WAITING FOR RELIEF

I am writing today from the surgery waiting room at Loyola. (My hubby's new nickname is House because of his leg pain and his cane. )House(Hubby) is in surgery for the next 2 hours. Today we have come to what Dr Buck says is the last ditch effort to control his RSD pain in is right foot and ankle. Since his diagnosis in September, he has been through 15 nerve blocks. There have been many , many medication changes. Currently to make the pain somewhat tolerable he takes 20 pills per day.

What began as a minor ankle injury in July has turned in to 6 months of hell for House. On an MRI, it was shown that his talus bone in his ankle has osteonecrosis. Surgery was done in August to try to save the bone. He developed cellulitis after the surgery. After that resolved, he developed increasing pain. On September 5th, he was diagnosed with RSD or CRPS. Dr Buck, his specialist at Loyola, has exhausted everything to relieve his pain. During this period, he developed an aneurysm in his ankle and had major surgery to repair that.

Today he is having a temporary neurostimulator placed in his spine. This will be in place for 6 days as a trial period for pain control. Then it will be removed and House will decide if he wants to have one implanted permanently. It is considered successful if he receives 50% pain relief. The permanent one will be implanted in 3-4 weeks.

Time is passing slowly as we are waiting.

Not waddling just waiting..............