December 7, 2017
I really am in a lot of pain now. Although I haven’t had a migraine since November 23, the neck pain has gotten progressively worse. I can’t do any of the assigned neck exercises now, except the one with the towel. I’m feeling very depressed, like I will never ever get better before I die!
Carole could tell I was upset. I kept wiping my face and eyes and she was very sensitive to that, bringing a tissue box from the table and handing it to me while we talked. I told her I really thought I should be examined and diagnosed if I really do have Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD). She said that, even if I did, the treatment would be the same. By that, I presumed she meant continuing physical therapy.
She did examine me, and wrote in her notes her findings with my range of motion. She did not do the neck manual manipulations that she did the first two times, the one and only thing, so far, that has relieved my pain, even if only for a few hours.
She told me she thought I should get in the Pain Management program. She said I would have an hour with three pain professionals, one of them being an acupuncturist. Acupuncture! This sounds like something I want to explore. She could see I was interested. So she wrote this recommendation in her notes. She said she would send this recommendation to my PCP, Dr. Chan. Well, silly me, I thought it would be that simple! Turns out, as I would find out later, that my PCP had to send me to Physical Rehabilitation for evaluation, and then if Physical Rehabilitation thought I should get in the Pain Management, they would notify my PCP and then, and only then, would she refer me to Pain Management!
Carole and I both understood that this would be my last session with her. Before I left, instead of shaking hands as Kaiser practitioners are trained to do when greeting and when leaving a patient, Carole hugged me. And I realized it was just like her hugging a grandmother! An old, sick, poor, and now in chronic pain, grandmother. Thus ends this chapter of Physical Therapy with Carole at Kaiser Oakland.
