[dpannell26]

Around the end of 2007- everything just continued to get worse. It hurt to stand, it hurt worse to sit, even worse to lay down. I went to my physician again. He said to do physical therapy. They gave me a referral. My insurance wouldn't allow me to go to the therapist they referred me to. I called to tell my physician. They said they would refer me to someone else. By the time I received the second referral I was way to busy at work to go to therapy. I work almost 50 hours a week then take care of my baby the rest of the time. We had some major stuff going on at work I couldn't find any time to go.

February 2008- I was getting still worse. The pain now went all the way down my legs. Mostly my left leg, just a little on the right. From my thighs it wrapped around my knees, down my calfs, around my ankles, into my feet. A couple of times my lower legs and feet got tingly and numb. I was really bad. I was getting scared. I didn't want to have to go to the hospital again. I called my physician again to try to get an appointment as soon as possible. They were booked for a couple of weeks. I asked if they were sure they couldn't squeeze me in cause I didn't want to go to the hospital. They said no that I should go to physical therapy. I explained that I wanted to go but I couldn't because of work. They said sorry, I couldn't get in any earlier. I made the appointment for two weeks away. By the end of the two weeks I was in bad shape. Every morning I would get up, I could hardly walk. The whole left side of my back hurt tremendously. It felt like the whole left side of my back was all twisted into some crazy pretzel. While I was waiting in the patient room for my physician I couldn't even sit down. Yet I hurt so bad standing. When my physician came in and asked how I was doing I told him I was in bad shape. He finally prescribed me some pain meds. He also told me to stop taking IBUprofin and prescribed me an anti-inflammatory. He scheduled me an MRI for the following week. I had the MRI done and was really excited about it. I thought for sure I was finally going to find out what was wrong. I got a call 2 days after. The lady who left a message said the MRI showed minor degenerative arthritis and other then that everything else was normal. I wasn't satisfied with that answer. There was nothing minor about my pain and I didn't magically develop arthritis that day in the hospital I had my baby. What about the spot in my back? I went online to research. First of all, I'm barely 30 years old and as far as I know arthritis doesn't run in my family. The only other way to get arthritis is an injury to a joint. Now how did I injure a joint? That's what I've been trying to get someone to tell me but no one will address my spot except my physician who can't tell me anything about it. Now I was really scared that the epidural did this to me and I was going to keep getting worse. I scheduled an appointment with my physician to discuss the MRI.
He said I should go see a neurologist. I called the neurologist they referred me to but he was booked till April. I couldn't wait that long. I was too scared that I was getting worse and worse and would end up not being able to walk anymore. I wanted someone to tell me what was going on. It was already over a year and I couldn't understand why no one could tell me anything. The only one who would address the spot in my back was my physician and even he couldn't tell me anything. The day after my physician referred me to a neurologist I was hurting really bad. By nighttime I couldn't sleep. Both my legs were hurting severely. I got up out of bed and realized I could hardly support myself on my legs. They were so weak. I was really scared. I called my mom to take me to the hospital. Again I explained everything to the doctor. They gave me pain shots and anti-inflammatory shots. They didn't work. My legs, lower back, and my spot hurt so bad I couldn't lay still. I was writhing in pain, I was hitting the bed rails to distract myself from the pain. I was asked again by the nurse if I had an epidural. I told her yes. Again, no further mention. When the doctor came to see me he did not physically examine me. He told me there was nothing they could do. He said I already had everything done previously (x-rays, MRI) that there was nothing else to be done. I started crying. He got upset and asked me what it was I wanted from them. I told him I just wanted someone to tell me what was going on. I told him about the neurologist referral and how I couldn't get in to see one for a couple of months. He said he could try to get the hospital neurologist to see me. I was upset at his previous attitude so I said what good would that do if there was nothing else they could do? He said at least this way I could see a neurologist now instead of a couple of months from now. So I agreed. When the neurologist came I explained everything again, emphasizing the spot in my back. I told him I was afraid it was from the epidural. He made no comment. I told him about the x-rays and MRI. He examined my spine. He found 2 spots along the bottom of my spine that really hurt. He didn't examine the "spot". I tried to tell him again about the spot and how all my pain started from there. He still didn't examine it. He did say that all the muscles in my lower back were spazzing. He didn't say anything about my legs. I'm assuming they were spazzing also. That's what it felt like. I told him that my physician referred me to a neurologist but that I couldn't get in to see one for about two months. He said he was booked also but if I called his office he could try to squeeze me in the next week. He prescribed me some muscle relaxers and neurontin. He told me to keep taking the norco and IBUprofin.

The next week I went into see him. He had got a copy of my MRI. He didn't remember me from the hospital too well. I told him everything again. He didn't do any physical examination of me. He told me I should try physical therapy that I probably had a pinched nerve. If that didn't work he said there was acupuncture. If that didn't work he said a spinal nerve block would be the next thing. That really freaked me out! Here I am convinced that the epidural injured me and he wants to stick needles in my back again? No way! He scheduled me for a nerve conduction test the following month.

I went to physical therapy for about 3 weeks. I shared everything with the physical therapist. Everything I had been through. I told him I had been to a chiropractor, had x-rays done, an MRI. I told him the results of the MRI. I told him I had been to a massage therapist. He mentioned that if physical therapy didn't work they would probably try a spinal nerve block. I told him how there was no way I would do that because of my fear that the epidural had caused everything I was going through. For once, he didn't brush me off. He shook his head and said yeah, it was a possibility. For three weeks he had me trying all sorts of different excersizes. None of them were working. Everything we tried only aggravated me more. At the end of my three weeks he said there must be something going on other then a pinched nerve or a bulging disc. He said all the excersizes he was having me do should have helped me feel good and feel some relief. He said the certain ways I couldn't bend or move indicated something else had to be going on. My time was up with him because that was all I was scheduled for. He said it was OK because physical therapy wasn't working for me.

April 28th, 2008 - I had the nerve test done at the neurologist office by the partner of the neurologist who saw me at the hospital. Again I told him everything that has gone on thus far. He asked me some questions while conducting the nerve test. He kept asking me about my regular doctor. I told him who it was and he said no, he's a Physician Assistant. I told him, yes, that's my doctor. That's who they have me see whenever I need to go in. He didn't seem pleased. After the nerve test he was making notes in the chart. He said he couldn't really see anything so far. He would have to look at the test results better later. He could tell that I was having more problems in my left leg then my right. I told him yes. I told him about the spot in my back and how the pain goes all down my left side and leg. I told him how no one would ever examine it when I told them about it. I told him about when I was first in the hospital and none of the nurses would pay attention to my complaints. He told me to stand up and I showed him where the spot was. He pushed in on it and hurt tremendously. He sat back down. He told me he "was baffled". He couldn't understand what could have possibly happened in the hospital to cause whatever was going on. He said it didn't make sense that it could be from the c-section since a c-section is performed in the front and had nothing to do with the back. I told him about the staple inside me. He seemed unconcerned. He said there couldn't be anything like that in my back since the c- section is performed up front. That made sense to me. I never thought any of this could be from the c-section. Then he said he couldn't see how it could be from the epidural since the "spot" was to the left of my spine. He then explained how the epidural is placed directly in the middle of the spine. But if you find my spot, you can follow the pain less then an inch to my spine. Then there's that really painful spot along my spine the neurologist had pushed on in the hospital. The neurologist said he wanted to examine my MRI himself and talk with my OB-GYN to see if any of what I was going through could possibly have happened during my c-section. He also wanted to do an EMG on my left side. I am terrified of that! I don't want any more needles in my back! But what can I do? Doctors orders, right? So I now have a follow up for my nerve conduction study on May 6th and an EMG scheduled for the end of June. So two more months of extreme pain. That night after the neurologist had pushed into my spot, I hurt the worst I ever had before. It was so hard just to walk.

Today is May 1st. I fractured my foot today. I am now on crutches. Using the crutches is hurting my back and left leg sooooooooo bad. I can hardly support myself on my non broken leg. My back hurts every time I push down on my crutches. I don't know what to do?

[JudyKayTee]

All right, now I've read the whole post, both parts.

What is your legal question?