An Honest Doctor

If you have spent a lot of time in hospitals and doctor's offices, you surely thought I was trying to be funny, but no- I have actually met an honest doctor.

A few weeks back I was playing hide-and-go-seek with Rosie. Being much too big to play this game in my tiny kitchen I smashed my toe into a cabinet while crawling on the floor. Tears welled in my eyes and the pain took my breath. I had to focus on catching my breath and not screaming. A fun characteristic of CRPS (Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome) is pain that is out of proportion to the severity of the injury.

I have had CRPS since 1989 when I was hit by a car. It was really out of control back then, and I couldn't walk for almost a year after the accident because of pain and tightness in my foot. Treatment helped the sensitivity so that I could put weight on my foot again, and so that my physical therapist could loosen my ankle enough to walk. But the pain never went away, and has spread to the rest of my body over the last 19 years. Even though I have dealt with a great deal of pain over the years, I have always been grateful that the more serious symptoms of the RSD did not return. Until now.

About a week after I squished my toe I noticed that it was getting harder to go up stairs. My ankle just didn't seem to bend enough. A few days later I was going to the store and had to take off my shoe and sock even though I was driving, because they were bothering my skin. The stiffness and sensitivity gets worse everyday. I already can't walk as far I used to without sitting down. I am really starting to panic. I am worried that in the next few months I will no longer be able to walk at all.

I went to a new doctor to get the same spinal blocks which helped so much the first time. I had the block last Wednesday, but it has only made the pain and stiffness worse. My doctor finally returned my calls this evening, and told me he didn't know what to do next. He could have lied or blamed me, but he simply said he didn't know what to do. It was actually nice.