not). My pain has also been really bad for the last week.. so while the pain is still bad, my other stressful situations are getting better so I am going to have more energy to spend getting back to everyone. Will talk to you again soon. Love you.

I have found that it is rarely the Dr who messes up, usually the nurse coordinator. Sometimes he does not get messages relayed to his corrdinator, or the transcription is delayed. So the lesson is to be very proactive and followup. Once I could not figure out why my PCP was not calling me back, he tells me frequently to call with ANY issues, well come to find out his phone nurse was burying my notes or "forgeting" to get them to him Well THAT will never happen again as I filed a formal grievance agaist her. Some times you must be a bit much!

Taraits just never ending isnt it.

Well I only have the one Doctor who looks after my consultations and my surgery. So I was referred to him via my Spinal Surgeon as he couldnt do anymore for me and I was sent to the Pain Management Clinic, or as I thought, 'put out to pasture'. This is where I met my Pain Doctor, who assessed me, sent me for my psych evaluation, did my trial implant and then did the permanent implant. He has a secretary and if I needed him etc I spoke with her and she relayed the message both ways, if I couldnt actually speak with him. SO I can only imagine your frustration if you are waiting around for doctors/assistants who just dont bother getting on top of everything. I do hope that you get this lot sorted ASAP.......

Jackie

Yesterday late afternoon I called the doctor office again and made sure they sent my referral over, she said it was faxed and that they got a confirmation. So, I figured I will see if they (surgeon) calls me in morning but there weren't any calls on my voice mail. Well, I decided to call again even though I had a night of getting sick and hardly sleeping. It paid off though because they still did not have my information from the doctor referral but they still made an appointment for me and there was a cancellation so I see him tomorrow! I am so very thankful because if I missed that appt it would not be until Nov 12 to get in. Today I have to try to charge all day because my rep is sending a Boston scie person to my appointment so they can see if my battery needs replaced or if it just needs different placement. I have not been able to charge it in days even when I do use my charger so I don't know I am going to get it to do anything but I will be trying all day I am still feeling very horrible with the kidney stuff so I need to lay down again but just want to let you all know that I finally had a positive update I will be back tomorrow with news about the appointment, also this is my first time meeting this surgeon so I am hoping he turns out better than the other one was Thanks for all the great advice and support! Take care'sTara.

Ah Tara thats fantastic news. You see you DO need to keep on at them otherwise you will fall between the cracks....metaphorically speaking.....so the very best of luck tomorrow with the appointment and this new surgeon and hopefully by tomorrow evening you will have a better picture of what exactly is going to happen and more importantly WHEN its going to happen. So hang in there now and remember ask as many questions as you can dont come away from there thinking, oh I should have asked this or that write it all down

REally looking foward to your next post........good luck

take care

Jackie