October 15, 2018, 3:00 p.m. I’m having a great deal of trepidation about today’s physical therapy appointment. My eyes are teary, and I hope to God I can hold it together when I’m actually in the treatment room with Francis. It will take a great deal of restraint on my part to not dump on…
Category: spinal decompression
Follow up with Francis
March 23, 2018, 11:30 a.m. Today was a follow-up appointment with Francis, the physical therapist from the Pain Clinic. Once again, he spent a full hour with me. The first thing he said was to confirm his approval of the inflatable neck traction device I had sent him a link to and which is available…
Pain Management: My Review
March 17, 2018 I have completed the 3-day-a-week 5-week outpatient Pain Management program at Kaiser. The facilitators all made it clear from Day 1 that this is not a pain relief program but a pain management! And they were right. We were not allowed to talk specifically about our pain nor about medications. I posted…
Office Visit with Francis, Physical Therapist
February 5, 2018, 9:00 a.m. Francis was prompt at 9:00 a.m. And I was ready. He spent a full hour with me, starting with a general overview of my current pain history. He was very thorough and professional and very holistic, asking me about other facets of my life, besides mobility, such as social and…
Things I’ve tried and things I haven’t tried
January 28, 2018, 1:55 p.m. These are the thoughts that come to mind today as I think about what I have been doing over the past year to relieve what was first discomfort in my neck and then became painful enough to interfere with my normal, everyday life. These things that I’ve listed here are…

Phone appointment with Dr. Kalra
January 25, 2018, 8:15 a.m. I set my alarm for 6:00 a.m. to make sure I could wake up to be coherent by 8:15a for my phone appointment with Dr. Kalra, Medical Director of the Pain Clinic. I was actually out at my desk, waiting by the phone from 7:30a until 9:30a, when he finally…