(no subject)

[twirlgrrl]

OK, so now I'm starting to freak out a little.

Evan went to the doctor's office today. The doctor saw him trying to sit down in the waiting room, heard him mention numbness and tingling in his lower leg, and sent him straight back to Emergency. There, they gave him more (different) pain meds and told him to call his doctor. So we're back to square one, and no one has any idea what the problem might be.

Except that they saw a "bulging disk" on the CT scan. I'm getting that secondhand from Ev, and the final report isn't done, so I don't know exactly what flavor of bulging disk it is or whether it is potentially related to Evan's problem.

Evan's been totally bedridden, except for hobbling pathetically around to clinics and hospitals and causing himself a lot more pain, since Sunday. He's grotty and bored and depressed and worried.

Today, for the first time, I let myself think a little bit beyond the next few hours, into the next few days and weeks. And I got really scared. I am in the middle of a huge crunch, with a frightening deadline on the 1st of December and another on the 14th. Oh, and a big meeting in between, on the 7th. So I was counting on Evan a lot. Luckily we've engaged Danni for three days a week instead of two through December (not that we can afford it or anything), but that isn't going to solve my problem. I started calling around and of course my fabulous friends are already answering the rallying cry, but I'm petrified nonetheless. When Evan takes Blue, he takes him for the entire day and sometimes into the night. No one else can do that, and I can't afford to pay anyone to anyway. It just started to look like we might be able to stop increasing our debt this month, and now that's not true. But truly, I *have* to meet these deadlines. My professional reputation depends on it, and I am not exaggerating.

OK, I'm blabbering. It's still possible that this is a medication reaction and that it will suddenly and magically disappear. It would be weird and rare, but not unheard of.

I haven't really started to think about longer-term disability yet, like months or years. What would be the point? Although Evan said they told him in the ER that he would need a wheelchair.

Anyway, it'll probably be fine, and everything will work out. I just needed to flip out here a little bit.

Happy Thanksgiving, pretty soon, everyone! :-)

Comments

[janisfan.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry you are going thru all of this...I am unsure of what to do/say to help. Would any help on the weekends be needed? My childcare provider might have some days available - email me and I will give you her contact info.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Thanks honey... I think I have enough coverage on the weekends, but more resources to draw on are always helpful. I'll email you now.

[hallsl.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, oh dear. I hate hearing about needs so great in friends so far away. For the longer term issues, surely they will find what is wrong with Evan and fix it. My mom was suddenly stricken like that and they found a bone growth in a disk and did a bit of laser surgery or some such and she was immediately better. But until that happened she was in terrible pain, barely able to walk, really scary hard. Sounds to me like he needs to get out of the dang ER and get to a specialist. But you knew that. Love and prayers....

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we're waiting on a referral to a specialist, but that won't happen until Friday due to the holiday, and who the heck knows when they can fit him in. I hate this feeling of being lost in the system--of course this is nothing compared to what happens to uninsured people, and we can't all have our own personal physician on call all the time, but it's so frustrating to wait for days while he lies around hurting. Thanks for the encouraging story about your mom. I am hoping this is something like that, or even more minor.

[ninjalie.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I'm sorry you are dealing with so much stress! Just hang in there and keep working hard, things will work out.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Thanks girlie.

[momwifenurse.livejournal.com]

wow... im really hoping they find out what the true matter is. A BD can cause severe pain while walking... but most are easy fixes... (bills can be paid off in time) ((((hugs)))) I truley hope that all of this works out for you!

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It's hard to not know what's wrong, and Evan is scared so that makes it worse, you know? I'm not that worried about the bills, nothing can top last year:

http://twirlgrrl.livejournal.com/29289.html

!!

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

On second thought, I shouldn't say NOTHING can top that... Why tempt fate? :P

[the-changeling.livejournal.com]

I know what this is like - so... *hug*.

90% of back stuff like this is totally fixable. The issue, I'd imagine, is if you have enough insurance. A bulge is usually a disc out of synch with the bone - that would cover the syptoms you describe. How fixable that is, is about how good the bone is. It can be done with physio and manipulation.

All this is pretty academic until you have proper diagnosis 'though.

One thing for sure - backs can get crazy out of control - pain, numbness, wheelchairs - and it can be a simple thing. That's the nature of spines: they carry too much of the human strain. So they can go really seriously bad, and yet be really simple to fix.

*hug*

Morgan

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the encouraging words. The hardest part is the fear, I think, and the frustration at the wait because of the holiday. We have good insurance (pay $1150 a month for it, it better be good) so I'm not too worried about that.

Thanks again. Hugs back.