Venting Time!

I haven't posted forever, but I feel goddamn inspired right now.

So I had my gastric bypass on March 4th.  Best decision I've ever made.  I've lost 78 pounds since the surgery.  I'm fatigued a bit and get worn out easily, but whatever.
I fit in chairs again.  I can stand longer.  My back doesn't hurt as much.  I barely spend any money on food.  Usually I just pick a couple things off of Nathan's plate and that does the trick.
My hot flashes haven't gotten any better, but I just got some new estrogen cream and that seems to be helping.

Here's where I have to start bitching.
I was supposed to take 6 weeks off work, but according to the HR department at work, I could only miss 1 week and keep my job.  I opted to keep my job and went back to work early.  It's not construction work or anything, but it's a physically demanding job.  About 5 weeks after being back at work, I started getting weird pain under my left boob and in my upper left chest.  I ignored it, but it kept getting worse.  One morning I couldn't do anything but cry because it hurt so much, so I had Nathan take me to the ER.  I was scared I was having a heart attack or had a blood clot in my lung.  At this point the pain was completely random, so when I got the the ER, I felt fine.  They did an EKG, took an x-ray and did blood work.  Everything was fine.
I was kind of amused because my ER doctor is the wife of the guy that did my bypass.  Small world.

After life threatening complications were ruled out, I followed up with my regular doc in Des Moines.  He said my ribs were sprained and gave me some muscle relaxers.  I had a follow up with my surgeon as well.  He ordered a CAT scan to check for leaks, but all was well.
Things kind of felt like they were getting better, but then I fell down the stairs at my apartment.  I caught myself with my left arm and twisted my bad ankle.  The pain in my ribs became UNBEARABLE at that point.  I couldn't breathe, I couldn't keep solid food down.  I just sat on the couch and rocked back and forth.  Sometimes I could use ice, sometimes not.  My ribs were just too tender to have anything touch them.
One night I was in absolute agony.  I couldn't breathe, I couldn't lay down, I could barely talk.  I woke Nathan up and we went to the ER again.  This time I was sobbing and writhing from pain.  They couldn't get a good EKG reading because I was trembling so much, but they did blood work and took me in for another CAT scan.  Again, everything was fine.  They didn't help my pain one bit, though.  They gave me some aspirin through my IV.  Ooooh, look out.  They're not messing around!  ASPIRIN!!!
As soon as I was discharged I got in the car and doubled over, crying still.  Luckily they gave me some liquid hydrocodone, so that took the edge off.  It didn't last long.
I went to my Des Moines doctor again for a followup.  I wanted to go to my Newton doctor, but I would have had to wait a month to see her.
This time he gave me stronger muscle relaxers and sent me to physical therapy.

I was happy about physical therapy until they started pressing on me.  I could instantly tell that the therapist had never known a day of pain in his life.  He essentially jammed his thumbs into my sternum and into the muscles between my ribs.  The pain was unbearable.  When I got home, I collapsed on the kitchen floor and dry heaved for a good 10 minutes.  I made it to the couch and just curled up in the fetal position.
I went back a couple of days later and the guy asked how I was.  I told him what happened and he was like, "the therapy should have helped."  I was like, "sorry to poop on your parade, but it made it worse."  He had another therapist work on my spine instead.  It still was horribly painful.
I went for 3 weeks and then called them and told them I couldn't do it anymore.  I could literally feel the left side of my chest swell up after they were done "massaging" me.

After my last PT appointment, I went straight to my regular Des Moines doctor, doubled over and in tears.  I told him what was going on between sobs so he gave me some more hydrocodone and a referral to a pain specialist.
I followed the directions to the specialist only to find out they scheduled it at another location and didn't tell me, so we had to reschedule.  I was out of pain medicine so I had to white knuckle it until the appointment.
The doctor was a total ASS.  He asked me 100 times who my family doc was, he answered his cell phone in the middle of my appointment, he repeatedly told me I'm on too many psych meds, and since I was crying from the pain, he shoved a paper towel at me and said, "I can't stand to see a woman cry."  
He wrote a script for pool therapy and scheduled me for intercostal nerve blocks to help with the pain.  I had to wait a week for that, so that was more white knuckling.  He also remarked I may be too fat for the procedure.  THAT was frustrating.  I'M LOSING WEIGHT AS FAST AS I FUCKING CAN!!  I refuse to believe I'm too fat for a nerve block.  This is America for fuck's sake.  Everyone is fat.

Yesterday.  Yesterday was the appointment and one of the worst days of my life.  I was terrified of having a needle inserted into my spine since I'm so tender, so I was VERY nervous.  They asked if I wanted sedation so of course I said yes.  They said they gave me something, but I didn't feel anything.  My blood pressure was skyrocketing so they gave me something for that and then gave me a little more sedative.  I still didn't feel anything and was trembling from fear.
The doctor came in and asked if I had blood pressure issues.  I told him no, and I have it checked all the fucking time.  He didn't believe me and called off the procedure.  He told me to see my family doctor to get my blood pressure sorted out.  I tried to explain how nervous I was, but he kept insisting I had a blood pressure problem.  They were also using the blood pressure machine instead of doing it manually.  That probably contributed to the high blood pressure.  Those things squeeze WAY too tight.  I got home and noticed big, blue welts and broken blood vessels all over my upper arms.
Since  I was so full of vitriol for my Des Moines doctor for the shitty referral, the physical therapist for hurting me so much, the pain specialist for being a FUCKING ASSHOLE, and everyone else, I called Newton to try and get in to see Laurie.  OF COURSE, she's out of town for the week.  I took my chances and went to see the on call doctor there.  He wasn't horrible.  He said I was a complicated case.  FUCKING DUH.  He took my blood pressure and it was totally normal.  He said he'd fax the pain douche those results.  He also put me on Neurontin, which I'm not pleased about.  It's for nerve pain, but I took it in high school/college for mood stuff.  It made me gain 500 pounds and I didn't lose it until I switched meds.  I'm taking the medicine, but I'm making an appointment with Laurie.  She's the only one I trust, aside from my chiropractor.  I want her opinion on the Neurontin.  I want to know if she thinks I should have an MRI.  I want a referral for a different pain doctor.  I want her to see my bypass progress.  I want her to tell me what the problem might be since the answers I've gotten from everyone are the same... "I don't know."  I just need her compassion since I'm getting jack shit from everyone else.
It's like the journey to my hysterectomy all over again.  This time I don't have the patience to wait 14 years for a solution.  This shit is going to happen NOW or the streets will run red with blood.  This has been going on for about 3 months now and I've had it.  I'M DONE.

For anyone out there that's looking for a pain doctor, avoid this ass hat.
Dana Simon