Dear Ed, Date July 15,03

Hi Ed, My name is Michelle, I read your letter and it so reminded me of what I have been through in the past year I was ready to cry!!! I went to the Mayo clinic with a MRI that was normal except for degnerative disc disease, and degenerative arthritis in my facets, and I also had my test results from my disco gram that said I had a leak in my L-5 S-1 disc and this arrogant doctor said he does not go by discograms and said my MRI was fine and he would not give me the surgery I had been told by 4 docs up in the Minneapolis area I needed. Which is a spinal fusion. I went to the Mayo clinic cause they are much closer than the other docs were and I wanted to be closer to my family, so I went there, well anyway I had seen the spinal specialist there first and he was so nice and said oh your only option is the fusion and he reffered me to this surgeon, anyway the spine doc said the surgeon would do his own discogram to do his surgery by because thats their procedure there!!!! yea right this surgeon walked in and never even examined me at all looked at the MRI for maybe 2 seconds and said all that what I told you above!! my husband thought as well as I did he didnt believe women, there are a lot of docs out there that do not!!! so I asked him since I already had a positive discogram in front of him and he didnt want to look at it would a mylogram make him happier? and he said this session is over and got up and left,, but I did say I do not have to sit here and be belittled by a ass in a cheap armani suit,,he got really hot and left!!! his physicians assistant turned around laughing her butt off and gave me the thumbs up sign. well anyway I went back to the doc up in the cities and I will be having the sugery when it cools off he is going in from the front and back and I have to wear that turtle brace for 3 months after the surgery. I also had been having probs with my pain doc here in my town, he was having a lot of probs with other people abusing drugs and it was getting to the point he wasnt caring about me anymore my doc had written him a letter to increase my meds when I get worse and he wouldnt and when I took 1 or 2 extra amonth he would short me that many the next month,, I was getting very upset getting treated like a damn kid I am 42 I am not seeking these things I also need them to live if I dont have them I cant move at all, who wants to live like that??? anyway I changed my doc and I am getting along much better and he increased my oxicontin so I dont have to take so many breakthrough now.. man I wrote you a book, lol I better get going to bed I wish you all the best and hang in there someday these docs may have to go through the same thing and they will see how real pain feels like, and how those stupid NSAIDS do not work for crap!!!! God Bless and wishing you a low painfree day I am hoping to get under a 7 but that hasnt happened in a year unless they give me a 125 mg of demerol on a flare up!!!!! Michelle Bolduan ;o)