Well, we're home from more physical therapy (started that on Friday, which seems to be helping, especially thanks to a TENS machine) and yet another doctor appointment today. Last week, we were referred to the Northside Hospital Pain Clinic after the Kaiser pain clinic released us (the jury is still out on why that happened...could be they were "too busy" like they said, but my guess is that they were tired of my phone calls). Anyway, we arrived at NSH at 1pm for a 1:30 appointment, and we didn't leave until 4. This doctor was the first to have all four of Andrew's CTs, MRIs, etc. at the appointment, but it was productive. His take on the issue was yet again different. He does not "buy into" the psoas muscle issue (even the uninfected version) and believes that Andrew's injury in Iraq in 2005 could in fact be causing him back pain that is radiating elsewhere. He agrees that it's an abnormal manifestation, but wants to try an epidural injection as a starting point. The injection won't happen until May 3rd because Kaiser has to approve it first (lame).
We are encouraged that we're trying something other than narcotic drugs and that we have a doctor who is willing to work with us for a solution that gets Andrew back to his normal life (work, etc.) as soon as possible. Our goal right now is to have him back to light duty next week.
So, we've seen 6 doctors now who all say something slightly different about the cause of Andrew's pain and potential solutions for it moving forward. I guess that's why they call medicine a practice, right? :)
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