D'oh! My Back, part 2
Oct. 26th, 2021 09:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerLate yesterday morning my back gave out. When I saw my my doctor in the afternoon she said it's likely a pinched nerve in a muscle— which, while painful, is less bad than other things it could be, such a herniated disc. We won't know for sure, though, until scans come back.
Getting those scans is more of a process than it ought to be. First, I waited a few hours to see my doctor. That was partly by my choice. I figured I could go to the emergency care clinic right away... and have to wait there who-knows-how long, easily an hour or two, sitting in a room with people choking and gasping with Covid-19 symptoms. As if being in a room with people with a contagious disease wouldn't be bad enough, just sitting there would be painful. Instead I was able to get an appointment at 2pm with my own doctor, which meant I could stay at home, lying down, until time to drive over to the clinic 2.5 miles away, then wait a few minutes at worst without being surrounded by unvaccinated plague sufferers.
The next step was getting x-rays. It was really a bullshit next step; the kind of soft-tissue injury I likely have will not show up on an x-ray. It needs an MRI. But health insurance companies routinely require pre-authorization for MRI, and part of that pre-authorization is demanding that an x-ray come back inconclusive first.
Getting an x-ray meant going to a different clinic. And that meant another hour or so wait in line before getting the scans. Then the x-ray itself was a ridiculously process, involving a 5-axis scanner in a huge room. Whatever happened to, "Okay, stand here, ZAP!, done"? It probably costs 20x this way, which is sadly part of the reason why they do it.
It'll take another 1-2 days for my doctor to get the results, then she'll have to order an MRI... which may require a few days to schedule, then a few days to get results back. With any luck I might be better by the time they figure out what's wrong with me!
Anyway, after the ridiculously thorough x-ray I picked up a few prescriptions at the pharmacy. I've got a muscle relaxant and a prescription strength pain pill (naproxen). Starting on those loosened my back enough and lessened the pain enough that I could walk around the house at slow speed and do things like occasionally sit and stand without falling over in pain.
Getting those scans is more of a process than it ought to be. First, I waited a few hours to see my doctor. That was partly by my choice. I figured I could go to the emergency care clinic right away... and have to wait there who-knows-how long, easily an hour or two, sitting in a room with people choking and gasping with Covid-19 symptoms. As if being in a room with people with a contagious disease wouldn't be bad enough, just sitting there would be painful. Instead I was able to get an appointment at 2pm with my own doctor, which meant I could stay at home, lying down, until time to drive over to the clinic 2.5 miles away, then wait a few minutes at worst without being surrounded by unvaccinated plague sufferers.
The next step was getting x-rays. It was really a bullshit next step; the kind of soft-tissue injury I likely have will not show up on an x-ray. It needs an MRI. But health insurance companies routinely require pre-authorization for MRI, and part of that pre-authorization is demanding that an x-ray come back inconclusive first.
Getting an x-ray meant going to a different clinic. And that meant another hour or so wait in line before getting the scans. Then the x-ray itself was a ridiculously process, involving a 5-axis scanner in a huge room. Whatever happened to, "Okay, stand here, ZAP!, done"? It probably costs 20x this way, which is sadly part of the reason why they do it.
It'll take another 1-2 days for my doctor to get the results, then she'll have to order an MRI... which may require a few days to schedule, then a few days to get results back. With any luck I might be better by the time they figure out what's wrong with me!
Anyway, after the ridiculously thorough x-ray I picked up a few prescriptions at the pharmacy. I've got a muscle relaxant and a prescription strength pain pill (naproxen). Starting on those loosened my back enough and lessened the pain enough that I could walk around the house at slow speed and do things like occasionally sit and stand without falling over in pain.
