Category: PAIN

Anger · Fear · Health · HELL · Medical · Multiple Sclerosis · PAIN · Primary Progressive MS · Ramblings · Strength

My soul is tired but my will is strong…

Tracy5 Comments

Yesterday was an eye-opening experience for me being out of bed really for the first time since August 18, 2019. I am in so much pain today and sleep did not come easily last night. I now understand fully and completely that in-home therapy is not gonna help me at all. I need to be in a place where they re-train my body to move again and help me deal with the pain in my hips. It’s going to be a process and it has to be hard-core. I was up all night thinking about the night I fell on October 10, 2013 and how everything led up to where I am now. I need neurological physical therapy in a facility, NOT at home. I’m going to need the proper medications for the pain and I need to learn how to move again. When I say I’m like a newborn baby, I’m not being sarcastic. I know it’s hard to believe. 😊 I am now going to make an appointment with the neurologist so he gets on board with my pain management doctor about hard-core rehab. The ambulance service comes early Friday morning to take me to my pain management doctors appointment. I’m scared to death. I was only in my chair for a couple of hours and the edema was so bad yesterday it really freaked me out. I’ve never had it that bad. I know that I’m going to be in a lying down position, but that’s how my legs were yesterday I think it was more about the upper half of my body. I don’t even know how to explain it. What I have realized is if something doesn’t happen quickly I’m seriously screwed. I don’t think it’ll ever come back. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to move right again unless something happens now. They’re hoping that I am too ill and too tired to fight. We all know it’s about money not about anybody’s health or well-being. I am tired. I am fed up. I am so close to breaking. But unfortunately for them, that’s when my strength shows up! This IS life or death for me. That’s not an overstatement! If something doesn’t change quickly I will not be here much longer. My body is breaking more and more every minute I’m trapped in this bed. Somethings got to give!! I know I know this is really in your face. But I will never back down from this because it is my life! I’ll say that again, this is my life! so now it’s time to get all my ducks in their proverbial row, get to all my doctors appointments via stretcher, and bring it! I’m seriously tired just thinking about it. Please universe give me strength!

Wait till they get a load of me! 😈

Have courage and be kind.

Medical · Multiple Sclerosis · PAIN · Primary Progressive MS · Quotes · Ramblings · Strength

Thursday Thoughts

Tracy

Sadly people with chronic illness do this all the time. We do it because we know others don’t REALLY want to know how we REALLY feel. We know when you ask us, “How are you?“ That you don’t want us to get down to the nitty-gritty. The answer you want is the one we give, “I’m fine.”

Let’s face it that’s the easiest answer to give. I’ve literally watched peoples eyes glaze over when I do tell them how I REALLY feel. When that happens I usually just stop talking and ask them how they are. Trust me, they love to talk about how they are. And that’s OK. It’s human nature.

Have courage and be kind…

Anger · FUCK · Health · HELL · Multiple Sclerosis · PAIN · Primary Progressive MS · Quotes · Ramblings · Sadness

Weird Wednesday

Tracy10 Comments

I was cruising the Internet and this picture popped up. It’s not meant to be sad it’s not meant to scare anyone. But I’m not going to spend another six years and three months in my bed. Without help, proper help, I’m never going to get out of this prison have a bed. My ankles suffer from dropfoot and contractures. My knees haven’t been able to straighten in about three years. And my hips I can’t even get in my Hoyer lift because of the pain. This has been going on for a very long time now and nothing has changed. I really thought my time in rehab in 2018 was going to save me. I fought so hard I did so well, then nothing. How do people that are bedridden see their doctors? I know they can call non-emergent transport, then try to coordinate that with their doctors appointments but first they have to make the calls to make sure it will be approved. Really? Making something hard even harder.

I wish I could be the shiny happy person that people want me to be. But that’s not gonna happen. I’m angry. I’m pissed off. I get it life‘s not fair blah blah blah. You know the people that say that to me… People with no chronic illness. I guarantee they wouldn’t last one day trapped in their bed not able to even get up to go to the bathroom, be able to roll over in their bed, or sit up without help. They would break the first 20 minutes.

Tears! 😂😂😂 No, if you could read my mind you would be screaming at the top of your lungs for help. I am so angry and I know that anger doesn’t help. But when every year it just gets worse, sorry I can’t put on that smile every fucking day for you. I’m angry about people who I see complaining all the time about the tiniest little things. Yes I’m an asshole. I can’t sugarcoat shit every fucking day. I really just want it all to end. I really really want freedom. I’m so tired of being in prison for a crime I never committed.

Have courage and be kind

Anger · Health · Medical · Multiple Sclerosis · PAIN · Primary Progressive MS · Quotes · Ramblings · Strength

Down with the Sickness Tuesday

Tracy

Yes we do. My daughter was diagnosed with type A flu yesterday. People at my husbands work we’re also diagnosed type A flu. On Sunday I was not feeling very well. Yesterday my fever was going from 100 up to 102 and finally broke at 2 AM. NyQuil take me away! Oh that stuff is the bomb. You need nothing else.

Unfortunately I’m pissed. I called my neurologist because in the 23 years I’ve been going to him since diagnosis, I’ve always been told to call when things like this happen. Being that I have a compromised immune system and I’m over 50 the type a flu can be dangerous. I put in a call to my doctor last night. The receptionist said, “You know this is a neurologist office right?” No really? Oh my God I had no idea! 🤦🏻‍♀️

I felt like saying you know you work at a neurologist office and things like this can be very dangerous for people with a compromised immune system. But, I didn’t. She sent me off to leave a message with my doctor’s nurse. I left a message I heard nothing back. I just called a little bit ago I left another message. A little more blunt and to the point. When (If) they call back I’m also going to remind them about a medication refill I called about sometime ago and a fax that they needed to send out for me. Neither happened. I would’ve forgotten about those things if this hadn’t happened and upset me so. After 23 years with this doctor today I’ve been looking for other neurologists. I really need to get to UCLA but until I can get out of my bed without pain, I don’t think my insurance company will cover a non-emergent transport. What do people like me do? How do people that are bedridden get to the doctors and get the help they need? Sadly, I don’t think it matters… sadly I don’t think we matter…

Have courage and be kind!

Health · HELL · Medical · Multiple Sclerosis · PAIN · Primary Progressive MS · Quotes · Ramblings · Sarcasm · Strength

Thursday Feelings – I am a Warrior

Tracy2 Comments

I’m kind of excited I found a non-emergency transport so that I can get to my doctors. If I can work it out perfectly I can make my appointments for the same day. It’s nice that all my doctors are in the same building. It’s going to be so much easier going by stretcher then having to try to sit for any period of time in my wheelchair. I can’t even get my wheelchair so I think this is going to be good. I think I’ll buy a crown for that day and as they’re pushing me through, I’ll put my hand up and do the wave. 😂

I’m going to talk to my doctor about contracture surgery as well as rehab. Maybe that’s the route to go. I’ve been trying to find the perfect in-home PT group from the names the Blue Cross rep gave me, but that’s not helping. All they tell me is, “Our rehab people are good.” I’m sure they are. I’m asking if they deal with muscle contractures. Frankly I don’t think any of them know what that is. 🤔 I just want to know how in-home therapy is going to be able to help me with the pain. They don’t. I need to be in a facility if I want any pain help. So I guess I’m just going to grit my teeth. 😁 I can tell that this is going to be a lot of fun…

Now I need to get my appointments, get the certification from the insurance company, and get a time slot for the transport. Oh how I love jumping through all these hoops just to go to my doctor. Oh well, we do what we Gotta do. 😏
Time to straighten my crown and get shit done. 🖤Have courage and be kind

Fear · Multiple Sclerosis · PAIN · Primary Progressive MS · Quotes · Ramblings · Sadness · Strength

Sunday Feelings

Tracy2 Comments

When I first saw this picture sometime ago my eyes filled up with tears. I came across it again this morning. It had a different quote on it for multiple sclerosis but it was very grainy and looked terrible. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I did a Google search and the image popped up with the other quote and a blank picture. I felt the need to add my own quote to this powerful powerful image.This picture sums up my life completely. we need a cure! I just hope one is found in my lifetime before it is too late for me.

Have courage and be kind

*** if anyone knows the creator of this amazing picture, please let me know. I’d like to give credit where credit is due.

Health · Medical · Multiple Sclerosis · PAIN · Ramblings · RANDOM · Sadness · Strength

DeNiEd AgAiN

Tracy1 Comment

Some of the not so great things that happened to me in the past six months or so is that I was denied acute physical therapy rehab. I went through every one of their appeals and was denied every time. They say for me it’s not medically necessary and basically that’s the only reason given. Let me think, I have severe hip contractures due to being bedridden, yet acute physical therapy isn’t medically necessary for me. 🤔 The story goes a little something like this…

On August 18, 2019 my husband was trying to get me into the sling for my Hoyer lift so I could get out of bed. As he started lifting me and the sling pulled up around my body, the pain was so excruciating I really believed my hips were going to break. Needless to say I never made it all the way up or out of my bed. We called 911 and I was taken to Palmdale regional medical Center. At that time we weren’t really sure what my hip pain was. We knew that my knees and ankles had contracture issues, but my pain management doctor was saying it might be arthritis, osteoporosis etc.. The ER doctor explained that my hips had contractures just like the rest of my legs. It was as if a💡went off in my head. Like, no shit… oh my god how could my other doctor(s) not figure this the fuck out. The rehab institute at Palmdale regional medical Center was where I had been for one month in February 2018, so I asked if they could contact my doctors and try to get me back in. It took the next two nights and three days before Independence Blue Cross came back with, DENIED. After exhausting all four of my appeals, (4months) I was DENIED Rehab. Not medically necessary. I completely understand that the doctors that work at these insurance companies are basically rent-a-docs that probably can’t get a job at a legitimate place, but come on, I’m the poster child for rehab.  In fact, for how severe my contractures are, the only options are surgery or acute physical therapy. So that in a nutshell is my denial for, realistically, life-saving therapy for me…Now on to my new dilemma where I’m being denied. They are now saying that they will not pay for my ER visit because it was not an emergency. 🤬 When a representative from Independence Blue Cross called me to ask about this appeal for this charge, I told her what the emergency was. I explained the same thing that is stated above; how I was trying to get out of bed with the use of my Hoyer lift and the pain was so excruciating from the muscle contracture’s that I could not do it. I could not move!! Now in my book that’s a fucking emergency. obviously it was an emergency enough that they paid for the ambulance. I mean really for fucks sake.

(Attached) is what the incompetent person, I’m trying to be nice about this, said in the DENIAL letter. “You stated that you were experiencing difficulty and could not stand so you went to the emergency room for services” is she fucking kidding me?!! First off I would never have said that because I haven’t been able to stand for 6 years 2 months!!! For fucks sake I’ve barely been able to get out of my bed. I’m not sure what part of, I’m bedridden and I was having pain in my hips trying to be lifted in my Hoyer lift, that she didn’t understand. So she either lied on that form or she just didn’t give a shit to listen to what I had to say.I bet it’s a little bit of both… Lied so that the insurance company wouldn’t have to pay which falls right in line with doesn’t really give a shit. I have a call in to her, so we will see if she calls back. They are on EST and right now it’s 4:56 PM PST, so I bet she’s just not gonna call back. I really believe that these people and these money corporations do this often so people like me are not given the care that is needed. They think they can be our doctors and that they know better than our doctors.🖕

So now I get to deal with all of this. Sorry the little attachment above is a little wrinkled. When I read that line for the first time, I lost it. Everything and anything in my reach was thrown. When I realized I was trying to pull my hair out and the scratching on my face started hurting I just broke down into a big heap of tears.

At this point my body has deteriorated more and more and my muscle contractures have gotten worse and worse. I have so many calls in to so many people and they either don’t call back, or they’re rude. If anyone reads this and you know of anyone that could help me, attorney, disability advocate, hell a juggler, 😜 please send them my way. I really don’t know how much longer I can go on. Have courage and be kind.



Anger · Craziness · Health · Multiple Sclerosis · PAIN · Primary Progressive MS · Ramblings · Sarcasm · Strength · Stupid Stuff

Trapped Inside

Tracy2 Comments

This GIF popped up on Facebook and when I saw it I felt empty. I decided to post it because it really does sum up my life. I have been trapped inside my decaying body for approximately 6 years 2 months. It is actually a bit more but I removed doctors visits, visits to the store before my surgery in June 2014, and the occasional visits to my dads. In that time it equals to approximately 28-30 days that I’ve been out of my bed. I don’t know how it happened. What I mean by that is, I don’t know how it got so bad. October 10, 2013 I fell. I was transferring to go to the bathroom, and as I stood up my legs went limp like cooked noodles. They did no x-rays at the hospital that I can remember, they just really chalked it up to MS. The hospital and my doctors knew that I was unable to stand sit up, pretty much paralyzed from the waist down, etc. They did the Solu-Medrol bullshit which did nothing for me. Then they basically sent me home with no real after care.

This is where I don’t know how it all happened. The fall definitely started it, and then I go blank. The depression I remember was paralyzing just like my body. Then in a weird whirlwind of doctors appointments the next thing I knew I was scheduled for colostomy and urostomy surgeries for June 10, 2014. Was this medically necessary or was it done to make it easier for everyone around me? I don’t really know anymore.

Why wasn’t I offered acute rehab? Why wasn’t I offered in-home nursing care? I don’t know! 🤷🏻‍♀️ I do know that a friend, an RN, had to come to my house to catheterize me so I didn’t piss my bed every five minutes. Not sure why my doctors or the hospital didn’t do that for me. I also know, looking back, that I was completely fucking lost. I have never been someone to lie down and be stomped on, but I guess I could not find my strength back then. The surgery, for me, what horrific.  and the next couple of years were literally lived as if I were in a dream.I will fast forward to now, because I don’t have the energy to really talk about it much more. All I know is I am trapped in a body that is destroying itself from the inside out. Since I was denied rehab August 18, 2019 my body is deteriorating more and more. i’ve exhausted, in their mind, all appeals. DENIED!! 🤬  Because of this, my legs are becoming more contracted. Independence Blue Cross basically feels it’s not medically necessary for me, acute rehab! Because their doctors I guess are my doctors now and they know better. Are they fucking kidding me! I’m the fucking poster child for acute rehab! Here is a link of what is happening to me and what I sent to the insurance company thinking they would actually understand it and help me. Bahahaha They either cannot read or they just don’t care. I’m going with the latter. People are telling me I should contact news agencies, attorneys, etc., but the places I’ve contacted obviously don’t think that any of this is wrong. Either that or they’re just scared to death to take on Independence Blue Cross. I guess in the world we’re in right now it’s OK for companies like this to throw away the disabled, people with chronic illness, because we are the people no one really gives a shit about. And quite frankly, I’m tired!!! I have no help whatsoever! Mentally, physically… Nothing. 

I am 100% in prison for crimes that I have never committed. The prison that is my body and the four walls of my bedroom. There is only one or two people that completely understand what I’m going through that I know. And when other people say, they know what I’m going through, they completely understand, yet that person/persons are shown standing up in pictures and going places with family… no, you have no fucking clue what I’m going through. And you should be really fucking glad you don’t. If I were able to even stand up I would never be in this fucking bed. So please don’t talk of things of which you know nothing about. You may share my illness but you don’t share what’s happening to me.

What I hate the most about all of this is the person I’m slowly becoming. I really do believe I’m going to little mad, I can no longer see the light at the end of that tunnel, and I’m not sure why I even bother anymore. Yes it’s a new year blah blah blah… but for me there will be no changes. AND I am NOT being pessimistic, I’m being realistic!  I will add that you don’t need to worry people, I’m not gonna kill myself, off myself, end it, whatever. Do I think about doing that every fucking day… Yes I fucking do! But, I won’t and believe me it’s not for the reasons that you are probably thinking. And now, I think I’m done for the day and I think I’m going to medicate so that I don’t care what’s happening to me. And for those of you that act like I’m a stoner or something, fucking A right I am! Cannabis isn’t going to kill my kidneys or my liver like Norco and Xanax and all the other drugs they want to put me on. So yeah I love my weed. And to anyone that says that’s bad for you or it’s addicting or it’s a gateway drug, educate your stupid ass! Or better yet go pour yourself another drink or take one of your sleeping pills and then talk to me. OK I’m getting off base and I’m starting to get pissed so I’m going to end this for today.

So are you loving my new unapologetically me yet?

As always, have courage and be kind!



Anger · Fear · FUCK · Health · HELL · Hope · Love · Multiple Sclerosis · PAIN · Primary Progressive MS · Ramblings · RANDOM

Broken

Tracy1 Comment

So this post might be a little long. And you don’t have to read I’m just trying to get out what I’m feeling. We are going to attempt a shower today and I’m already having anxiety. But I have to do it because PTA bed baths are not doing it for me. 😋
I just don’t want to roll over or get in that fucking Hoyer sling. It hurts so much even when I have a nice supply of cannabis on board. 😉
Some of you know I have another fracture in my back at L3 and I was supposed to see a spinal surgeon like last month, but I can’t. I don’t want to go because I don’t want to get up. And the worst part about that is, I really want to get up! I know that does not make any sense. LOL

Without help I don’t know how I’m going to ever be able to get out of this bed. But, I will keep doing what I’m doing like wiggling in the bed LOL I have some serious dance moves for someone who is in bed. 💃🏻 I just want out of it. But when I’m lying down or even when my legs are up and I’m elevated I don’t have any pain. So thankful for my adjustable bed. 🙏🏻 The minute someone moves my legs I literally want to die. It feels like my hip is going to snap and my leg is going to fall right off. Sounds like something out of a criminal minds episode. Childbirth wasn’t as painful. I will take a contraction over this any day. 😳


We rolled a couple of pillows and taped them and put a cover on to jam them on the outside of each leg to roll my hip as I’m lying down. Oh holy man! The first day I could only tolerate about five minutes because the pain was intense. But yesterday I actually kept them there for a few hours. I’m hoping that eventually I will be able to get my legs moving without pain. I don’t care what the doctors say and what my MS is going to do with me because I know if I can get rid of this pain I will be up again. I may never walk again but I will be able to transfer if I can just combat the pain. And thanks to my colostomy and urostomy I won’t have to worry about running to the bathroom every five minutes anymore. 😂 Statistically the odds are against me but I’ve never been a fan of statistics. LOL Do not tell my daughter that because that is what she graduated with honors in. 😜

I’m putting on my little arm weights more because I totally slacked off on doing my arm exercises because depression hit it once again. But my little inner child showed up and beat the crap out of depression. Hopefully it’ll stay away a little longer this time. 🤞
When things got really bad after my surgery in 2014 and I completely fell into a very dark place. The surgery almost took my life and at that time I wished it had. I think a lot of people thought that it was getting to the point where I was nearing the end. I felt it, I even had a doctor tell me my outlook was grim. It wasn’t until February 2018 that I woke up. That anniversary is coming up and it scares me. But it also reminds me that I can fight and can get better. I just want people to know don’t give up on yourself no matter how bad it might be! I have been to the depths of hell and I’ve tried to leave a couple times. For some reason they didn’t want me. LOL

Well now that I’ve written a book and I probably lost most of you after the first paragraph I am going to get myself pumped so I can take my shower and not be afraid. 💪👊

I’ll be back… Said in my best terminator voice. LOL
Have courage and be kind!