I' thought all Doctor's took a Hippocratic oath on ethics and being a professional and some sort of bed side mannor's?

I had a Doctor's appointment for consultation about Pre back Surgery if needed and a chance to sit down and talk. The Doctor stated man you have a lot of things going on. The only surgery I could do on you is to fuse your whole Back!

and set you up with a Pain clinic get some meds and sign you up for VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION so you can get some schooling then I could go to work at are my local WENDY"S. Im not knocking low paying jobs. when i was a long man I washed dishies what ever, then went to School done lot of state testing getting state licensed and pulled my self up the ladder along with having to be away from my family 15 /16 hours aday working high way heavy in the union trade's.

next time doctor kick me in the sack on the way out because that what it felt like.

Sorry your Dr. saw you as a bag of bones, and not a person. It is quite common. I had a call in today to a Dr. for my DH, asking a question about a test he needs run, and the receptionist was rude as hell. And that sucks, because I really like the Dr....but would hate to deal with her every time we need an appointment.

Don't give up---if you need to see a different Dr. then do it. My best friends husband went through vocational rehab, he actually bettered himself, and changed job typed completely!!! He had been in the oilfield, and now he is doing photography. But he figured out a way to somewhat combine the 2, he is doing topographical photography of well locations. All the Voc. training was for was the photography, he tweaked it to his liking. He went from making an hourly wage in the mid $20.'s to charging by the job, but he is making an easy 9K a month now...and is working way less. So while it may not work out so easy for you, it can be done. He had 7 fusions in his neck and back, and then had some adhesions, that grew into the spine, so he has limited movement of his left side. So his work options were actually quite limited---and he did it. You can too Jq!!! Maybe this is an opportunity in disguise....

I will say a prayer for you, and I hope your back pain eases. You have come too far to give up now---hang in there!!

Kat

I am fused from L4 to S1. Back surgery is a very long and painful recuperation. I still have back pain sometimes, but it's not the constant, unrelenting, debilitating pain I had before. I would do it again - reluctantly.

I had multiple herniated disks and stenosis (narrowing) of the spine. I put off the surgery for 8 years, did physical therapy, drug therapy, and facet injections. I finally ran out of options. I did office work - no physical labor involved - but sitting for long periods is often the most difficult/painful thing for people with back problems.

I doubt that you would be able to work at Wendy's after surgery and rehab. You will need a job that doesn't require you to do any one thing for too long - sitting, standing, walking, etc. The best suggestion they could come up with for me was to teach. YIKES! Thanks, but no thanks. Few kids have committed such grievous sins that they deserve to be shut up in a classroom with me, 5 days a week.

One more thing....be very careful with the pain management stuff. Some doctors are giving people Methadone to manage chronic back pain. Personally, I think that is a HUGE mistake. The last thing you need is a drug habit, on top of everything else.

My dad came out here last year for holidays. Whilst here, he had a motorbike accident. Collapsed both lungs, broke 6 ribs, 2 vertebrae, his big toe and tore his ACL in his left knee. He's extremely lucky to be alive today.

He's now fused from L4 to L8 (I believe it was). He's a carpenter by trade, so getting back to work has been quite difficult for him - but he's doing it, working about 35 hours/week. After the surgery though, as Carlene mentioned, he was on some powerful pain management medication. Now, 21 months after the fact, he's just gotten off the pain meds. I think the addiction to those he developed was worse on him than the accident itself. Just be careful with them.

Sorry your perspective surgeon is an arse. Here's hoping you can find someone you have more confidence in. You'll be in my thoughts.

I hope you don't think is this completely off the wall, but have any of you tried acupuncture?

Unfortunately it takes an acupuncturist who is not only trained in the Chinese methods of acupuncture, but they need to be a medical doctor as well. If you can find one of those you would be much better off getting treatments from them than from most surgical procedures. MUCH better off.

Yeah, I know. Sounds ridiculous. But honestly it isn't. Once you have a lot of back surgery their efforts are not usually as effective because of the nerve blockage from scarring. But if your back is still in pretty good shape, you would be amazed and mystified at the relief you could enjoy.

I could tell you countless stories here of people who have received miraculous results from acupuncture, but please just let my case be an example and check into it. I suffered so much I couldn't move in the mornings and it would take hours for me to gingerly move around enough to finally be able to walk. It was from arthritis and a narrowing of the spine. I was slated for surgery by a top-notch orthopedic surgeon. I was scared to death of the surgery.

I had a friend, much older than I, who had achieved good results from acupuncture. I decided I had nothing to lose and went ahead and made an appointment with his medical/acupuncture doctor. This doctor was an Asian man who had received his acupuncture training in China and his medical degree in the U.S.A. I saw him for about 8 months. Almost every penny was paid for by insurance. I haven't had any problems since then - seriously! - and it has been 8 years since I had those acupuncture treatments.

BTW, when I asked my orthopedic surgeon about acupuncture, he said that if I was interested in it that I should try it. He said he had seen many people who had been helped by it and he said I had nothing to lose because my surgery would be very tough.

For what it's worth...

I was reading through this thread and I, too, was going to mention acupuncture, then I came to BJean's post. She had beaten me to it. I knew a woman who was going through the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Toronto is my home city and the University of Toronto is one of Canada's largest and oldest universities. As it happens we now have a large minority of Chinese students. This friend of mine who was lucky enough to be able to be studying medicine had many Chinese colleagues. She said that although they were studying western medicine they still respected oriental medical techniques, enough so that when they got sick they resorted to the medicine of their roots. Acupuncture is part of oriental medicine. Some western (white) doctors have taken the trouble to learn acupuncture. You might want to investigate acupuncture. It could help you and it would be a drug and surgery free solution.

Hey thank's ladys. I, have tryed Acupuncture one time seemed to make pain worse, maybe did not give it enough time?

and thats to funny that,s what there giving me for pain 15 mg 3 times a day. it does help Put I have packed the weight on 20 lbs in a month time to quite. thanks again! JOHN Its time to start walking again 15 minutes 3 time aday to start with.

Im not eating much?

Hey thank's ladys. I, have tryed Acupuncture one time seemed to make pain worse, maybe did not give it enough time?

and thats to funny that,s what there giving me for pain 15 mg 3 times a day. it does help Put I have packed the weight on 20 lbs in a month time to quite. thanks again! JOHN Its time to start walking again 15 minutes 3 time aday to start with.

Im not eating much?

I am A Dr. Of Naturology. I suggest acupuncture and chiropractic...but tell the chiro to use the activator, not manipulation. Also do very gentle yoga for the back . Natural antiinflammatories are tumeric and gionger...use them in your cooking.

Hey thank's ladys. I, have tryed Acupuncture one time seemed to make pain worse, maybe did not give it enough time?

and thats to funny that,s what there giving me for pain 15 mg 3 times a day. it does help Put I have packed the weight on 20 lbs in a month time to quite. thanks again! JOHN Its time to start walking again 15 minutes 3 time aday to start with.Im not eating much?

My PM doctor prescribed Methadone pre-op and I refused it. I understand their logic - that it relieves pain but there is no "high", so in theory it is less addictive. Psychologically that's true, but it causes a physical addiction and to my way of thinking, that's just as bad.

I had a call in today to a Dr. for my DH, asking a question about a test he needs run, and the receptionist was rude as hell.

This has happened to me and I while on the phone I told her that I've been going to this dr for 15 years and I no one has ever spoken to me so rudely - of course she apologized but then when I saw the dr I told him how rude she was and I guess that worked because she was sweet as candy from then on.

I know what you mean about rude docs JQ... So very sorry you've had such trouble. It's been a real batter for me with my Cushing's since there are so very few doctors that understand it, or endocrin tumors for that matter.

please try to find a different doc if you can.

I can't say anything about the back surgery, but you will probably find some really good possible work from the retraining. The Wendy's crack was WAY out of line. Depending on how you test, you might be able to really get a new career that is better suited to what you can do.

Good luck, and I'm so very sorry to hear that you are having health problems!